Dancing Pirate

source: Dancing Pirate

One day while scrounging the dollar bin at Wal-Mart, I was looking for something unique, daring, and funny. and then, out of the pile shone a beacon of hope. it was "the Dancing Pirate". and I thought "Dancing? Pirates? Could there be romance? Yes, yes, and yes? and in exotic locations? What more could you want?????" I decided to premiere my new find at a all night movie watching party. My friends would be impressed with my exquisite taste, I was sure(though I had not watched the film myself yet, I was confident). And the Dancing Pirate came through, dancing his way into mine and my dear friends' hearts. It was so bad, it was awesome. Long Live the Dancing Pirate!!! "Don't thank me....teach me."

Boston dance teacher Charles Collins is shangaied by pirates. He escapes from them in Spanish California, where he is about to be hanged by Alcalde Frank Morgan (!). Morgan's daughter, Steffi Duna saves him on condition he will teach her the waltz. While this is going on, renegade captain Victor Varconi marches in with his troops. He plans to marry Miss Duna, receiving a dowry of hundreds of thousands of acres and tens of thousands of cattle. Although I looked at a black&white copy, this was the third feature shot in 3-strip Technicolor, and the costuming betokens this. The story is silly and conventional for the era, and there are plenty of skilled farceurs in the cast, including Luis Alberni, with one immense production number feature Eduardo Cansino -- Rita Hayworth's father -- and his dance troupe. As an actor, Collins is a good dancer. He was born in 1904, and married dance partner Dorothy Stone, with whom he appeared in several Broadway musicals through 1945. His movie career was limited. Another film lead was his in 1944, but he appeared in a total of a dozen shorts and features from 1932 through being part of the chorus in THE WIZ. He died in 1999.

The Dancing Pirate which was released by RKO in 1936 was one of the last films done with an original score by Rodgers&Hart. They would be moving back to Broadway and had a string of hit musicals only interrupted by Larry Hart's death in 1943. As this was an RKO film watching it now it was fairly obvious that this film was created with Fred Astaire in mind for the lead. Had Astaire done it The Dancing Pirate might be better remembered. Certainly the two songs done by Dick and Larry aren't among the most memorable. In fact the best number in the film is a dance by lead Charles Collins to Yankee Doodle Dandy that had Astaire written all over it. In fact the main weakness of the film is Collins. A good dancer, Collins had a screen presence that was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. He plays a Boston dancing teacher who gets shanghaied by pirates and escapes the first chance he can when they put in to California for provisions. Still ruled by Spain, the local Alcalde is Frank Morgan at his decisiveless best. Morgan on loan from MGM is the best thing about The Dancing Pirate. Collins is sad to say guilty by association and the men want to hang him, but the women want to learn to dance so he's in legal limbo of sorts. He also has competition for the hand of Morgan's daughter Steffi Duna in the person of Captain Victor Varconi from Monterey at the head of a platoon of dragoons ostensibly there to protect the village from pirates. But Varconi has his own plans, Snidely Whiplash type plans. The Dancing Pirate won an Oscar nomination for the now defunct category of dance direction. I long for the day when musicals of all kinds were being churned out and a category like dance direction was warranted. Speaking of dancing Rita Hayworth is in this film as part of her family troupe of Spanish dancers, The Dancing Cansinos. The Dancing Pirate is an amusing enough film, but it really needed Fred Astaire to put it over.

Charles Collins is a very unlikely leading man in "Dancing Pirate". He's a man with a rather weak voice and looks that don't seem like leading man material....and it's one of the only times Collins starred in a film. I am NOT being negative...he might have been a nice guy...but this film isn't something that helped him or his career. When the film begins, Jonathan Pride (Collins) is leading a dancing class in what appears to be America circa 1830. Soon he's shanghaiied and finds himself an unwilling crew member on a pirate ship. He's miserable and mistreated and the first chance he got, he escaped. While this sounds great, the folks in the town where he landed think he's a brutal pirate and they capture him...and plan on hanging him! Can he convince them he's just a harmless dance instructor....or is he destined to assume room temperature? This film is clearly intended as a musical. There's lots of dancing and I think, in hindsight, this is a mistake. The plot clearly would have worked better as a comedy...instead of a weak musical. A few laughs and no giant dance numbers and the film would have been a more enjoyable diversion...instead of inconsequential fluff.

The DVD is in B & W. Remastered but lacks any depth --- still looks old. Set in the 1800s the "Dance Master" does a lot of 1930 style tap dancing. Frank Morgan is funny but the rest is almost a waste of time. The whole problem with the culture and his teaching WALTZ dancing was how putting his right hand on the lady was an offense. I can't tell if this was for the 1936 audience or part of the 1800s culture. A few times a Mexican band played a few bars of Malaguena and then mixed it in with some other music style. Plot holes--The main character was kidnapped and forced to work on a pirate ship. Then he is let loose on land-the map shows LOS ANGELES; but he is clearly in Mexico... The map shows California is a state although in the 1800s; I believe the map is wrong for that era. Then when he is walking into town; the pirate ship leaves him--there is no explanation at all....

