So, Sony starts handling the MGM catalogue and genre fans around the world start worrying about the fate of the beloved Midnite Movies line, figuring that with Sony's track record for more obscure, catalogue titles there was no way that the AIP films and monster movies that MGM had been throwing at us in really nice, affordable editions for some years now would continue. Surprisingly enough, however, Sony has continued – sort of. Though this, and a second release, are now out and carry a Midnite Movies banner at the top of the packaging, there are no monsters, bikers or acid heads anywhere to be found – instead we get pirates (from the Columbia Pictures library, no less!). There's nothing wrong with pirates, in fact, pirate movies can be and have been pretty cool throughout the history of cinema, but should these really be labeled as Midnite Movies? No, they probably shouldn't. Rant over, here's the scoop…

The Fortunes Of Captain Blood:

Peter Blood (Louis Hayward of the original The Man In The Iron Mask) was once a doctor in his Irish homeland, but he threw all that away when he took pity on a man who had earned the wrath of the King of England. When Blood helped him out by providing him with some much needed medical attention, he too earned the wrath of the king and so he decided to call it quits as a doctor and take to piracy, where he and his rough and tumble crew of tough guys make no small amount of problems for cargo ships carrying supplies back and forth in the area.

When Captain Blood and his men get into with a ship full of Spanish soldiers a bunch of his crewmembers find themselves forced into a new occupation by their captors. No longer are they the free spirited pirates they once were, now they're being forced by the Spaniards to dive for pearls and avoid the hungry sharks that live in the waters below them. Captain Blood is not cool with this idea at all so he rounds up the remaining members of his crew and sets his sights on getting their buddies back. How is Blood going to do this? By impersonating a Spanish merchant man and pretending to sell fruit, of course!

While in the guise of the merchant man, Blood meets a beautiful well to do woman named Isabellita (Patricia Mendina) and they soon fall fast in love but when it turns out that Isabellita's uncle (George Macready) is in cahoots with the Spanish military and out to put Blood and his men behind bars, things become decidedly more complicated for him. Will Blood be able to run off with his latest one true love and save his men or will 'the man' lock him up and make him pay for his piratey crimes?

Although this one does take a little while to get going, once the story really starts up The Fortunes Of Captain Blood is nothing short of a fun, entertaining old school adventure film. Louis Hayward is actually very good in the film, which is something you can't really say about the rest of the cast – most of whom seem content to chew the scenery and over act at every opportunity – and he manages to carry it well and with just the right amount of energy and enthusiasm required for a swashbuckling anti-hero character. George Macready also makes for a fun bad guy here, and he and Hayward play off of each other well in the scenes that they share.

The sailing scenes look good for the time and while there are a few spots where some of the effects clunk just a bit, the fight scenes and swordplay scenes also come through surprisingly well. There's a fun sense of adventure that runs throughout which makes the movie pretty enjoyable fare, even if it isn't really all that deep

Captain Pirate:

Shot two years later and in full color, this 1952 follow up to The Fortunes Of Captain Blood finds Louis Hayward once again playing the role of Peter Blood. When the film begins he's retired from his previous job as the scourge of the seven seas and once again finds work as a doctor, this time working in Jamaica, after being issued a full pardon by the powers that be after his heroic efforts in the earlier film. Here Blood is able to give something back to the community where he lives as his specialty as a doctor appears to be treating and hiding those forced into slavery by hiding them under the floor of his office in the makeshift basement that lies beneath.

With his status once again respectable within the community, Isabellita (Patricia Mendina once again) has accepted Blood's marriage proposal and the two are soon to be wed, but of course, a cog is thrown into their plans when Blood finds himself being accused of killing a man in cold blood. Of course, this is a crime that he did not commit but this being an adventure movie and all, it's going to be up to him to clear his name. Blood doesn't act fast enough, however and soon he's laying in the jail of a Spanish Galleon and headed towards a hot date with a cold noose!

Isabellita is obviously upset over all of this and of course she doesn't want her fiance to die, especially because he's an innocent man, so she calls up a few of his old pirate pals to come in and bust him out before they string him up and leave him for dead. The pirates board the Galleon and spring their former boss and he finds himself once again the captain of a ship when the Galleon's men start a mutiny. With the full resources of the powerful war ship at his disposal he hits the ocean with a vengeance, out to prove once and for all that he isn't the cold blooded murderer that he's been accused of being by capturing the culprit responsible for the killing in the first place.

Though the movie definitely looks slicker than the one that came before it, the pacing is a little slow in spots, the opening in particular, and parts of the movie do tend to drag. On the plus side, the color photography is fairly impressive and once again Hayward does a really good job with his lead performance. The combat scenes are exciting, the mutiny on the Galleon in particular, and the sea battles look too cool for school. The blues contrast nicely against the smoke that billows from the cannons and the color really brings out a lot more excitement in the material than the black and white photography from the earlier movie allowed for.