The Pirates of Blood River *** (1962, Christopher Lee, Kerwin Mathews, Peter Arne, Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper, Andrew Keir, Glenn Corbett) – Classic Movie Review 3280

In co-writer/director John Gilling’s 1962 high adventure yarn The Pirates of Blood River, pirates attack the French Huguenots for their gold. The movie stars Kerwin Mathews as the dashing Huguenot hero Jonathon Standing battling the ever excellent Christopher Lee as the eye-patched French cutthroat Captain LaRoche.

The screenplay is by the formidable team of Gilling, John Hunter, Anthony Nelson Keys (also the producer) and Jimmy Sangster. In their story, LaRoche’s pirates capture Standish and force him to lead them back to his village to retrieve the treasure supposedly hidden there.

Gilling’s fairly rousing Hammer Films studios swashbuckler is packed to the gunwales with verbal and visual clichés. No matter, the stalwart cast and exciting swordplay keep it above water.

Peter Arne (as LaRoche’s pirate sidekick Hench), Oliver Reed (as Brocaire) and Michael Ripper (as Mack) are among the pirates. Andrew Keir (as Jason Standing), Glenn Corbett (as Henry), Marla Landis (as Bess Standing), Jack Stewart (as Godfrey Mason), David Lodge (as Smith) and Dennis Waterman (as Smith) also star.

Also in the cast are Marie Devereux, Desmond Llewelyn, John Bennett, Richard Bennett, John Collin, Denis Shaw, Michael Mulcaster, Michael Peake, Don Levy, Keith Pyott, Jerrold Wells and Diane Aubrey.

The Pirates of Blood River is directed by John Gilling, runs 87 minutes, is made by Columbia Pictures Corporation and Hammer Films and is photographed in Eastmancolor.

The Pirates of Blood River is shot at Black Park Lake, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, (Blood River), Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, (jungle) and Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey, (penal colony), as well as in the studio at Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England.

Lee, Keir and Ripper reconvened for another Hammer pirate film, The Devil-Ship Pirates, in 1964.

After The Pirates of Blood River, Hammer Films studios recast the rather handsome young Oliver Reed in The Scarlet Blade (1963) and as war chieftain Ali Khan in The Brigand of Kandahar (1965). All three films are written and directed by John Gilling.

Peter Arne (1920–1983).

British character actor Peter Arne (born 29 September 1920) made more than 50 films including Strangers’ Meeting (1957), The Moonraker (1958), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Intent to Kill (1958), Breakout (1959), Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), The Hellfire Club (1961), The Secret of Monte Cristo (1961), The Pirates of Blood River (1962), Straw Dogs (1971) and Antony and Cleopatra (1972), The Return of the Pink Panther and Trail of the Pink Panther.

Arne was murdered on 1 August 1983, aged 62, shortly after a costume fitting for a role in Doctor Who. He was found beaten to death inside his Knightsbridge flat, presumedly by an Italian schoolteacher he was helping. The teacher drowned himself in the Thames four days later.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3280

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