The Pirate
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This article is about the film. For the opera by Vincenzo Bellini, see Il pirata, see also The Pirate (novel) by Walter Scott. For other uses of "pirate" see Pirate (disambiguation)
The Pirate is a 1948 American musical feature film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It starred Gene Kelly and Judy Garland with co-stars Walter Slezak, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Owen, and George Zucco.
Garland plays Manuela, engaged to marry a wealthy suitor but dreaming of a romantic pirate, Macoco. Traveling singer Serafin (Kelly) impersonates Macoco, with all sorts of innocent clandestine meetings and surreal musical numbers, to win Manuela.
Vincente Minnelli directed, from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich from the play by S. N. Behrman. The score, by Lennie Hayton, featured the song "Be a Clown" by Cole Porter. This dance sequence was omitted when shown in some cities in the South, such as Memphis, because it featured black performers The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold. The score was nominated for an Academy Award for Original Music Score, losing out to Easter Parade.
The film is notable for being one of the first movies to even hint at the presence of a gay character.
Studio head Louis B. Mayer demanded that the negative for the smoky "Voodoo" number with Garland and Kelly be burned.
Overall, the film lost US$2 million at the box office, a considerable sum at the time, making the movie one of the earliest box office flops.
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