Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 19:24:45 02/27/06 Mon
Thanks so much, Michael, for that bit of info! Awesome! You're right, it is a film--I've just found the official page for it on the National Geographic website:
<a rel=nofollow target=_blank href="http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/blackbeard/">http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/blackbeard/</a>
I can't wait to see it--sounds like exactly what I've been hankering for! Hope James Purefoy can do the role justice. It says he played Marc Antony in the recent HBO series "Rome," but I haven't seen it. (I did try watching a couple of episodes but just couldn't get into it. Did anybody else catch it?) Otherwise, I'm unfamiliar with his work.
Just to be clear, I don't mean to put down anybody who enjoyed the film! But I am curious whether you became a fan of Robert Newton before (or after) seeing it and whether you already knew the story of Blackbeard. (Be sure to vote in the poll!)
Like I said, I can relate to author Phil Leibfried who seemed equally appalled by both Blackbeard the Pirate and Soldiers Three (originally, even more misleadingly titled "Rudyard Kipling's Soldiers Three"). Being a Rudyard Kipling afficionado, he was understandably disappointed by the film version, which, except for the names of the characters, had almost nothing to do with Kipling's original story. To him I can imagine the movie was tantamount to blasphemy. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie since I've read very little Kipling and, having no expectations beforehand, saw it as just a fun comedy with a reasonably coherent (if silly) storyline. This is how I imagine most of you probably view "Blackbeard the Pirate."
I first saw Blackbeard in the late 1970s or early 1980s and, frankly, at the time, I found it pretty innocuous--the only part of it that really stuck with me was Noll the kooky beachcomber impersonating Bob, with his memorable intonations of "Gather unto me" and "I am the King of Spain!" And then there was the grisly ending, of course! I didn't see it again until after creating this website, having done quite a bit of research on Robert Newton and having seen a number of his films and performances which were of far superior quality (depending how you define quality, of course!) to Blackbeard. I had also, during the past thirty years or so since Robert Newton first captivated me in Treasure Island, done a considerable amount of research on pirates, and the real (and legendary) Blackbeard is among of my favorites. For a pirate, he was relatively humane, but what a character!
So after having immersed myself in so many of Newton's more subtle performances, like Obsession and the Desert Rats (even Jamaica Inn, in which he's so conventional, I hardly noticed him in it the first time around), then going back to watch Blackbeard again, my jaw practically dropped on the floor to see him give such a shockingly unrestrained performance. To paraphrase my friend Phil, it's as if the director were completely absent from the set, leaving the actors to run amok, doing whatever they wanted without regard to what anybody else's conception of the film--some completely underplaying their parts or seeming wooden, some seeming to have just stumbled in off the set of a Three Stooges short ;-), still others managing to turn in deftly humorous performances--while for his part, Robert Newton, ever the pioneer, was giving new meaning to the words "over the top." At first, I was actually embarrassed for him, hearing him throw the word "arr" into just about every line at *least* once, most of which were just lame set-ups to predictable jokes. It seemed to me like the cast was just making the whole movie up as they went along. Or if Raoul Walsh was actually giving any direction, I envision him doing it in the style of Ed Wood. (No matter what anybody does, he shouts gleefully, "That was great!")
Then, added to all that, were the glaring, nonstop inaccuracies. If I hadn't known a thing about Blackbeard (or Henry Morgan) before seeing it, I would probably have enjoyed the movie a lot more (or at least found it as innocuous as I did back circa 1980), but the plot is just so far removed from reality, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it. Not with all the other incongruities going on at the same time.
However ...
As I've said, the numerous comments (like yours) posted here and in the guestbook have convinced me that there is some merit to the film, if approached without all the expectations that I had. That's why I gave the film another chance and, now that I was better prepared for Bob's very enthusiastic demonstration of the "presentational style" of acting ;-), was able to enjoy it more--or at least enjoy his, er, "groundbreaking" performance, which, fortunately, dominates the film, making the flaws less obvious. Unfortunately, I can't just make myself forget everything I already know about pirates, and, in my opinion, the film is a dreadful mess. I don't mean to spoil (or put down) anybody else's enjoyment of the movie; I simply felt a need to set the record straight about Blackbeard for anybody who's interested in the character, as well as to defend my scathing review since, believe it or not, it pains me to have to post it. (I just can't bring myself to pretend I liked it more than I did! Although I have revised it several times trying to make it a little softer.) I hope the page I created with the photos doesn't seem harsh! I don't mean it to. It's just so hard to hold back my opinion.
So if I upped my final rating of the film to two stars, would it make anybody happier? Probably not, huh? (Not that a little controversy is a bad thing. I'm glad to see so much *friendly* discussion about the film!)
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