The Black Pirate (1926)

Celebrating 30 Years of Summer Classics on the Big Screen!

Douglas Fairbanks was the finest and most famous action movie star of the silent film era. Robin Hood, The Thief of Bagdad, The Mark of Zorro — he made a lot of the best swashbuckler movies of all time. But he never made another movie quite like The Black Pirate, and neither did anybody else. Shot entirely in two-color Technicolor (and only the third feature to do so) The Black Pirate was one of the most technologically advanced films to date — and only Douglas Fairbanks had the fame, and the money, to pull it off. As his biographer Jeffrey Vance put it: “Technicolor’s inherent limitations and high cost had the effect of unfettering the picture from pageantry and visual effects, resulting in a straightforward action-adventure film. The picture was a refreshing return to form for Fairbanks and a dazzling new showcase for the actor-producer’s favorite production value: himself.” But straightforward though it may be, it’s anything but boring or predictable. It’s worth the price of admission for the sail-sliding sequence alone!

And this is your chance to see it exactly how Tampa Theatre audiences saw it in 1926 when it debuted as the second movie ever shown at the then-new movie palace: on the big screen with LIVE accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ. Tampa Theatre’s Artist in Residence, Steven Ball, will perform an original score, and the overall experience is as close to time travel as you will ever experience.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the Summer Classics 2021 Lineup

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