Princess and the Pirate, The (1944) - full review!
When producer Samuel Goldwyn lent Gary Cooper & Billy Wilder to Paramount, he got to use comedian Bob Hope for two films (this was the second one). To capitalize on the success of the Hope-Bing Crosby "road" pictures, he hired Don Hartman (Road to Morocco (1942)), among others, to write the screenplay. The result was this affable comedy pirate adventure pairing Hope with the comely Virginia Mayo, for the first and only time. It's laced with amusing Hope one-liners, which are more modern than the film's setting. Crosby appears too, but only briefly in an uncredited cameo at the very end (those familiar with the road films can probably figure out Bing's role). The movie earned Academy Award nominations for its Art Direction-Interior Decoration & Score. It was directed by David Butler, and also features the Goldwyn Girls in lavish Technicolor. The cast also includes Walter Brennan, Walter Slezak, and Victor McLaglen (among others).
Set in swashbuckling days, Hope plays Sylvester the Great, a bad ham actor who's also a "master of disguise", and rather cowardly. Mayo plays Princess Margaret, who's traveling incognito away from her father because he won't let her marry a commoner. Naturally, these two find themselves on the same ship, which is then attacked by the notorious pirate Captain Barrett (McLaglen), aka The Hook, and his ship. One of Barrett's crew is Featherhead (Brennan), who looks a lot like Elmer Fudd and is thought to be a fool. However, Featherhead rescues Sylvester so that the actor can smuggle the treasure map off the ship and take it to the fool's brother on the island of Casarouge. Sylvester in turn rescues Margaret, who he doesn't know is a princess, from The Hook and his advances, endearing him to her.
When Sylvester and Margaret get to Casarouge, they find that it's a lawless place inhabited by pirates and other thugs. They also learn that Featherhead’s brother is gone for a couple of weeks, so Sylvester strikes a deal with a local café owner (Hugo Haas) to perform for money in order to pay their landlady (Maude Eburne). During his act, Sylvester is ruthlessly heckled by patrons who killed the last performer until Margaret appears on stage and sings. The motley crew audience then throw gold coins onto the stage, which Sylvester hungrily gathers up in his cap. The island's governor, La Roche (Slezak), enters the café during the performance and recognizes the princess. So, he has her kidnapped and taken to his palace, secured by his many guards (but filled with Goldwyn girls). Sylvester follows and is (wrongly) thought by La Roche to be the commoner the princess wants to marry. Though he is treated well, Sylvester too is a prisoner, forbidden from seeing Margaret.
Eventually, Captain Barrett arrives at the island and it is learned that La Roche and the pirate are co-conspirators. Naturally, they do not trust one another. After all, there is still the issue of the missing treasure map. When Sylvester learns what the two are after, that they'll kill for it, and that he has it (he didn't know that the map was what Featherhead had sewn into his shirt), he starts to destroy it until Featherhead appears from under his bed in the room. The fool is also a tattoo artist, so he renders Sylvester unconscious in order to pen the map on the actor's chest! This, and the fact that Sylvester later impersonates The Hook himself, leads to several funny (if too often repeated) sequences. Marc Lawrence plays Captain Barrett's right hand man, Tom Kennedy and Mike Mazurki (uncredited, as is Al Bridge) play other pirates. Robert Warwick plays The King, who ends up rescuing his daughter in the end (surprise, surprise) and decides to let Margaret marry her commoner. Hope thinks he's the one, but it's really Crosby who gets the girl, as always.
Most Recent Additions:
Gaslight (1940) - full review!
The Gazebo (1959) - full review!
Passage to Marseille (1944) - full review!
The House on 56th Street (1933) - full review!
Annie Get Your Gun (1950) - full review!
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Lonelyhearts (1958) - full review!
Good News (1947) - full review!
Wild Rovers (1971) - full review!
Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) - full review!
Topper Returns (1941) - full review!
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
The Winning Team (1952) - full review!
The Hasty Heart (1949) - full review!
Storm Warning (1951) - full review!
The FBI Story (1959) - full review!
Firecreek (1968) - full review!
The Cheyenne Social Club (1970) - full review!
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Green Dolphin Street (1947) - full review!
Two Weeks With Love (1950) - full review!
Across the Pacific (1942) - full review!
Evelyn Prentice (1934) - full review!
The Opposite Sex (1956) - full review!
Blossoms in the Dust (1941) - full review!
George Washington Slept Here (1942) - full review!
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - full review!
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - full review!
Born to Be Bad (1950) - full review!
The Last Gangster (1937) - full review!
'G' Men (1935) - full review!
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) - full review!
Comrade X (1940) - full review!
Stand-In (1937) - full review!
[Home] [Hitchcock] [Oscar's Best] [Essays] [Essential Films] [TCM Picks] [FAQ] [Obscure Films] [Links] [Other Reviews] [Academy Awards] [Silent Films] [Movie Index]
