I wrote this review a good while ago for Juri Nummelin's magazine PULP and meant to post it on here once it had been published, but . . . I forgot. So here it is now.
Following up on his roles in the internationally successful films HERCULES and HERCULES UNCHAINED, in 1961 actor Steve Reeves took on the role of pirate captain Henry Morgan, who put together one of the largest forces of buccaneers ever to sail the Spanish Main and led a massive raid on Panama before ultimately being knighted by King Charles II. The real Henry Morgan’s life has served as the basis for numerous books and films, including John Steinbeck’s first novel, CUP OF GOLD. The novel MORGAN THE PIRATE, by veteran pulp author Robert Carse, is the novelization of Reeves’ 1961 film.
I remember seeing this movie when it was first released, but I haven’t seen it since then and have no real memory of it. So I approached Carse’s novel as if it had no connection with the film and read it strictly as a piece of historical fiction. In that respect, it works quite well part of the time, but not at others.
Most of the book deals with Morgan’s early activities in the Caribbean and Central America. Sold into indentured servitude in England because his family fell out of favor politically, he winds up working as a slave on a plantation, eventually escapes, falls in with a pretty incompetent bunch of pirates, gets captured, survives the tortures of the local Inquisition, falls in love with the daughter of the Spanish colonial governor, escapes again, and finally winds up leading his own band of pirates. This section of the novel is well-written and fast-moving and provides a vivid contrast between the pampered life of the Spanish rulers and the harsh existence of the natives in Panama.
Unfortunately, the section of the novel concerning Morgan’s actual career as a pirate and then a privateer sailing under a letter of marque from the King of England gets cut short. The action is rushed, the writing is flat, and the ending of the book is almost totally lacking in drama. I don’t know if Carse simply ran out of room and/or energy, or if this is the way the movie was written and he was forced to follow the screenplay. Whatever the reason, MORGAN THE PIRATE is about three-fourths of a pretty good historical novel. Unfortunately, that last fourth drags down the overall effect of the book.
Carse had a long career as a pulp author, beginning in 1928. His stories appeared frequently in ARGOSY, one of the leading pulp magazines, as well as in slicks like THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. After the collapse of the pulp industry, he wrote quite a few swashbuckling historical novels that appeared as paperback originals and several books of historical non-fiction, usually dealing with ships and sailing. I suppose it was these credits that got him the job of writing the MORGAN THE PIRATE novelization. It is reminiscent in places of Carse’s best pulp work but in the end falls considerably short of that standard.
I remember seeing this movie when it was first released, but I haven’t seen it since then and have no real memory of it. So I approached Carse’s novel as if it had no connection with the film and read it strictly as a piece of historical fiction. In that respect, it works quite well part of the time, but not at others.
Most of the book deals with Morgan’s early activities in the Caribbean and Central America. Sold into indentured servitude in England because his family fell out of favor politically, he winds up working as a slave on a plantation, eventually escapes, falls in with a pretty incompetent bunch of pirates, gets captured, survives the tortures of the local Inquisition, falls in love with the daughter of the Spanish colonial governor, escapes again, and finally winds up leading his own band of pirates. This section of the novel is well-written and fast-moving and provides a vivid contrast between the pampered life of the Spanish rulers and the harsh existence of the natives in Panama.
Unfortunately, the section of the novel concerning Morgan’s actual career as a pirate and then a privateer sailing under a letter of marque from the King of England gets cut short. The action is rushed, the writing is flat, and the ending of the book is almost totally lacking in drama. I don’t know if Carse simply ran out of room and/or energy, or if this is the way the movie was written and he was forced to follow the screenplay. Whatever the reason, MORGAN THE PIRATE is about three-fourths of a pretty good historical novel. Unfortunately, that last fourth drags down the overall effect of the book.
Carse had a long career as a pulp author, beginning in 1928. His stories appeared frequently in ARGOSY, one of the leading pulp magazines, as well as in slicks like THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. After the collapse of the pulp industry, he wrote quite a few swashbuckling historical novels that appeared as paperback originals and several books of historical non-fiction, usually dealing with ships and sailing. I suppose it was these credits that got him the job of writing the MORGAN THE PIRATE novelization. It is reminiscent in places of Carse’s best pulp work but in the end falls considerably short of that standard.
1 comment:
I have never seen the movie, but I have heard many positive comments about it. However, I don't have found it anywhere. I will look for this book instead. Buy Viagra Viagra
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