Buccaneers, The (The Complete Series - Volume 1) (1956) (NTSC)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	TV Series	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1956
Running Time	248:09 (Case: 278)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Ralph Smart C.M. Pennington-Richards Leslie Arliss
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Robert Shaw Peter Hammond Brian Rawlinson Paul Hansard Edwin Richfield Alec Mango Alec Clunes Andrew Crawford
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	Edwin Astley Albert Elms Kenneth V. Jones

     It is 1715 and Captain Woodes Rogers (Alec Clunes) is sent with foppish naval Lieutenant Beamish (Peter Hammond) and a single ship to Nassau in the Caribbean to clean out the pirates that infest the area. Woodes Rogers is an ex-privateer himself and rather than fighting the pirates Rogers has brought a proclamation from King George offering a pardon to any pirate who surrenders. Rogers becomes Governor of Nassau and, because of his reputation, the majority of the pirates, including Captain Ben Hornigold (Andrew Crawford), accept the pardon, although others, such as Blackbeard (George Margo), reject the offer and escape to sea.

     As governor, Rogers quickly puts the island onto a secure footing, although some of the inhabitants, especially planter Van Brugh (Alec Mango), remain secretly in league with the pirates still at large. When notorious pirate Captain Dan Tempest (Robert Shaw) sails into port unaware of the changes or the pardon, Rogers seizes the opportunity to enlist Tempest onto his side. Soon after Rogers is recalled (in episode four); Beamish becomes acting governor and imprisons Dan. The English are, however, unaware that war with Spain has recommenced and a Spanish ship enters the port and Beamish and his men are captured. Dan and his crewmen Gaff (Brian Rawlinson), Taffy (Paul Hansard) and Armando (Edwin Richfield) turn the tables on the Spaniards, recapture the port and release Beamish. Adventures, swordfights and feats of derring-do ensue on the Spanish Main with Captain Dan in an uneasy alliance with Beamish!

     The Buccaneers is a black and white TV series that ran for 39 episodes in 1956-57. It is very much a product of its time and with a “G” rating the action, debauchery and bloodshed is extremely sanitised, the scenes in the tavern being as tame as a church meeting, but with rum! But this was also before CGI and so the series features genuine sailing ships under full sail, adventure and swordfights as well as a fair sprinkling of humour, making an appealing mix. A young Robert Shaw stars although he does not make his appearance until the third episode. Shaw rose to prominence in the years after this series, appearing in prestige films such as A Man for all Seasons (1967), for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) but of course he will always be remembered for his amazing Quint in Jaws (1975). His Dan Tempest is a rough and rollicking sea captain, a perfect foil for the much more urbane and clever Rogers as played by classical actor Clunes until he disappears from the series. Peter Hammond, for the remaining episodes, is more the bumbling, comic Englishman.

     The ten episodes of The Buccaneers in this volume 1 are a mixed bag. Some, such as Slave Ship in which Dan Tempest only makes a peripheral appearance, and Whale Gold seem to belong to a different TV series altogether and the series is rather light on adventure and action given the opportunities for derring-do against Spain in the Caribbean. Instead, much of the focus in the series is Dan outsmarting English bumbling or bureaucracy, as in the fun episode Gunpowder Plot although he gets to foil Blackbeard on a couple of occasions.

     With sailing ships, canons, humour, derring-do, swordfights (without blood), good hearted wenches in the taverns and a young and charismatic Robert Shaw, The Buccaneers is certainly worth revisiting.

Video

     This TV show is presented in the original 1.33:1 broadcast ratio, and is not 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is reasonable for an old black and white television show, although the quality varies. It is quite noticeable when the show changes from outside location shooting, which is quite soft and the blacks almost grey, to interior sets where detail is better and blacks more robust. Shadow detail is acceptable, although not on the great side. Small marks and scratches are frequent, plus a few bigger ones but they are never too intrusive. There is also occasional flicker.

     There are no subtitles.

     The layer change is not noticeable.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono at 256 Kbps.

     The audio gets the job done. Dialogue is sometimes indistinct but generally it is OK. Effects, such as cannon shots, do have some resonance while the music, especially pirate songs, can be loud in the audio mix. Obviously, there is no surround or subwoofer use. Hiss and clicks are absent.

     The series employs rather generic sounding music by Albert Elms, Edwin Astley and Kenneth V. Jones in different episodes.

     Lip synchronisation was generally fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are no extras.

     Both the US Region 0 and UK Region 2 get the complete series of 39 episodes on 3 DVDs (US - NTSC) or 5 DVDs (UK - PAL) respectively. US Region 1 also gets 9 single disc packages, each of around 4 episodes, although from what I can tell they are not in sequence. I guess if you want to sample the series our Region free release containing the first 10 episodes is fine – I think it is the first disc of the US NTSC 3 DVD set.

     The Buccaneers is a nostalgic reminder of a time when TV was wholesome and adventures were for the whole family. It is good clean fun and a young and charismatic Robert Shaw is worth watching.

     The DVD has acceptable video and audio for a black and white TV show from 1956. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall