Pirates of Tortuga

One of the movies currently in the FXM rotation that's going to be on again soon is Pirates of Tortuga. You'll have another chance to catch it at 10:10 AM Friday (March 29).

Ken Scott plays Bart Paxton, who is returning to port in late-17th century England. There's a delicate situation. Sir Henry Morgan (Robert Stephens), the ennobled former pirate, decided he didn't want to stop being a pirate. He's set up a base on the Spanish-owned island of Tortuga, and is organizing a blockade of Jamaica with he and his men keeping the booty. Unfortunately, the British can't send the Royal Navy to deal with Morgan, because attacking him on Tortuga would be seen as an attack against Spain, sending the two countries back to a war England thinks it can't win. So the English want Paxton and his crew to work as privateers, raiding Morgan and breaking the blockade.

But before they can set sail, Paxton runs across a gypsy actress/pickpocket calling herself Meg (Leticia Román). She steals a man's purse, and Bart catches up with her, saving her from the possibility of the gallows but only intending for her to be kept on his ship long enough for him to drop her off somewhere else. Meg has no intention of that, eventually stowing away on the boat beyond its venturing into the open Atlantic. Paxton and his men are forced to keep her on board.

Soon enough, Paxton's ship runs across one of Morgan's, and in the skirmish Paxton wins and is able to bring some goods into Jamaica. Meg gets a concussion, and uses that to pass herself off as Lady Margaret to the colonial governor Mollyford (Edgar Barrier). Paxton meets the governor and the two formulate a plan to take down Morgan....

Pirates of Tortuga is little more than a time-waster, the sort of movie I have a feeling was made cheaply for Fox to distribute during the years the studio was spending a ton of money on Cleopatra. It has nice color and Cinemascope cinematography, and the print FXM ran was letterboxed. The story, however, is formulaic, with neither of the leads being particularly interesting. It's the sort of movie you'll forget a couple of days after watching, but nice for a rainy day. Apparently it did once get a DVD release, but it's out of print.