GenQ - For the not so straight individual

PIRATES OF THE SILVER SCREEN -- THEN AND NOW

Ahoy, mateys!!! (Yeah, yeah, I know, how original.) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), like its two predecessors, requires nothing more of its audiences than to sit back and enjoy it. I admit that as a lifelong fan of the Disney theme park attraction that inspired them, I went into all three films willing and eager to be beguiled...and beguiled I was!

Johnny Depp, in my opinion the very finest of his generation of cinemactors, gives another flawless performance as Captain Jack Sparrow. I've never felt the call of the sea or anything, but I would gladly run away with this guy! (I would also clean him up, shave his face and cut his hair, but that's me.) He's obviously so comfortable in the role, no doubt he was born to play it. His perfect blend of belligerence and humor makes Sparrow one of the all-time greatest movie pirates. One of the nine Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court, Sparrow must be rescued from the limbo of Davy Jones' Locker in order to defend his fellow pirates and their way of life, while protecting his friends and pirate-converts Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his betrothed, Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). There are darker elements to the story this time around -- like the HARRY POTTER series, the PIRATES films seem to be growing up. Nevertheless, they remember their roots. At one point a character tells another, "These be the last friendly words ye hear -- ye may not survive to pass this way again," a direct quote from the Disneyland ride.

As expected, this 2-disc DVD presentation is a feast for the eyes and ears. The anamorphic widescreen (2:35) presentation contains nary a flaw, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound is as immersive an experience as we are used to from Disney.

Too bad there's no audio commentary on this one as there were on Parts One and Two, but Disc Two has a nice assortment of extras, including an interview with Rolling Stone Keith Richards who makes a much-ballyhooed but very brief cameo appearance as Captain Jack's father; a profile of co-star Chow Yun-Fat; a featurette on composer Hans Zimmer and his marvelous score; several featurettes on the making of the film and its awesome special effects; and background on the new song written for the film, "Hoist the Colours" (yes, "Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me" is briefly heard too).

To coincide with the theatrical release of PIRATES 3 in May, Universal Home Entertainment released the two-disc set PIRATES OF THE GOLDEN AGE MOVIE COLLECTION. Anyone who has enjoyed Disney's PIRATES movies would have to be crazy not to get a kick out of these as well. The set contains four films made in the early 1950s, all filmed in that gorgeous, lush three-strip Technicolor that makes me long for the old days whenever I look at it -- even though I wasn't around then!

The main attraction, according to feedback I've seen posted at Amazon, is the first film in the set, AGAINST ALL FLAGS starring the legendary Errol Flynn, a pre-ZORBA Anthony Quinn, and the "Queen of Technicolor" herself (and one of my favorite actresses), the magnificent Maureen O'Hara. Flynn is a British naval officer unjustly accused of desertion who finds redemption with buccaneers O'Hara and Quinn. This film is probably the only "A" production of the four, but the other three entries are all thoroughly enjoyable. Before she entered our homes as Lily Munster, Yvonne DeCarlo starred as a New Orleans entertainer who falls in love with a pirate captain in BUCCANEER'S GIRL, along with the always-delightful Elsa Lanchester, character actress and Disney voiceover artist Verna Felton, and Hitchcock favorite Norman Lloyd.

'50s hunk (and according to Esther Williams, closet cross-dresser) Jeff Chandler stars along with Lawrence Tierney's lookalike brother Scott Brady in YANKEE BUCCANEER, which was actually filmed on the AGAINST ALL FLAGS sets while Flynn recuperated from an on-set injury. Chandler and Brady play U.S. Commanders who must infiltrate and stop a Caribbean colony of pirates. This is probably the most serious of the four films, while its companion on Disc Two, DOUBLE CROSSBONES, is all-out slapstick. A year before making 'em laugh in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, Donald O'Connor stars as a bumbling shopkeeper's assistant wrongly accused of a crime and forced to pose as a pirate in order to escape the gallows. This one boasts the most impressive cast of the four films, as it includes Will Geer, Charles McGraw, Hope Emerson, John Emery, Hayden Rorke, Glenn Strange, Alan Napier, and the lovely Helena Carter (without the Bonham, and presumably no relation).

All four films have been given beautiful digital restorations -- Universal has long been giving even its lesser-known catalogue titles superb treatment on DVD -- and there isn't a blemish or a visible flaw on any of them. The soundtracks are all presented in crisp, clear Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. This is a terrific set, and along with the Disney PIRATES trilogy it is very highly recommended. Whether you prefer the golden age or the new age of moviemaking, these films are escapist entertainment at its most irresistible, when we need it the most.