Such a frustrating disappointment

An absolute waste of money

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It's very difficult to predict what you will think of this idiosyncratic musical comedy. Filmed in 3 strip Technicolor, it's only been available in B&W copies for decades. However, apparently, a full Technicolor copy surfaced in 2015, so perhaps this will be made available in time. This would be especially valuable for the colorful dances in the Mexican village of La Paloma.......The film title is misleading. The dancing master, Johnathan((Charles Collins) who is the main character, is not a pirate. Rather he was shanghaied from his Boston home by some pirates, and given menial jobs to do, until he escaped in coastal Mexican California during a shore operation.(Just why the pirates went around Cape Horn to the then backwater of California is not explained). It's understandable that the people of this village might be fearful with his arrival, as, from a hill, they saw a pirate ship off shore, and initially feared that he was the captain. As it turned out, none of the real pirates followed him. Just what they had in the casks they offloaded nearby is a mystery, but they didn't come looking for him before shoving off. His cask was different because he had put his aunt's umbrella and music box in it. The umbrella would come in handy numerous times In subduing enemies, while the music box sometimes served as music for dancing.......Before he was shanghaied, he was a dancing master in 1820 Boston. Recently, he had been specializing in teaching the imported European waltz, which was much simpler than most other dances being taught in America.(Historically, the waltz was first introduced in the US, in Boston, but in 1834, not in1820). However, there was much initial resistance to it, because it involved the revolutionary practice of the couple facing close together, with the man wrapping his arm around his partner's waist. Initially, this was considered to intimate.. When, he got to Mexico, he found this attitude even more infirmly ingrained, although eventually, they accepted it.......In addition to waltzing, Jonathan exhibited some tapdancing, often mixed with skipping or jumping, rather in the manner of Ray Bolger(the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"). In Boston, after a class, he so danced around the room snuffing out candles.......Initially, the inhabitants of the Mexican village decided that Jonathan should be hanged. However, senorita Sera Fina objected that he should be given a chance to demonstrate if he was a proficient dancer. At first, he had to dance with the hangmen's noose around his neck! Then, they allowed him to dance without the noose. The village men still wanted him hanged, but the women strenuously objected, and he was given a reprieve. .......During these proceedings, Sera Fina's father(Frank Morgan),who functioned as the town mayor, was quite prominent in the proceedings. He exhibited his signature bumbling and stammering mode of speech and behavior, which he would carry with him into his role as The Wizard, in "The Wizard of Oz). He was the most interesting character in the film, from the audience's point of view.......Jonathan faced a new threat in the form of some renegade soldiers from Monterey. At first, they were thought legitimate, and wanted to take him on Monterey for trial. Also, the captain(Victor Varconi) wanted to marry Sera Fina, demanding so many sheep from the father. Meanwhile, Jonathan made friends with the local Indians, and induced them to take part in an attack on the soldiers. Their only weapon was lengths of rope, which they used to lasso the soldiers from above, then hoist them up or tie them up. Meanwhile, Jonathan was jumping around bashing soldiers with his unbelievably resilient umbrella handle. Finally, he interrupted the wedding ceremony for SeraFina and the captain of the soldiers. The captain challenged him in a duel, he using his sword, and Johnathan using his umbrella. Using his superior maneuverability, Jonathan finally was the clear winner, and replaced the captain in the wedding ceremony. A celebration, with much colorful dancing, was held.

The Dancing Pirate which was released by RKO in 1936 was one of the last films done with an original score by Rodgers&Hart. They would be moving back to Broadway and had a string of hit musicals only interrupted by Larry Hart's death in 1943.As this was an RKO film watching it now it was fairly obvious that this film was created with Fred Astaire in mind for the lead. Had Astaire done it The Dancing Pirate might be better remembered. Certainly the two songs done by Dick and Larry aren't among the most memorable. In fact the best number in the film is a dance by lead Charles Collins to Yankee Doodle Dandy that had Astaire written all over it. In fact the main weakness of the film is Collins. A good dancer, Collins had a screen presence that was colorless, odorless, and tasteless. He plays a Boston dancing teacher who gets shanghaied by pirates and escapes the first chance he can when they put in to California for provisions.Still ruled by Spain, the local Alcalde is Frank Morgan at his decisiveless best. Morgan on loan from MGM is the best thing about The Dancing Pirate.Collins is sad to say guilty by association and the men want to hang him, but the women want to learn to dance so he's in legal limbo of sorts. He also has competition for the hand of Morgan's daughter Steffi Duna in the person of Captain Victor Varconi from Monterey at the head of a platoon of dragoons ostensibly there to protect the village from pirates. But Varconi has his own plans, Snidely Whiplash type plans.The Dancing Pirate won an Oscar nomination for the now defunct category of dance direction. I long for the day when musicals of all kinds were being churned out and a category like dance direction was warranted. Speaking of dancing Rita Hayworth is in this film as part of her family troupe of Spanish dancers, The Dancing Cansinos.The Dancing Pirate is an amusing enough film, but it really needed Fred Astaire to put it over.

The DVD is in B & W. Remastered but lacks any depth --- still looks old. Set in the 1800s the "Dance Master" does a lot of 1930 style tap dancing. Frank Morgan is funny but the rest is almost a waste of time. The whole problem with the culture and his teaching WALTZ dancing was how putting his right hand on the lady was an offense. I can't tell if this was for the 1936 audience or part of the 1800s culture. A few times a Mexican band played a few bars of Malaguena and then mixed it in with some other music style. Plot holes--The main character was kidnapped and forced to work on a pirate ship. Then he is let loose on land-the map shows LOS ANGELES; but he is clearly in Mexico... The map shows California is a state although in the 1800s; I believe the map is wrong for that era. Then when he is walking into town; the pirate ship leaves him--there is no explanation at all....

I would have liked the movie even more, I'm sure, if I'd seen the color version. Unfortunately, the only version I could find was the black-and-white, which I purchased out of curiosity from a bin of one dollar DVDs at Wal-Mart. Anyhow, "The Dancing Pirate" is certainly no masterpiece, but it's hard to dislike this movie. It's harmless, goofy, sort-of-weird entertainment (just about what you'd expect from the title), and the main character is a likable guy. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't actually contain any dancing pirates (the main character, "a dancing master," is mistaken for a pirate), but the dancing it does contain ain't bad. If you're the type of person who'd consider buying a movie called "The Dancing Pirate" from a bin of one dollar DVDs at Wal-Mart, you'll like this movie, as did I.