Over at Alex on Film I’ve been watching pirate movies. The pirate movie is a very conventional genre, quite limited in its necessary elements, and one that has only enjoyed a couple of Hollywood heydays. I think this is because a pirate movie is such an expensive proposition. You can’t do a pirate movie on the cheap. As for measuring up Errol Flynn and Johnny Depp, to each their own. I like the earlier films more, though I can appreciate the professionalism of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It’s just that they seem so much.

The Black Pirate (1926)
Captain Blood (1935)
The Sea Hawk (1940)
The Black Swan (1942)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)