The Crimson Pirate

In the eighteenth century, the pirate captain Vallo, known as the Crimson Pirate, seizes a Spanish ship and finds its hold full of weapons rather than gold. He offers the cargo to El Libre, the leader of a rebellion in the Caribbean whose daughter, Consuelo, catches his eye. Baron Gruda, the Spanish king's envoy, tries to outbid the rebels for El Libre, leaving Vallo caught between the Spanish, the insurgents, and his own crew, who have little patience for his change of heart.

Burt Lancaster stars as Vallo and also produced the film through Hecht-Lancaster Productions with Harold Hecht, on a budget of two million dollars. Nick Cravat plays his acrobatic companion, with Eva Bartok as Consuelo, Torin Thatcher and Leslie Bradley among the supporting cast. Roland Kibbee wrote the screenplay, and Robert Siodmak directed, the seventh of the films he made, following Criss Cross and preceding Yellow Devil. Lancaster and Cravat, former circus partners, perform their own tumbling and swordplay, which shapes the film's light, comic tone alongside its sailing ships and naval battles.

On IMDb the film holds 7.1 out of 10 from roughly 7,600 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from about 165 votes, while a smaller group of critics rated it 7.9 out of 10. It is a pirate adventure in the swashbuckling tradition, released on September 27, 1952, and running 105 minutes.