Review – The Pirates of Penzance

This movie’s original release was a landmark in the history of snakebit roll-outs. Another studio took advantage of the source material’s public domain status to get out a knock-off before this “official” Broadway adaptation. Then the studio elected to release this to theaters and a limited number of TV stations at the same time, causing theater owners to boycott the picture and cutting its opening to less than 100 venues nationwide. And of course it was an effort to interest 20th century audiences in 19th century operetta, so it would have faced an uphill battle even under the best of circumstances. Gilbert and Sullivan provide singing actors with a chance to show off their talents, but it also makes shortcomings glaringly obvious (Linda Ronstadt, you’re a great singer but not so much with the acting). All that notwithstanding, this should be a pleasant experience for anyone who can stand this sort of thing. Mildly amusing