IMDb RATING
5.9/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
A group of ruthless pirates attack a seventeenth century Huguenot settlement on the Isle of Devon in search of treasure and will stop at nothing to obtain it.A group of ruthless pirates attack a seventeenth century Huguenot settlement on the Isle of Devon in search of treasure and will stop at nothing to obtain it.A group of ruthless pirates attack a seventeenth century Huguenot settlement on the Isle of Devon in search of treasure and will stop at nothing to obtain it.
Diane Aubrey
- Margaret Blackthorne
- (uncredited)
John Bennett
- Penal Colony Guard
- (uncredited)
Richard Bennett
- Seymour
- (uncredited)
Ronald Blackman
- Pugh
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Sir Christopher Lee, the pond fording at Black Park was a horrible experience. The water was polluted and the bottom consisted of three or four feet of mud, sludge, broken trees and branches, stench, and general filth that the stuntmen refused to do it. Michael Ripper nearly drowned, Oliver Reed contracted an eye and ear infection, and Lee claims he couldn't walk upstairs for nearly six months because of the after-effects.
- GoofsThe 'golden' statue is clearly made of wood, the size and weight of it would have crushed the wagon, would have been impossible to pick up without a heavy block & tackle pulley system, and it easily rocks in the wagon when jostled, as well as when the tree fell and knocked it off the wagon.
- Quotes
Jonathon Standing: [to the elders] I am not guilty. The cause of Maggie's death... was fear. Fear of her brutal husband. Yes, fear is your weapon, and it's a dangerous weapon because one day it will recoil on your heads.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: At the end of the seventeenth century, men, women and children voyaged far from their mother country, seeking some haven from persecution.
They were known as the Huguenots. They found their haven and called it the Isle of Devon, and gave thanks to God for their deliverance.
But in years to come, the just laws of the Colony began to yield to greed and tyranny.
Happiness became an echo of the past. Freedom-just a memory.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood! (1987)
Featured review
A Ship! My kingdom for a ship!
"Pirates of Blood River" starts out quite promising and exhilarating, to say the least
On a strictly Protestant island community, a young man and an adulterous woman are caught in the act by the woman's husband and the isle's ruler (who's also the young man's father). The petrified girl flees and jumps into a river where she instantly gets devoured by thousands of piranhas, while the man – Jonathan Standing – is exiled to a neighboring prison island for hard labor. He quickly escapes from there but then literally bumps into the eye-patched captain La Roche (Hammer deity Christopher Lee) and his motley pirate crew. They force Standing to lead them to his native island, as La Roche is obsessed with stealing the huge golden treasure that is allegedly hidden somewhere there. As many of my fellow reviewers already righteously pointed out, the most remarkable thing about these "pirates" of Blood River is that they don't have a ship! Sure there are some vague stock footage images of random ships in the distance and a couple of scenes with constructed cabin sets near the beginning of the film, but apart from that everything takes place on land! I can't really fathom why, as the film got produced in the early sixties and thus after a period when Hammer Studios booked some tremendous successes already with grisly horror movies like "Curse of Frankenstein", "Horrors of Dracula" and "The Mummy". In other words, I reckon that Hammer should have had some budget to spend on building a ship, but clearly they didn't think it was absolutely necessary. Don't allow for this to spoil the fun, though, as there are definitely several memorable sequences to enjoy. Any film that features bloodthirsty piranhas receives an additional point in my personal book, and there are more cool scenes, for example the sword duel between two blindfolded pirates (one of them being the almighty Oliver Reed in one of his early Hammer roles) and nasty traps hidden all over the island. There's also a fun scene in which the pirates march through soiled water. Fun to watch, at least, because reportedly many of the actors – including Reed and Lee – suffered from unpleasant little injuries after filming this. "Pirates of Blood River" is by no means a mandatory Hammer must-see, but I warmly recommend it to fans of entertaining low-budget action flicks, pirate lovers and admirers of Christopher Lee.
helpful•90
- Coventry
- Jan 14, 2016
- How long is The Pirates of Blood River?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Piraten vom Todesfluss
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was The Pirates of Blood River (1962) officially released in India in English?
Answer