It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Pirate (1948) – Musical #17

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, George Zucco,
Lester Allen, Lola Albright, Ellen Ross, Mary Jo Ellis, Jean Dean, Mario Murray, Ben Lessy, Jerry Bergen, Val Setz, Anne Francis (uncredited), Alex Romero (uncredited), Dee Turnell (uncredited), Marie Windsor (uncredited)
Specialty Acts: Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, The Gaudsmith Brothers

Plot:
Manuela (Garland) lives with her aunt (Cooper) in the Caribbean. She’s never been anywhere or done anything and wants to travel and experience excitement, inspired by the adventures of Macoco the Pirate. However, her aunt feels it’s high time for Manuela to be married and arrange a marriage with the town’s mayor, Don Pedro (Slezak). To have excitement before she’s wed, she asks if they can go to the sea to pick up her wedding trousseau. While there, a traveling acting troupe lead by Serafin (Kelly). Serafin is immediately taken with Manuela and invites her to their performance, where he hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis, Manuela reveals her love for Macoco the Pirate. When Manuela and her aunt return home, Serafin and his troupe turn up in her town for a performance.

Trivia:
• The film is based on the 1942 Broadway play, “The Pirate” which starred d Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The play was not a musical but was adapted as a musical for the screen.
• While Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were interested in bringing the show to screen, MGM originally envisioned the film starring William Powell with Myrna Loy and Hedy Lamarr. Others considered for the film leads included Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. Greer Garson and Charles Laughton were also considered for roles in 1943, and Lena Horne was announced to be in the film in 1946. None of them were in the final film project.
• The music for the film is written by Cole Porter. In the stage production, the pirate’s name is Estramudo and Porter asked to change the name to “Macoco.” Porter had a friend named Macoco and wanted to write songs about him, according to the book the book “The Cinematic Voyage of THE PIRATE,” a book on the history of the making of this film.
• Judy Garland’s number, “Voodoo,” was shot but cut from the final film.
• This was the only Judy Garland film to not make profit for MGM, according to The Judy Room.
• This was the last Hollywood feature film the Nicholas Brothers would appear in until 1970.

Highlights:
• Superb dancing
• The first interaction between Judy Garland and Gene Kelly
• When Manuela is hypnotized

Notable Songs:
• “Niña” performed by Gene Kelly
• “Mack the Black” performed by Judy Garland, danced by Gene Kelly
• “You Can Do No Wrong” performed by Judy Garland
• “Be a Clown” performed by Gene Kelly and the Nicholas Brothers
• “Love of My Life” performed by Judy Garland
• “Pirate Ballet” danced by Gene Kelly

My review:
When thinking of MGM musical stars, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly are among the top when you consider those with supreme talent, with Garland’s powerhouse singing voice and Kelly’s acrobatic, athletic dancing.

Garland and Kelly complement each other well as co-stars, but their pairing in THE PIRATE (1948) is perhaps one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s more unique musical projects.

Set in a small Caribbean town, Judy Garland plays Manuela, who dreams of romance and adventures, especially as she reads the legends of Macoco the Pirate. However, it’s time for Manuela to marry and her Aunt Inez (Gladys Cooper) has arranged a marriage with the town’s mayor, Don Pedro, who is a good bit older than Manuela and firmly believes staying home is best. As the wedding approaches, Manuela asks to go to a sea port village of Port Sebastian to pick up her trousseau so she can travel at least once before her marriage. While there, Serafin (Gene Kelly) and his traveling actors arrive. Spotting Manuela, it’s love at first sight for Serafin — but not for Manuela. However, she still attends his performance that night, where Serafin hypnotizes her asking who she is in love with (and hoping the answer is him). He’s shocked when she says Macoco the Pirate is who she is in love with and then sings about “Mack the Black” the pirate. Despite his shock, Serafin is also impressed with her performance and wants her to join his acting troupe. Embarrassed to learn what she did while hypnotized, Manuela goes back to her hometown, but Serafin follows, and helps reveal the interesting identity of who Don Pedro really is.

While this is a unique role for both Garland and Kelly, this film also has an interesting backstory. The story of THE PIRATE originated on Broadway in 1942 with the famed acting husband and wife, Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, in the lead roles. The original Broadway play was not a musical.

