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 ...
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
Don Sharp
Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director.
His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ''Rasputin, the Mad Monk' ...
.
The film was the first of several collaborations between Don Sharp and star Christopher Lee.
Plot
A pirate ship, involved in 1588 battles on the side of the
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
, suffers extensive damage and must put into a village on the British coast for repairs.
The village is small and isolated. The Spanish convince the villagers that the English fleet has been defeated and that they, the Spanish, are now their masters. This results in the villagers' sullen cooperation, but rumours and unrest begin to spread and soon the Spanish pirates find themselves facing a revolt.
Cast
*
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
as Captain Robeles
*
Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career t ...
as Tom
*
John Cairney
John Cairney (born 16 February 1930) is a Scottish film and television actor who is well known to audiences in Scotland and internationally through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Macki ...
as Harry
*
Duncan Lamont
Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pre ...
as The Bosun
*
Michael Ripper
Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor.
He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. Along with Michael Gough ...
as Pepe
*
Ernest Clark
Ernest Clark (12 February 1912 – 11 November 1994) was a British actor of stage, television and film.
Early life
Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving sch ...
as Sir Basil
*
Barry Warren
Barry Warren (born 12 July 1933 in London, died 22 February 1994 in Chichester, Sussex) was a British actor, born as Barry Christopher J. Warren. He trained at RADA, graduating in 1955. As well as several stage and TV appearances, including one ...
as Manuel
*
Suzan Farmer
Suzan Maxine Farmer (16 June 1942 – 17 September 2017) was an English film and television actress. She was regularly cast in movies produced by Hammer Films.
Early life
The daughter of David Farmer, a trader in metals, and Eleanor (née Bes ...
as Angela
*
Natasha Pyne
Natasha Pyne (born 9 July 1946) is an English actress who starred in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1967 film), ''The Breaking of Bumbo'' (1970) and ''Father, Dear Father'' (1973).
Early life
Pyne was born in Crawley, Sussex on 9 July 1946. She ...
as Jane
* Annette Whiteley as Meg
* Charles Houston as Antonio
*
Philip Latham
Charles Philip Latham (17 January 1929 – 20 June 2020) was a British television actor.
He was educated at Felsted School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1951.
In the late 1960s/early 1970s he was well know ...
as Miller
*
Harry Locke
Harry Locke (10 December 1913 – 7 September 1987) was an English character actor.
He was born and died in London. He married Joan Cowderoy in 1943 and Cordelia Sewell in 1952. He was a good friend of the poet Dylan Thomas. Their friendship in ...
as Bragg
*
Leonard Fenton
Leonard Fenton (''né'' Finestein; 29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022) was a British actor, director and painter, best known for his role as Dr. Harold Legg in ''EastEnders''.
Early life
Fenton was born Leonard FinesteinBruce Beeby
Bruce Edward Beeby (21 October 1921 – 20 October 2013) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in British films and television. He was probably best known for portraying Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1950s BBC radio serials '' Journ ...
as Pedro
* Michael Peake as Grande
* Johnny Briggs as Pablo
* Michael Newport as Smiler
* Peter Howell as The Vicar
*
June Ellis
June Georgina Ellis Bromly (3 June 1926 – 26 June 2011) was an English film and television actress. She was married to director Alan Bromly (1915–1995).
Filmography Film roles
* ''The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp'' (1954) - Sally
* '' Sky We ...
as Mrs. Blake
Production
Development
In the early 1960s Hammer Films were best known for their horror movies, but they also tried other genres. The studio made a swashbuckler, ''
The Pirates of Blood River
''The Pirates of Blood River'' is a 1962 British adventure film directed by John Gilling and starring Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed.
Plot
While in a penal colony, Huguenot Jonathan Standing (Kerwin Mathews) is ...
'' (1962), written by Jimmy Sangster and starring Christopher Lee; it was a success at the box office, so Hammer commissioned Sangster to write another pirate-themed story for Lee, ''The Devil Ship Pirates''. "The idea
was to release these bloody-but-not-too- bloody adventure films during school
holidays, and they made a fortune on them," said Don Sharp, who would direct ''Devil Ship''.
Sharp had just made his first feature for Hammer, '' Kiss of the Vampire'' and was invited back to work at the studio by
Tony Hinds
Anthony Frank Hinds (19 September 1922 – 30 September 2013
. Sharp says the film was aimed at the school holiday market so it needed to have a "U" certificate. "But they wanted it to look like a X film. So we had an action film with kids in it," said Sharp.Koetting p 10
It was the first time Sharp had worked with Christopher Lee. The director had seen several of Lee's performances "and I was worried about a range I saw as playing down one line. But right from our first meeting we got on and when we talked it was two actors talking. We'd explore his character and I found myself suggesting depths to Captain Roebles that I hadn't expected I'd be able to. Chris is tremendously professional and can essay roles that are charming and threatening at the same time - he has a lovely stillness about him. He’s a very commanding presence."Koetting p 11
Shooting
Filming began on 19 August 1963 at Bray Studios in Berkshire. Sharp did not get along particularly well with producer
Anthony Nelson Keys
Anthony Nelson Keys (13 November 1911 – 19 March 1985) was a British film producer, best known of his work with Hammer Film Productions. His father was Nelson Keys and his brother John Paddy Carstairs.
