The Devil-Ship Pirates
Director: Don Sharp
Year: 1964
Rating: 6.0
Hammer
wasn't putting all their eggs in the basket of horror but were still producing
other genres, in particular adventure film which appealed to a children's
audience who were deterred from seeing horror by the British rating system.
The director of this film, Don Sharp, said they timed releases of these sorts
of films for the school holiday. Just enough action to get them in but not
too much to have the ratings go against them. He called them money-makers.
This is a straight out adventure tale with pirates, sword fighting and attractive
women. There is though beneath that a theme of courage, resistance and collaboration.
I imagine that the writer Jimmy Sangster had in the back of his mind a what
if the Nazis had occupied England. There would have been the resistance,
the collaborators and those that just stood by. This is a mini-microcosm
of that.
In 1588 what was termed the Invincible Spanish
Armada set sail for England. Their intent was to overthrow Elizabeth I and
re-establish Catholicism as the religion of England. It didn't go well. The
English navy under Francis Drake in smaller, faster, more maneuverable ships
destroyed the Armada and though the Spanish were to try three more times,
they were defeated each time. Britannica ruled the Waves. And it remained
that way for a few hundred more years. In this film the privateer the Diablo
was part of the Armada. A privateer was basically a pirate ship but, in these
circumstances, hired by a government to fight on their side. The Diablo
is captained by Robeles played by Christopher Lee. Lee was becoming very
good at playing the villain after Terror of the Tongs, The Pirates of Blood
River and The Whip and the Body. He is very civil here but absolutely ruthless
and on occasion a glint comes into his eye that is terrifyingly cruel because
for a moment his diabolical soul is revealed.
In the battle his ship is badly damaged
- a very well-done scene - and they have to make shore for England where
they can hide and make repairs. There is a nearby sleepy village where all
the young able-bodied men are off to war. They have heard no news about the
English victory and so when Robeles rolls into town telling them the Armada
won and they have occupied England, the townsfolk believe it. They just need
to keep up this façade for three days till the ship is seaworthy.
Among the townsfolk you have the resisters (Andrew Keir, John Cairney), the
collaborator who is the local land owner and the women who seem happy to
have young men again to frolic with. Sharp keeps it going with a number of
tense small action scenes, the pirates being slowly whittled down and waiting
for the villagers to find out the truth. Hammer regular Michael Ripper is
a pirate with a lecherous desire for women and Suzane Farmer (Dracula: Prince
of Darkness, Die Monster Die) appear. Sharp was to go on to do a few other
Hammer films - The Kiss of the Vampire and Rasputin as well as a couple of
the Fu Manchu films with Christopher Lee.
