Dancing Pirate (1936)

After watching The Dancing Pirate, I tried to decide what target audience was intended. It wasn't particularly humorous, adventurous, or full of great music; it just sort of unrolled over time.The star, the Dancing Pirate himself, was so gaunt and skeletal that it was hard to believe he could move as quickly as he did without fainting from starvation. One expects a dancer to be fit, with some musculature, but this poor guy desperately needed to eat something, and soon.There weren't really any sympathetic characters, either, although there were some dis likable ones.It's an odd movie, bringing together tap dancing and flamenco, inducing peaceful Indians to do violence, the star dancing with a noose around his neck, and more...it's like nothing else.

Have fun looking out for Rita Hayworth in "The dancing Pirate", but don't hold your breath.By 1936, Margarita Cansino was being groomed for stardom by Fox studios. According to one biography (featured in Gene Ringgold's "The Films of Rita Hayworth" of the old Citadel press "Films of..." series), her father then regrouped the remaining Dancing Cansinos under the name "The Royal Cansino Dancers" and appeared in "The Dancing Pirate" for an affiliate of RKO pictures.The year before "Pirate" was released, Rita had already had speaking parts in Fox films like the Jane Withers vehicle "Paddy O'Day", in which Rita was the female adult lead. It seem unlikely she would then be loaned to another studio to be hidden among the Royal Dancing Cansinos.I would say all this at least warrants an unconfirmed status on Hayworth's credit for this film. But, if you ask me, she is NOT in the film at all.

A mélange of action comedy romance and musical doesn't really work since its trying to be too many things all at once. The plot has a dance teacher getting shanghaied into becoming a pirate and sailing from the east coast of America to the west where the pirates come up and try to take over a town in Spanish California. Our hero of course defects, but is thrown in prison because everyone assumes he's one of the bad guys. Straightening things out he has to over come the town bad guy and head of the local militia who is engaged to the daughter of the "mayor" of the town. She doesn't love the villain, but our hero.Can you tell I wasn't much interested? The music is fair, the dancing adequate and the story way too busy. It feels at times like they are trying to do a musical version of Zorro but with out the mask. I will admit that it didn't help that I saw this Technicolor film in black and white so the garish costume designs looked worse and the sets looked very much like bad cheap sets. That said the cast is at best fair with Charles Collins (in one of his very few screen roles) as the dancing romantic lead very bland and second billed Frank (the Wizard of Oz) Morgan proving that he is better in support then in a lead where his abilities are strained a bit too much.In its way its not a bad film, rather it's the sort of thing that was just sort of misses. I'm guessing the film was skimped on since the Technicolor film stock ate up most of the budget.Not the worst thing to come down the pike, but not something I need ever see again.

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....