''The Boy and the Pirates'' is a 1960 American

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Bert I. Gordon Bert Ira Gordon (born September 24, 1922) is an American filmmaker and visual effects artist. He is best known for writing and directing science fiction and horror B-movies such as ''King Dinosaur'' (1955), ''The Amazing Colossal Man'' (1957), '' ...

, known as a master of giant monster films. It stars a popular child star

Charles Herbert Charles Herbert Saperstein (December 23, 1948 – October 31, 2015), known as Charles Herbert, was an American child actor of the 1950s and 1960s. Before reaching his teens, Herbert was renowned by a generation of moviegoers for an on-screen ...

and Gordon's daughter Susan. The storyline concerns a boy and girl trapped on

Blackbeard Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colon ...

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

ship.

Plot

A boy named Jimmy Warren who lives along the Massachusetts coast is upset with the unfairness of modern life when his father scolds him about his school grades. He plays on a wrecked ship along the shore with a girl named Kathy. He picks up an odd brass jar and wishes to be back in the olden days on a pirate ship. When Jimmy utters "Where am I?," the magic jar pops open and a strange little man appears. He introduces himself as Abu the Genie and states that he has granted Jimmy his wish to be on a real pirate ship. Jimmy scoffs at the notion, but Abu insists that they are at that very moment passengers on ''

Queen Anne's Revenge ''Queen Anne's Revenge'' was an early-18th-century ship, most famously used as a flagship by Edward Teach, better known by his nickname Blackbeard. Although the date and place of the ship's construction are uncertain, it was originally believed ...

'', the pirate ship of the notorious

. Abu refuses to grant Jimmy's wish to go home, and informs him that he must return the brass bottle to the exact spot where he found it within three days or he will be forced to take the genie's place inside of it. The genie then tries to ensure that Jimmy will fail to do so. Chased by Blackbeard, at the last second Jimmy returns the bottle to the place he found it, and he finds himself returned to the present day. He remembers his adventure but Kathy is puzzled about his story.

Cast

as Jimmy Warren *

Susan Gordon Susan Lynn Gordon (July 27, 1949 – December 11, 2011) was an American child actress who appeared in films and numerous episodes of television programs such as ''The Twilight Zone'', ''My Three Sons'', and ''The Donna Reed Show''. Life ...

as Katrina Van Keif / Kathy *

Murvyn Vye Marvin Wesley Vye Jr. (July 15, 1913 – August 17, 1976) was an American character actor. He is best known for portraying Prince Ken Arok in the comedy film ''Road to Bali''. Early years Vye was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and educat ...

as Blackbeard *

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

as Snipe *

Joe Turkel Joseph Turkel (July 15, 1927 – June 27, 2022) was an American character actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films '' The Killing'', ''Pat ...

(as Joseph) as Abu the Genie * Archie Duncan as Scoggins *

Than Wyenn Than Wyenn (May 2, 1919January 30, 2015) was an American character actor. His acting career spanned more than forty years with more than 150 credits in film and television. He may be best known for his role in the 1960 '' Twilight Zone'' episode ...

as Hunter *

Albert Cavens Albert Cavens (1 October 1906 – 17 December 1985) was a Belgian-born American silent film child actor. Biography Cavens moved to the United States soon after birth and began his career only aged 8 in a number of films in 1914, including '' ...

as Dutch Captain * Mickey Finn as Peake *

Morgan Jones Morgan Jones may refer to: *Morgan Jones (actor, born 1879) (1879–1951), American silent film actor and screenwriter *Morgan Jones (actor, born 1928) (1928–2012), American film and television actor *Morgan Jones (broadcaster), Welsh television ...

as Mr. Warren *

Timothy Carey Timothy Agoglia Carey (March 11, 1929 – May 11, 1994) was an American film and television character actor. Carey was best known for portraying manic or violent characters who are driven to extremes. Career He made his screen debut with a ...

as Pirate Morgan

Production

Charles Herbert recalled: "Timothy Carey on this movie probably scared me more than ''The Colossus of New York''! But he was a nice man, and he always tried to make you feel, 'I’m not really crazy,' and you would say, 'Okay.' And then he would walk away and you’d go, 'He’s CRAZY!' He was a scary man. He’d look at me and I would run behind my mother. And I had to catch up to her, because she was tryin’ to find somebody else to hide behind!"

Reception

In a brief contemporary review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic Howard Thompson called ''The Boy and the Pirates'' "... a standard, rather cloying little item ... it's all pretty sticky, albeit clean. The kids deserve better."

Home media

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's 2006 theatrical release of

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

's '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' revived interest in pirate films. To take advantage of this,

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...

released a

Midnite Movies ''Midnite Movies'' is a line of B movies released first on VHS and later on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment. The line was begun by MGM in March 2001 following its acquisition of Orion Pictures, which bought out Filmways, the owner of American Int ...

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera ho ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

set with the rarely seen ''The Boy and the Pirates'' and the more recent ''Crystalstone'' (1987) on June 27, 2006.

Comic book adaption

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

#1117 (June 1960)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boy And The Pirates, The 1960 films 1960 adventure films American children's adventure films American fantasy adventure films Films set in the 1710s Films set in Massachusetts Pirate films Films about time travel United Artists films Films adapted into comics Cultural depictions of Blackbeard Films directed by Bert I. Gordon Films scored by Albert Glasser 1960s English-language films 1960s American films