Il corsaro nero

Corsaro Nero (The Black Pirate) is a made-to-order vehicle for Italian Olympic fencing champion Ciro Verratti. The storyline is the usual Dumas-Sabatini melange concerning three virtuous brothers who are betrayed by a traitorous villain. One of the brothers is killed, and the other two swear revenge. Of these two, only one lives to see the bad guy get his just desserts — and that one, of course, is The Black Pirate, who prides himself on being a “gentleman buccaneer.” So impressive is Ciro Verratti in the dueling scenes that it hardly matters that he can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag.