MOVIES - PIRATES 1958

• Adventures of Ben Gunn, The (1958)

• Bigorne, La [aka Amorous Corporal, The] (1958)

• Buccaneer, The (1958)

• Moonraker, The (1958)

• Pirata dello sparviero nero, Il [aka Pirate of the Black Hawk, The] (1958)

• She-Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

• Vikings, The (1958)

Adventures of Ben Gunn, The (1958)
Writers: R.F. Delderfield (writer) and Robert Louis Stevenson (characters, uncredited)
Cast: John H. Watson [Jim Hawkins, 6 episodes, 1958], Meadows White [Ben Gunn - as an Old Man, 6 episodes, 1958], John Moffatt [Ben Gunn, 6 episodes, 1958], Peter Wyngarde [John Silver, 6 episodes, 1958], Rupert Davies [Captain Flint, 6 episodes, 1958], Richard Coleman [Nick Allardyce, 5 episodes, 1958], Rodney Burke [Anderson, 5 episodes, 1958], Nigel Arkwright [Gabriel Pew, 5 episodes, 1958], Sean Lynch [Israel Hands, 5 episodes, 1958], Gertan Klauber [Black Dog, 5 episodes, 1958], Neil Hallett [Tom Morgan, 5 episodes, 1958], Terry Baker [Davis, 5 episodes, 1958], Olaf Pooley [Billy Bones, 4 episodes, 1958], Ayton Medas [Big Prosper, 3 episodes, 1958], Michael Corcoran [Darby Magraw, 3 episodes, 1958]
Storyline: Episode 1: The Parson's Son, Episode 2: The Taking of the Walrus, Episode 3: The Winning of the Treasure, Episode 4: How the Treasure Was Buried, Episode 5: The Honest Seaman and Episode 6: Marooned.
[TV Series - 30 min - Adventure - English - Black and White - UK - British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]

Bigorne, La [aka Amorous Corporal, The] (1958) 
Director: Robert Darène
Writers: Gabriel Arout (writer), Robert Darène (writer) and Pierre Nord (novel)
Cast: François Périer [La Bigorne], Rossana Podestà [Bethi], Robert Hirsch [Boisrose], Jean Lefebvre [Potirond, as Jean Lefèvre], Jean Carmet [Balluché], Henri Cogan [Tom Wright], Charles Moulin, Robert Guillon, Liliane Brousse, Mario Bernardi
Storyline: This Gallic costume farce is set in the 18th century. The plot concerns a group of fun-loving French soldiers who manage to circumvent a band of cutthroat pirates and win the undying loyalty of a tribal potentate. In so doing, our heroes secure possession of a group of unclaimed islands for the French Crown. Considering the ongoing problems in Indochina and Algeria, one would think that the history of French colonization would be the last subject any producer would pick for a film, let alone a comedy like La Bigorne, Caporal de France. For the record, the film's romantic throughline is carried by Francois Perier and Rosanna Podesta.
[87 min - Adventure - French - Color (Eastmancolor) - France | Italy - Edition et Diffusion Cinématographique (E.D.I.C.), Lux Film]

 

 

 

Buccaneer, The (1958)
Director: Anthony Quinn
Writers: Harold Lamb (1938 screenplay), Jesse Lasky Jr. (as Jesse L. Lasky Jr.), Jeanie Macpherson (adaptation), Edwin Justus Mayer (1938 script), Bernice Mosk (as Berenice Mosk), Lyle Saxon (novel "Lafitte, the Pirate") and C. Gardner Sullivan (1938 screenplay)
Cast: Yul Brynner [Jean Lafitte], Claire Bloom [Bonnie Brown], Charles Boyer [Dominique You], Inger Stevens [Annette Claiborne], Henry Hull [Ezra Peavey], E.G. Marshall [Gov. William Claiborne], Charlton Heston [Gen. Andrew Jackson], Lorne Greene [Mercier], Ted de Corsia [Capt. Rumbo], Douglass Dumbrille [Collector of the Port], Robert F. Simon [Capt. Brown], 
Sir Lancelot [Scipio], Fran Jeffries [Cariba - Mawbee Girl], John Dierkes [Deacon]
Storyline: During the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win. 
[119 min - Adventure | Drama | Romance - English - Color (Technicolor) - USA - Paramount Pictures]

 

 

 

Moonraker, The (1958)
Director: David MacDonald [as David Macdonald]
Writers: Robert Hall (screenplay), Wilfred Eades (screenplay, as Wilfrid Eades), Alistair Bell (screenplay) and Arthur Watkin (play "The Moonraker", as Arthur Watkyn)
Cast: George Baker [The Moonraker], Sylvia Syms [Anne Wyndham], Marius Goring [Colonel Beaumont], Peter Arne [Edmund Tyler], Clive Morton [Lord Harcourt], Gary Raymond [Charles Stuart], Richard Leech [Henry Strangeways], Iris Russell [Judith Strangeways], Michael Anderson Jr. [Martin Strangeways, as Michael Anderson Jnr.], Paul Whitsun-Jones [Parfitt], John Le Mesurier [Cromwell], Patrick Troughton [Captain Wilcox], Julian Somers [Captain Foster], Sylvia Bidmead [Meg], Patrick Waddington [Lord Dorset]
Storyline: After the battle of Worcester at the end of the Civil War, the main aim of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth is to capture Charles Stuart. The future king's escape depends on the intrepid Earl of Dawlish, who as the Moonraker has already spirited away many Royalists. Dawlish travels to the Windwhistle Inn on the south coast to prepare the escape, where he meets Anne Wyndham, the fiancée of a top Roundhead colonel. Swashbuckling action adventure set in the mid 17th century. George Baker stars as Earl Anthony - aka The Moonraker - a gentleman Cavalier who is the thorn in the side of Oliver Cromwell (John Le Mesurier) and his mission to rid Britain of the royalists. Feared among Cromwell's men, the Moonraker has already effected the escape of over 30 royalists to France, a feat he pulls off by assuming the identity of a Puritan scholar. However, his audacious actions run into trouble when he attempts to lead Prince Charles Stuart (Gary Raymond) to safety after a defeat at the hands of the Roundhead soldiers.  
[82 min - Action | Adventure | Drama - Color (Technicolor) - English - UK - Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)]

 

 

Pirata dello sparviero nero, Il [aka Pirate of the Black Hawk, The] (1958) 
Director: Sergio Grieco
Writers: Engo Alfonsi (writer), Mario Caiano (writer), Sergio Grieco (writer) and Guido Zurli (writer)
Cast: Gérard Landry [Capitan Riccardo], Pina Bottin [Eva, matressa du Manfredo], Andrea Aureli [Manfredo di Monteforte], Mijanou Bardot [Elena di Monteforte], Ettore Manni [Giovanni], Eloisa Cianni [Stella, Sorella di Riccardo], Germano Longo [Marco], Raf Baldassarre [Pirata Rosso], Giulio Battiferri [Nerone], Andrea Miano [Pirata con Barbo], Lea Migliorini, Maurizio Piacenti [Pirata Rosso Gammino]
Storyline: In the middle of the 15th century, Duke Manfred, the evil ruler of the Duchy of Monteforte in France, maintains his hold on the populace of Italy. He spreads fear through domination and terrorism at the hands of a band of Saracen pirates who rape, murder, and pillage coastal villages. When these same pirates (in the employ of Duke Manfred) murder the kindly former Duke of Monteforte who’s in hiding, his daughter, Eleanor (Andrea Aureli), escapes and rushes into the arms of the heroic Captain Richard (Gerard Landry) of the Black Hawk, a seaman who’s been away defending his country. Richard, with the aid of his countrymen, attacks the pirates responsible for the wave of recent terrors, and sends word to the Duke that they will take their revenge on him... next. The Duke and his pouty mistress Eva, (Mijanou Bardot, sister of French sex Kitten Brigitte Bardot), plan to kidnap all of the surviving women of the pirate raids and bring them to the castle. There, they will be used as slaves unless Richard and his men surrender. The sinister Duke also kidnaps Eleanor and forces her to become his wife, a union that will stave off the hordes of rebelling citizens that oppose the Duke. And of course, in true time-honored fashion, Richard and his men will attempt to save the day.
[92 min - Adventure - Italian - Color (Ferraniacolor) - Italy | France - Comptoir Français de Productions Cinématographiques (CFPC), Emmepi Cinematografica]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She-Gods of Shark Reef (1958)

Director: Roger Corman

Writers: Robert Hill (screenplay) and Victor Stoloff (screenplay)

Cast: Bill Cord [Christy 'Chris' Johnston], Don Durant [James 'Jim' Johnston], Lisa Montell [Mahia], Jeanne Gerson [Queen Pua], Carol Lindsay [Hula Dancer]

Storyline: Two men escaping the police by ship are blown off course by a typhoon and shipwrecked on an uncharted island populated by women who make a living diving for pearls. What the men don't know is that the women are also part of a shark cult that sacrifices young virgins to the sharks in the surrounding ocean in order to appease the shark gods. In this fantasy adventure, an escaped convict and his brother find themselves shipwrecked on an island paradise filled with luscious women who spend their days enacting rituals and diving for pearls. One of the women is selected to be a sacrifice to the sharks, but the convict's brother saves her.

[63 min - Adventure | Drama - Color (Pathécolor) - English - USA - American International Pictures (AIP)]

 

 

 

Vikings, The (1958)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Writers: Calder Willingham (screenplay), Dale Wasserman (adaptation) and Edison Marshall (novel "The Viking")
Cast: Kirk Douglas [Einar], Tony Curtis [Eric], Ernest Borgnine [Ragnar], Janet Leigh [Morgana], James Donald [Egbert], Alexander Knox [Father Godwin], Maxine Audley [Enid], Frank Thring [Aella], Eileen Way [Kitala], Edric Connor [Sandpiper], Dandy Nichols [Bridget], Per Buckhøj [Bjorn]
Storyline: Einar and Eric are two Viking half-brothers. The former is a great warrior whilst the other is an ex-slave, but neither knows the true identity of the other. When the throne of Northumbria in Britain becomes free for the taking, the two brothers compete against one another for the prize, but they have very different motives - both involving the princess Morgana, however. 
[116 min - Action | Adventure | Drama - Color - English - USA]