It's once again time for my favorite internet holiday - Talk Like a Pirate Day! And what better way to celebrate than by reviewing a pirate movie...from the Silent Era.
Sir Oliver Tressilian (Milton Sills) has it all: wealth, health, and the gratitude of Queen Elizabeth I for his part in the Spanish Armada's sinking. However, Sir John Killigrew (Marc McDermott) regards Tressilian as little more than a brutish pirate, and refuses to allow him to marry his ward, Rosamund Godolphin (Enid Bennett). Rosamund's brother Peter (Wallace MacDonald) is even more of a dick about it, and Rosamund makes the short-tempered Tressilian promise never to fight Peter, no matter how much he provokes him. Naturally, everything goes south when Peter ambushes Tressilian's callow younger brother Lionel (Lloyd Hughes), and Peter pays for his vindictiveness with his life. It's all done in fair fight, but with no witnesses, Lionel's smart enough to know people will say Peter was murdered in cold blood - and he's right. Although Tressilian vows to look out for Lionel, as he always has, Lionel repays his brother's kindness by having him be abducted by smugglers, fearing that Oliver might change his mind. Plus, with the elder Tressilian out of the way, Lionel can now lay claim to all of his brother's wealth and try and win Rosamund's affections.