Customer Reviews

Blackbeard's Ghost [DVD]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aww man! this is a classic walt disney masterpiece. A hillarious story of a pirate called blackbeard who is held in limbo until he performs a good deed. Blackbeard gets his chance when he helps the local track team who haven't a chance of ever winning anything, this warm hearted comedy will have you laughing from the moment he arrives to the moment he leaves! a must buy for all the children!

Steve Walker (Dean Jones) is the new track coach. Looks like track is a joke. However, Steve is determined to change that but only in an above board effort. Seems that Blackbeard's decedents including Emily Stowecroft (Elsa Lanchester) are about to lose their heritage to an unscrupulous gangster. Steve would like to help them also, again in an honorable fashion. Steve whom is full of high morals accidently conjures Blackbeard's Ghost (Peter Ustinov). The ghost has a different take on life. Yet he needs to change his wicked ways if he is ever to get out of limbo.

The fun part of the movie is watching the interaction between Steve and Captain Blackbeard. What is funnier is that only Steve can see Blackbird so what could be a love interest between Steve and School psychiatrist Jo Anne Baker (Suzanne Pleshette) may be in jeopardy.

This looks like a direct transferee form a video. It is in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and fuzzy around the edges. However, the film is so much fun you will not care.

John Goldfarb Please Come Home (1965)~ Peter Ustinov

The Shaggy D.A.

Peter Ustinov ad-libs his way through most of this film and Dean Jones does admirably as his straight man. Together they make a great double act that kept me laughing all the way through. Throw in a moustachioed villain with the wonderful name of Silky Seymour, some batty old ladies, a load of slapstick and a cheer-raising athletics contest and you have a great couple of hours of fun for adults and children alike. Highly recommended.

Blackbeard's Ghost is a live action picture out of Walt Disney Studios and it's directed by Robert Stevenson. It's based around the novel written by Ben Stahl, with the adaption for the screen by Don DaGradi & Bill Walsh. Starring are Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, Elsa Lanchester & Joby Baker.

Plot finds Ustinov as the titular phantom of the title, who is suspended between worlds after a curse was put on him by his ex-wife. When amiable track coach Steve Walker (Jones) arrives in the coastal town of Godolphin he attends a charity sale and buys an antique bed warmer. Later that night Steve finds a hidden spell located in the bed warmer and after reading it out aloud he conjures up the ghost of Blackbeard. Seems that only Steve can see the bluff old pirate, and apparently Blackbeard can only escape his curse if he does a good deed. Good timing, then, since the old hotel run by the old ladies of Godolphin is under threat of closure from unscrupulous gambling gangster Silky Seymour (Baker) who wants to build a casino on the land. In spite of the fact that they just can't get on, Blackbeard and Steve may just be good for each other.

A perfect light hearted live action film for the young and the young at heart. Looking a bit dated now on account of the advent of special effects, Blackbeard's Ghost none the less carries a weighty good against evil parable and brings on the laughter in spades as it goes. The set up is classic Disney, a pretty little coastal town is home to buccaneer secrets and the equilibrium is being upset by baddies who want progress to further their greed. Enter a bad boy coming good and the underdog sports team suddenly finding a new lease of life; aided wonderfully by Blackbeard during the film's funniest quarter. And there's even an engaging romance between Jones & Pleshette that's easy to warm too. The cast are inoffensive and pleasant, particularly Ustinov who is on full tilt pantomime overdrive, while the little devilish motif of cheating for the greater good finds Disney not hiding behind the syrup jar.

Personally I laughed out loud on a number of occasions, most notably a cheerleader sequence that still has me giggling as I write this piece. Hopefully this film can have a similar effect on those looking at it for the very first time. Seek it out folks and watch with the family, for it is perfect family entertainment. 8/10

Blackbeard's Ghost
this is a classic movie from Walt Disney.
story line is good could watch this movie time and time again
Peter Ustinov and Dean Jones make this film a hilarious warmhearted comedy
could not stop laughing.

A perfect little film to settle down to watch with the kids on a dismal Sunday afternoon. Very amusing. Great quality and speedy delivery. Thank you.

A forgotten classic of Disney, so lovely and worth a watch. I have wanted this on dvd for a while and im so happy i now own it!! :D

This has to be one of the greatest live action Disney films ever made. It stars the excellent Peter Ustinov as the ghost of Blackbeard the pirate, who returns to torment the long suffering Dean Jones. The acting is excellent and the dialogue is genuinely funny, specially from Blackbeard himself, who is a loveable, hilarious, mischeivous character.
This has to be better than the classic love bug movies. (Thats saying something.)
The director also made the classic Mary Poppins.

A definitely family favourite this one! Wonderful, though the CG isn't what we are used to this doesn't make the film any less enjoyable.
Perfect casting with Peter Ustinov as Blackbeard. There are a lot of familiar Disney actors which I found really endearing, particularly the 'daughters of the Buccaneers'. A very funny film. Definitely worth watching on a rainy evening!

It is a great book and the film was no less funny and very well acted - great fun watching.