Post by Prime etc. on May 19, 2020 17:21:40 GMT
THE TIGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS 1962 - Gianna Maria Canale, not to be confused with Gian Maria Volontè, stars as the daughter of a pirate who has to leave his ship to one of his crew since he has no son. The top contender is her fiancee, but after he wins the ship, she challenges him to duel and ambiguity being what it is, either she successfully defeats him and spares his life, or he allowed himself to get defeated--whatever the case, he is publicly humiliated and leaves angrily, and she is distraught.
Soon her father shows up stabbed and she and the pirates assume it is her boyfriend, then the Spanish appear and break up their lynching party. She is convinced he did kill her father after all since he took their ship--so she hijacks another one and goes on a piracy campaign, building a reputation for herself. Eventually the boyfriend learns of her deeds and seeks her out, and convinces her that he wasn't her father's killer. They hatch a plan to expose the real killer but he gets captured so she has to attend a masquerade ball to free him and confront the bad guy.
There is an amusing subplot involving the young wife of the colony governor who flatters him while actually being the one in charge.
I felt that Geena Davis was miscast for Cutthroat Island and Lucy Lawless would have been more appropriate--well Canale does resemble Lawless so this may be the closest we get to seeing how that could have gone.
Since the Italians didn't bother with onset sound they could shoot outdoors on ships so the scenes of the pirate queen sword fighting is more visually exciting than what I recall from the few 1950s Hollywood pirate queen films I have seen.
Soon her father shows up stabbed and she and the pirates assume it is her boyfriend, then the Spanish appear and break up their lynching party. She is convinced he did kill her father after all since he took their ship--so she hijacks another one and goes on a piracy campaign, building a reputation for herself. Eventually the boyfriend learns of her deeds and seeks her out, and convinces her that he wasn't her father's killer. They hatch a plan to expose the real killer but he gets captured so she has to attend a masquerade ball to free him and confront the bad guy.
There is an amusing subplot involving the young wife of the colony governor who flatters him while actually being the one in charge.
I felt that Geena Davis was miscast for Cutthroat Island and Lucy Lawless would have been more appropriate--well Canale does resemble Lawless so this may be the closest we get to seeing how that could have gone.
Since the Italians didn't bother with onset sound they could shoot outdoors on ships so the scenes of the pirate queen sword fighting is more visually exciting than what I recall from the few 1950s Hollywood pirate queen films I have seen.