The outdoor sets were previously utilised for Hammer's ''
The Scarlet Blade
''The Scarlet Blade'' (released in the United States as ''The Crimson Blade'') is a 1963 British adventure film directed by John Gilling and starring Lionel Jeffries, Oliver Reed, Jack Hedley and June Thorburn.
It is a period drama set during ...
'', made the previous year. Ripper, Lamont and Farmer appeared in both films.
The opening scene was shot in a flooded gravel pit a couple of miles up the road from Bray Studios. On the other side of the road council workers were starting to build a motorway so Sharp had the crew lay smoke to obscure trucks in the background. "Outwitting the M4 was a major part of making this movie," joked Sharp later who said making the film was "great fun".
According to
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
, Hammer Studios had built a full-sized galleon in some sand pits on a steel structure under the water. Although warned not to have too many people on board at once, one day the tea boat was lifted onto a platform level with the water and too many people rushed over to get a cup of tea. The ship capsized, throwing most of the cast and crew in the water. Lee was on the
poop deck
In naval architecture, a poop deck is a deck that forms the roof of a cabin built in the rear, or " aft", part of the superstructure of a ship.
The name originates from the French word for stern, ''la poupe'', from Latin ''puppis''. Thus th ...
and luckily managed to hold on to the rail. No one was drowned or seriously hurt.Yoram Allon, et al (eds.) ''Contemporary British and Irish Film Directors'', London: Wallflower, 2001, p.310 Lee says he"saved the most valuable article possible: the continuity girl's typewriter. The whole structure took several days to right, so that it could be blown up at the end in a glorious holocaust."
"It was lucky we didn't have a serious accident," said Michael Reed, who was the cinematographer. Sharp said, "The scaffolding went to the bottom and was there for two years with the company who owned the pit still charging hire for it!”
Reception
Box Office
''Kinematograph Weekly'' called the film a "money maker" at the British box office for 1964.
Critical
''The Guardian'' called it "very good fun and should have children sitting on the edge of their seats."
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' called it a "hackneyed, land-locked corsair yarn, quite well mounted but utterly lacklustre."
''The Devil-Ship Pirates'' is a "lacklustre pirate yarn with not much action and some elements of Hammer horror" according to ''
Halliwell
Halliwell is a surname. It may refer to:
People
* Bryn Halliwell (born 1980), English football goalkeeper
* Danny Halliwell (born 1981), rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s
* David Halliwell (1936–2006), British dramatis ...
's Film and Video Guide''. Richard Harland-Smith it is a "spirited romp", but notes that the film's "diet of floggings, hangings and swordplay pushed its 'U' certificate to the limits."
Legacy
Sharp and Lee would go on to make several more films together, including ''
The Face of Fu Manchu
''The Face of Fu Manchu'' is a 1965 thriller film directed by Don Sharp and based on the characters created by Sax Rohmer. It stars Christopher Lee as the eponymous villain, a Chinese criminal mastermind, and Nigel Green as his pursuing rival N ...
'', ''
The Brides of Fu Manchu
''The Brides of Fu Manchu'' is a 1966 British/West German Constantin Film co-production adventure crime film based on the fictional Chinese villain Dr. Fu Manchu, created by Sax Rohmer. It was the second film in a series, and was preceded by ...
'', ''
Rasputin the Mad Monk
''Rasputin the Mad Monk'' is a 1966 Hammer horror film directed by Don Sharp and starring Christopher Lee as Grigori Rasputin, the Russian peasant- mystic who gained great influence with the Tsars prior to the Russian Revolution. It also ...
'' and '' Bear Island''.
Hammer once announced it would make a biopic of the female pirate Anne Bonney to star
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Welch ( Tejada; September 5, 1940) is an American actress.
She first won attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer ...
, ''Mistress of the Seas''. However it was never made.
Sharp later recalled that ''Devil Ship'' and ''Kiss of the Vampire'' "are among the happiest movies I ever worked on. With Shepperton or Pinewood you were one of a number of pictures being made, and if you were on a small budget, you got second or third best. At Bray, when you walked through the gate, everything was on your picture. There was a family feeling about it, and a feeling of pride as
well: everyone knew their craft and inspired others."Koetting p 12