Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A non-review by Prof. Popinjay

——-Two words. Peter Ustinov. Okay, so it’s one name. He’s one of the greats. Most will recognize his voice before the man himself. He played Prince John in Disney’s Animated Robin Hood. He was hilarious there and he was hilarious as the title character in Blackbeard’s Ghost. Don’t expect a simpering infantile fink in this film though. Ustinov was very versatile.

——-Dean Jones plays a track coach new to the primarily football-focused town who ends up staying in a unique bed and breakfast said to be built from the ship remains previously belonging to Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard the Pirate) owned now by his descendants, two sweet old ladies who find themselves in financial troubles and under the oppression of local mafia but thankfully Dean Jones accidentally gets to see the ghost of Blackbeard who goes on to help the situation in hilarious ways. Phew! Did it in one sentence!

——-Even though the third act jerks the audience around a bit and speeds up and slows down as far as pacing goes, the film as a whole is very enjoyable. So much so that I would even consider watching it again for the sake of showing it to others. This, as I mentioned, is largely due to the great performance of Ustinov

Some thing should also be said of the lovely Suzanne Pleshette (my oldest daughter’s namesake, I might add, after her character in Support Your Local Gunman) who always lights up the screen with her charm and conviction.

——-I have to say, these old live action Disney films have a charm all their own. Yes, they were kind of cranking them out back then as they were obviously a great source of revenue from the family cinema-goer’s scene, but where else are you going to find a cute film about a lovable pirate ghost, or someone’s uncle being turned into a duck, or a boy genius who invents a man-powered flying machine? You just don’t see films like this anymore and it’s a shame.