ASSASSINS CREED IV: BLACK FLAG WEEK: Pieces of Eight Feature: Our Top 5 Pirate films

Hi All,
Well as part of our Pieces of Eight feature for the week of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag release we decided to have some fun and get in the mood, so sat back and watched a few of our favourite Pirate films.

As such they break down to this top five, in no particular order:

1)  Captain Blood:

Errol Flynn shot to stardom as Peter Blood, a 17th-Century physician turned pirate after escaping unjust political imprisonment. It was a role the handsome, sea-loving Tasmanian was born to play, and he shaped it into Hollywood's archetypal image of the adventurous hero. That he also becam a romatic idol and a vision of gallantry in love is due in large part to his ideally cast co-star: radiant Olivia de Havilland in the first of thir eight films together. Directed with panache by Michael Curtiz, scored with flair by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and featuring Basil Rathbone and Lionel Attwill as villains to remember, CAPTAIN BLOOD wil skipper you on the high seas of unparalleled enjoyment.

Take a look at this trailer:

2)  The Princess Bride:

Comical fantasy tale of beautiful princesses, foul villains and dashing heroes from director Rob Reiner. The Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn) is saddened by the disappearance of her true-love Westley (Cary Elwes), and finds that she now has no choice but to become engaged to the evil Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). But Westley soon arrives back on the scene and, along with his mismatched band of adventurers, sets off on a daring mission to rescue his beloved. The film also stars Mandy Patinkin as a Spanish cavalier and Billy Crystal as a crazy magician.  

3)  The Crimson Pirate:

A notorious raider of the eighteenth century sea lanes, Captain Vallo (Burt Lancaster), a.k.a. The Crimson Pirate, and his band of buccaneers overtake a Spanish galleon filled with guns and ammunition. When he decides to sell the stolen arsenal to rebel leader El Libre on the island of Cobra, the representative of Spain, Baron Gruda, offers Vallo 50,000 florins if he will deliver El Libre instead. Vallo is soon caught between the Spanish, the rebellion, and even the mutiny of his own men. But having fallen in love with El Libre's daughter Consuelo, Vallo gains back his crew's trust and leads the island of Cobra to freedom. 

4)  Muppets Treasure Island

 Kids love Muppet Treasure Island, a take on Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate classic, about the pirate Long John Silver (Tim Curry) and his takeover of a ship in order to track down buried treasure. His friend and then nemesis is earnest cabin boy Jim Hawkins (Kevin Bishop), who teams with the captain of the ship (Kermit the Frog) and several shipmates (including Gonzo, Ratso, and Fozzie) to foil Long John's nefarious plot. An odd subplot finds Captain Kermit stopping at a desert island to find his long-lost love (Miss Piggy--who else?).

5)  Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

 You won't need a bottle of rum to enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, even if you haven't experienced the Disneyland theme-park ride that inspired it. There's a galleon's worth of fun in watching Johnny Depp's androgynous performance as Captain Jack Sparrow, a roguish pirate who could pass for the illegitimate spawn of rockers Keith Richards and Chrissie Hynde. Depp gets all the good lines and steals the show, recruiting Orlando Bloom (a blacksmith and expert swordsman) and Keira Knightley (a lovely governor's daughter). They set out on an adventurous quest to recapture the notorious Black Pearl, a ghost ship commandeered by Jack's nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), a mutineer desperate to reverse the curse that left him and his (literally) skeleton crew in a state of eternal, undead damnation. Director Gore Verbinski (The Ring) repeats the redundant mayhem that marred his debut film Mouse Hunt, but with the writers of Shrek he's made Pirates of the Caribbean into a special-effects thrill-ride that plays like a Halloween party on the open seas.

Hopefully you'll have just as much fun watching them as we did,



Gareth and Lady Eleanor