The Pirates of Blood River

The Pirates of Blood River is a 1962 British swashbuckler film directed by John Gilling and starring Kerwin Mathews, Glenn Corbett, Christopher Lee and Oliver Reed.

Plot
While in a penal colony, Huguenot Jonathan Standing is captured by pirates led by Captain LaRoche who force him to lead them back to his home village to retrieve a treasure supposedly hidden there.

Cast

 * Kerwin Mathews as Jonathon Standing
 * Glenn Corbett as Henry
 * Christopher Lee as Captain LaRoche
 * Peter Arne as Hench, a pirate
 * Marla Landi as Bess Standing
 * Desmond Llewelyn as Tom Blackthorne
 * Oliver Reed as Brocaire, a pirate
 * Andrew Keir as Jason Standing
 * Michael Ripper as Mack, a pirate
 * David Lodge as Smith
 * Dennis Waterman as Timothy Blackthorne
 * Jack Stewart as Godfrey Mason
 * Marie Devereux as Maggie
 * Lorraine Clewes as Martha Blackthorne
 * Jerold Wells as Penal Colony master
 * Diane Aubrey as Maggie (uncredited)

Production
The film was produced at Bray Studios, Berkshire. Location shooting took place at Blackpark Lake, Black Park Country Park, Black Park Road, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (Blood River); Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (jungle); Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey, England, UK (penal colony).

Box office
The film was issued on a double bill with Mysterious Island (1961), Britain's biggest grossing double bill of the year. According to Films and Filming it was the tenth most popular movie in Britain for the year ended 31 October 1962.

Critical
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Stodgy, two-dimensional costume piece. Blood flows freely against colourful locations, but most schoolboys are likely to wish that the pirates had stayed out at sea."

Leslie Halliwell said: "Land-locked blood and thunder for tough schoolboys"

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This Hammer swashbuckler is a colourful, action-packed adventure. ... There are wenches and scurvy knaves galore, but only tantalising vestiges of the X-rated bloodbath intended, as the film was reduced to U certificate derring-do for the school holidays after long sessions at the censor's office"