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The Pirates of Blood River

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The Pirates of Blood River
UK quad poster
Directed byJohn Gilling
Screenplay byJohn Hunter
John Gilling
Story byJimmy Sangster
Produced byMichael Carreras
StarringKerwin Mathews
Christopher Lee
Glenn Corbett
Peter Arne
Marla Landi
Andrew Keir
Oliver Reed
CinematographyArthur Grant
Edited byEric Boyd-Perkins
Music byGary Hughes
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 31 July 1962 (1962-07-31) (United Kingdom)
  • August 1962 (1962-08) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Pirates of Blood River is a 1962 British swashbuckler film directed by John Gilling and starring Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed.[1]

Plot

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While in a penal colony, Huguenot Jonathan Standing is captured by pirates led by Captain LaRoche who force him to lead them back to his home village to retrieve a treasure supposedly hidden there.

Cast

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Production

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The film was produced at Bray Studios, Berkshire. Location shooting took place at Blackpark Lake, Black Park Country Park, Black Park Road, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (Blood River); Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (jungle); Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey, England, UK (penal colony).[citation needed]

Reception

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Box office

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The film was issued on a double bill with Mysterious Island (1961), Britain's biggest grossing double bill of the year.[2] According to Films and Filming it was the tenth most popular movie in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1962.[3]

Critical

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Stodgy, two-dimensional costume piece. Blood flows freely against colourful locations, but most schoolboys are likely to wish that the pirates had stayed out at sea."[4]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Land-locked blood and thunder for tough schoolboys"[5]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This Hammer swashbuckler is a colourful, action-packed adventure. ... There are wenches and scurvy knaves galore, but only tantalising vestiges of the X-rated bloodbath intended, as the film was reduced to U certificate derring-do for the school holidays after long sessions at the censor's office"[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The Pirates of Blood River". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  2. ^ Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Vault, Titan Books, 2011 p55
  3. ^ British films are tops at box office Author: Douglas Marlborough Date: Monday, Dec. 10, 1962 Publication: Daily Mail p 3
  4. ^ "The Pirates of Blood River". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 83. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 800. ISBN 0586088946.
  6. ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 722. ISBN 9780992936440.
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