The only things this turkey has going for it are the claim that it is in Technicolor and Rita Hayworth "stars" in it. My VHS copy is in color; however, nowhere in the credits do "Technicolor", "Technicolor Director" or "Technicolor Consultant" appear. I cannot see the Technicolor Corporation allowing any 1935 movie using its process to be released without there being ample credit given to Technicolor. If Rita Hayworth or rather Margarita Cansino appears in the film, she is totally unrecognizable. I am familiar with the Rita Cansino with the sleek black hair and low forehead who danced in the Spencer Tracy/Claire Trevor film Dante's Inferno; so, I was not looking for the flamboyant redhead of the characterized Hayworth -- except for the shorn platinum blonde of The Lady from Shanghai -- during her zenith on the silver screen. All pans aside, it does have Frank Morgan at his bumbling best; although, even at $5.00 with a poor copy of the American English language truncated version of von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, it was no real bargain.

While I note that the other comments are positive about this film I can't be. I purchased a video of it in 1988 or so, and it was the only time I saw any store carrying a video of it. It is the first technicolor musical, and it is a Rogers and Hart score (one good tune: "Are You My Love?"), and Morgan and Luis Alberni try to do the best with their parts, and Stefi Duna is a good dancer. Unfortunately, the screenplay is weak, and so is Charles Collins. How Collins got the role is a mystery, although I suspect he was not the first person to be approached for the role: Judging from his height and build it is possible that the role was meant to be offered to the similarly slender and tall Fred Astaire. Astaire (if he was approached) wisely declined because the script is so bad. The central character never becomes interesting enough to involve ourselves in his life. Collins probably got the role because he is a dancer (his opening scene is demonstrating a dance to a music box he turns on). But he was a stiff, and boring, and timid actor. Maybe an Astaire could have colored the role properly, but Collins couldn't. And the story requires coloring. The> shanghaid dancer is mistaken for a pirate in California. He is treated well by Morgan (the local bumbling alcalde), until a squad of soldiers come to the town. They take over (quite literally - they are a squad of soldiers turned brigands under Victor Valconi and Jack La Rue), and are only stopped when Collins suddenly cannot take their taunts anymore and leads the peasants against them. It is just too much of a leap of faith for a viewer to accept. And the film fails as a result. When recalling Rogers and Hart for their musicals, think PAL JOEY or THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (on stage). Or remember their early musical films (experimental ones) HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM! and LOVE ME TONIGHT. Don't remember them for THE DANCING PIRATE

I saw this movie when I was five years old and never heard of it again. All I could remember was the fellow dancing with a noose around his neck. Looked for it for years, then saw it, just in the past year, in a bin as a Rita Hayworth movie. Thanks to the generic title I recognized it right away. There won't be many comments on this one, as it's virtually unknown, but I've looked at it twice and it brings back a memory of a movie I loved so much as a child, though nothing came back to me except the mentioned dancing scene. It's offbeat, in terrific color and I think enjoyable . Did anybody ever hear of the dancer who played the title role again?

In 1820, handsome dance instructor Charles Collins (as Jonathan Pride) decides to visit his aunt in California. Young Mr. Collins thrills the ladies by waltzing with his hands touching their waists. Leaving his giddy pupils wanting more, Collins takes the long route - around the continent of South America. Armed with only his satchel and an umbrella (to return to his aunt), Collins is mistaken for a pirate. As the "Dancing Pirate", he holds up in the western town of La Paloma. There, he dances, faces danger, and falls in love with lovely Senorita Steffi Duna (as Serafina Perena), daughter of the town's bumbling mayor, Frank Morgan (as Don Emilio Perena). The well-staged "Finale" earned an "Academy Award" nomination for dance director Russell Lewis. Leading man Collins looks like he had everything needed to become a major star - possibly, he found himself in the wrong studio, at the wrong time. Without the takes afforded the standard era star (Fred Astaire), he manages to be dazzling, in his solo routines. The scene with Collins' umbrella stuffed down the front of his pants provides a visual worthy of a Mae West double-entendre. Mr. Morgan isn't a very convincing "Don", but he is always a film asset. Ms. Duna, a Hungarian woman, is a beautiful and believable Senorita. Currently, this film is more available in "black & white" than "color" - this is not always a disadvantage, but "Dancing Pirate" really should be seen in color. Although my "Hollywood Legends" VHS Madacy HWGL-5512 says "B & W" on the sleeve, this release of film IS definitely "in color". It most certainly does NOT star cover-girl Rita Hayworth, however. Ms. Hayworth, Pat Nixon, and Marjorie Reynolds can be spotted among the dancing extras (provided you know who you are looking for well enough to spot them). ****** Dancing Pirate (5/22/36) Lloyd Corrigan ~ Charles Collins, Steffi Duna, Frank Morgan