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The Princess and the Pirate | Year: 1944 Classification: Comedy Directed: - David Butler - Sidney Lanfield Actors/Actresses: - Bob Hope - Virginia Mayo Bob Hope as the classic cowardly pirate "The Princess and the Pirate" is one of my favourite Bob Hope comedies right up there with "My Favourite Blonde" and "The Ghost Breakers". During the war years escapism was high on peoples wish list and the period saw an influx of top grade pirate adventures set in far off lands on screen such as "The Sea Hawk", and "The Black Swan". Bob Hope, ever quick to pick up on the latest popular trends created his own mini classic here in "The Princess and the Pirate", with a roushing send up of the whole Pirate genre that suited his comic talents to a tee. This film has it all, from cut throat pirates to beautiful maidens in distress, fantastic galleons filled with treasure, beautiful technicolour, swashbuckling sword play and at the centre the comic Hope in one of his famous coward roles filled with hilarious one liners. Of course no Hope film would be complete without a few Bing Crosby jokes and they are laid on in abundance here. Even San Goldwyn who produced this film comes in for a comic slaying! Bob Hope plays Sylvester the Great a second rate performing act who unknowingly gets involved with a group of cut throat pirates headed by the notorious "The Hook' played superbly by Victor Mclaglen. In a plot too convoluted to lay out here Hope unknowingly gets a rare treasure map tatooed onto his chest and thus becomes the target for the greedy pirates bent on retreiving the treasure. Along the way Sylvester becomes involved with the Princess Margaret (played by the lovely Virginia Mayo)who is being held as a captive by the pirates and who in a surprise twist at the finale, after romancing Hope throughout the entire film suddenly runs into the arms of a well known rival of Hope's whos name I wont mention here!! The film is full of wonderful scenes and performances. Walter Brennan in a distinct change of pace literally steals the show as the wacky featherhead, the giggling pirate who tattoes the map onto Hope's chest. Bob Hope's quip upon hearing him giggling to "hurry up and lay that egg" is probably one of the funniest lines in the whole film. Virginia Mayo while perhaps not the best leading lady that Bob Hope had in his films is cooly beautiful as Princess Margaret but does perhaps lack a bit of the fire that a Maureen O'Hara type would have brought to the role. Bob Hope I feel has one of his very best roles here. Whether he is playing the wisecracking Sylvester ducking from cut throat killers or dressed as a cackling old gypsy woman to avoid detection on the pirate ship, romancing the Princess or deceiving the dreaded Hook and the govenor, he is in fine form full of the lovable quips and Crosby insults that were his stock in trade. Hilarious scenes abound throughout "The Princess and the Pirate". Stand outs are the priceless scene where Hope and the princess arrive at the boarding house in port to find a room for the night and find that the previous occupant had mysteriously "checked out" while leaving all his clothes! and the absolute rib ti a great and beautiful film! This film is very good, so entertaining and colorful. It's packed, with glamoour, romance, comedy, and adventure. A little of everything. Virginia Mayo is wonderful in it and so is Bob Hope. Classic Gut-buster My siblings and I caught this movie on Sunday afternoon TV once, and laughed until we cried. Very silly gags interspersed with hilarious one-liners make this oldie stay fresh. I'm not someone who generally likes classic comedy, and I LOVE this movie! Buy The Princess And The Pirate at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Princess And The Pirate Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Princess And The Pirate This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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