When it came to adapting the Broadway show for film, Fontanne and Lunt hoped they would star in the film version, but they were looked over for Hollywood stars. Fontanne and Lunt only co-starred two Hollywood feature films, SECOND YOUTH (1924) and THE GUARDSMAN (1931). They separately appeared in a handful of silent films but after the 1930s, they largely made cameo appearances in films like, STAGE DOOR CANTEEN (1943), and later appeared in 1960s made-for-TV movies.

Between 1943 and 1946, stars considered and announced for the non-musical version of THE PIRATE included Cary Grant, William Powell, Ingrid Bergman, Myrna Loy, Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr and Charles Laughton. Also during that three year time period, eight writers worked on a screenplay to adapt the story for screen before it was turned over to screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, along with director Vincent Minnelli and producer Arthur Freed. Minnelli and Freed brought Cole Porter in to write songs for the film, according to the book “The Cinematic Voyage of THE PIRATE,” a book on the history of the making of this film.

Though he reportedly wasn’t very interested in the project, Porter wrote six songs in a month for the film.

As I noted, THE PIRATE is a bit of a curio not only in the film careers of Garland and Kelly, but in the movie musicals of MGM. I would couple it with YOLANDA AND THE THEIF as far as an oddity, but is far more watchable than YOLANDA.

And when I call this movie odd or unique, this does not mean “bad.” I’m saying that it is incredibly different than all of their other films, but it also gives Garland and Kelly a chance to play fun, different roles. Kelly is hilarious — and perhaps the funniest he is in any film. With curly hair, a mustache and the costume of a roving actor, this look feels tailor made for Kelly. It makes you wish he had the opportunity to have other roles where he could act outlandishly funny.

Garland too looks beautiful and the “Mack the Black” performance is one of the most memorable of any of her films. I hadn’t watched this movie in 15 or 20 years and her song “Mack the Black” (and the Pirate ballet) are the two main scenes I remembered. How could you forget them?

This movie also includes incredible dance numbers and some that were unique at the time. Gene Kelly’s “Niña” number is so much fun, including several dancing extras as Serafin sings about his love for women. It’s also humorous and sensual as you wonder where he will appear next and how he’ll be romancing the next woman. And who can forget “The Pirate Ballet” as Gene Kelly shows off his athletic and acrobatic skills (and legs) as he dances and zip lines down ropes. I did have to wonder the danger involved with the fire on set.

Most notable though is Gene Kelly’s dance with Fayard and Harold Nicholas (better known as the Nicholas Brothers) in the “Be a Clown” number. At this time in Hollywood, a racially integrated dance was rare. Kelly had been looking for a project they could work on together, according to the Nicholas Brothers’ biographer.

“Gene always wanted to dance with us, but he could never find the right story,” Fayard said, quoted by their biographer. “He didn’t want us to come on like we were servants, and all of a sudden I’m whistling and tapping a bit, and he says, ‘That’s nice, how do you do that?’ He didn’t want to do that.”

Producer Arthur Freed contacted the Nicholas Brothers for the film asking if they would be part of the acting troupe, according to their biographer.

Knowing the Nicholas Brothers’ dancing style, which usually involved tapping and jumping from high heights into a split, it’s fascinating to see their performance in this film, because it differs from their usual performances. But it’s just as athletic! They somersault, do low-Russian-style kicks, slide across the stage and do handstands. Even with all that, Harold Nicholas is quoted by his biographer as saying the material was too easy. It was also the first time the brothers weren’t performing their own choreographed material.

“When people saw the film, some of them didn’t know they were look at the Nicholas Brothers,” Fayard Nicholas is quoted by his biographer. “They thought they were looking at somebody else. They weren’t thinking about two black guys dancing with this white man.”

What’s interesting about THE PIRATE is that the background and the story somehow has so much to unpack, between the adaption to a musical to the groundbreaking number with the Nicholas Brothers — though it sadly didn’t aid their Hollywood career. They wouldn’t be seen in a Hollywood feature film again until 1970.

THE PIRATE is colorful, lighthearted and downright funny in several scenes. It’s fun to see actors like Gladys Cooper and Gene Kelly let their hair down and give outrageous comedic performances. Producer Arthur Freed said it was 20 years ahead of its time, according to The Judy Room.

I remembered loving this film when I first watched it in high school, and this revisit was great fun.

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