The Pirates of Blood River – 1962

A Hammer film production released by Columbia Pictures Copyright MCMLXI Hammer Film Productions – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate

The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional

RCA Sound Recording
Made at Bray Studios, England
Eastmancolour 84 mins
A Hammerscope production photographed in Megascope

Storyline

Opening titles:- “At the end of the seventeenth century, men, women, and children voyaged far from their mother country seeking some haven from persecution. They were known as Huguenots. They found their haven and called it the Isle of Devon and gave thanks to God for their deliverance. But in the years to come, the just laws of the Colony began to yield to greed and tyranny. Happiness became an echo of the past. Freedom – just a memory.” When he escapes from the prison compound, Jonathan Standing runs into a gang of bloodthirsty pirates led by the cunning La Roche, who is convinced that the little community is hiding a treasure in gold.

Watch the trailer on YouTube

Crew


Function	Credited	Age at Release	Birth		Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click a link for more info						Credited	Uncredited	Total
Art Director	Don Mingaye	33	1 Jan 1929		8 Nov 2017	88	26	14	40
Ast. Director	John Peverall	31	1 Jan 1931		3 Oct 2009	78	21		21
Camera Operator	Len Harris	46	19 May 1916		21 Feb 1995	78	52	1	53
Casting	Stuart Lyons	34	1 Jan 1928		23 Feb 1998	70	8		8
Continuity	Tilly Day	59	1903		1994	91	13	1	14
Director	John Gilling	50	29 May 1912		22 Nov 1984	72	21		21
Director of Photog.	Arthur Grant BSc	47	1915		1972	56	30		30
Editor	Eric Boyd-Perkins	45	1 Jan 1917		4 Dec 2014	97	10		10
From a story by	Jimmy Sangster	34	2 Dec 1927		19 Aug 2011	83	65	2	67
Hair Stylist	Frieda Steiger	58	29 Dec 1903		19 Aug 1993	89	28		28
Horse Master and Master at Arms	Bob Simmons	40	31 Mar 1922		21 Oct 1987	65	2	1	3
Make-up Artist	Roy Ashton	53	16 Apr 1909		10 Jan 1995	85	36	4	40
Music Composer	Gary Hughes	40	21 Mar 1922		25 Apr 1978	56	5		5
Musical Supervisor	John Hollingsworth	46	20 Mar 1916		29 Dec 1963	47	36	2	38
Producer	Anthony Nelson-Keys	50	13 Nov 1911		19 Mar 1985	73	41		41
Production Designer	Bernard Robinson	50	28 Jul 1912		2 Mar 1970	57	46	3	49
Production Manager	Clifford Parkes	35	1927		2014	87	12		12
Screenplay	John Gilling	50	29 May 1912		22 Nov 1984	72	21		21
Screenplay	John Hunter	50	22 Aug 1911		8 Sep 1984	73	4		4
Sound Editor	Alfred Cox	37	1925		2005	80	21	4	25
Sound Recordist	Jock May	57	1 Jan 1905		8 Jan 1991	86	30	1	31
Special Effects	Les Bowie	48	10 Nov 1913		27 Jan 1979	65	32	11	43
Supervising Editor	James Needs	42	17 Oct 1919		4 Feb 2003	83	110	1	111
Wardrobe Mistress	Rosemary Burrows						36	5	41
Wardrobe Supervisor	Molly Arbuthnot	53	19 Dec 1908		31 Oct 2001	92	48	4	52
Uncredited
Charge-hand Props	Peter Allchorne	37	1925	01.01.1925		98		9	9
Clapper Loader	Alan McDonald	24	1938	01.01.1938		85		14	14
Construction Manager	Arthur Banks						18	29	47
Focus Puller	Harry Oakes	41	16 Jan 1921		11 Dec 2012	91		53	53
Focus Puller	Trevor Wrenn	26	1 May 1936	01.05.1936		87		2	2
Seymour	Richard Bennett	26	29 Mar 1936		24 Dec 2012	76	3	1	4
Special Effects Ast.	Terry Schubert	24	1938	01.01.1938		85		6	6
Special Effects Ast.	Brian Johnson	23	29 Jun 1939	29.06.1939		84	3	7	10

Cast


Character	Actor	Age at Release	Birth		Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click link for more info						Credited	Uncredited	Total
Bess	Marla Landi	29	16 Apr 1933	16.04.1933		89	2		2
Blacksmith	David Lodge	40	19 Aug 1921		18 Oct 2003	82	10		10
Brocaire	Oliver Reed	24	13 Feb 1938		2 May 1999	61	9		9
Godfrey Mason	Jack Stewart	49	22 Mar 1913		1 Jan 1966	52	4		4
Hench	Peter Arne	41	29 Sep 1920		1 Aug 1983	62	1		1
Henry	Glenn Corbett	28	17 Aug 1933		16 Jan 1993	59	1		1
Jason Standing	Andrew Keir	36	3 Apr 1926		5 Oct 1997	71	7		7
Jonathan Standing	Kerwin Matthews	36	8 Jan 1926		5 Jul 2007	81	2		2
La Roche	Christopher Lee	40	27 May 1922		7 Jun 2015	93	22		22
Mac	Michael Ripper	49	27 Jan 1913		28 Jun 2000	87	34	2	36
Martha Blackthorne	Lorraine Clewes	44	12 Nov 1917		Dec 1996	79	1		1
Penal Colony Master	Jerold Wells	54	8 Aug 1908		19 Jul 1999	90	4		4
Timothy	Dennis Waterman	14	24 Feb 1948		8 May 2022	74	3		3
Uncredited
2nd Settler	John Roden							1	1
Carlos	Don Levy							1	1
Kemp	Michael Peake	43	13 Oct 1918		1 Apr 1967	48	2	3	5
Lance	John Collin	33	18 Oct 1928		25 Feb 1987	58	2	1	3
Maggie Mason	Marie Devereux	21	27 Nov 1940		30 Dec 2019	79	3	1	4
Margaret Blackthorne	Diane Aubrey	23	1 Jan 1939	01.01.1939		84	1	1	2
Martin	Michael Mulcaster	50	3 Oct 1911		10 Aug 1984	72	3	3	6
Old Townsman	Bert Sims	67	29 Oct 1894		18 Apr 1972	77		1	1
Penal Colony Guard	John Bennett	34	8 May 1928		11 Apr 2005	76		2	2
Penal Colony Guard	George Hilsdon	55	25 Apr 1907		28 May 1982	75		7	7
Pirate	Jim O'Brady	55	13 May 1907		1 Jan 1991	83		18	18
Pirate	Ernie Rice	65	17 Nov 1896		1979	85		7	7
Pirate	Bill Brandon							5	5
Prisoner	Dido Plumb	57	23 Jun 1905		4 Mar 1991	85		10	10
Pugh	Ronald Blackman							1	1
Silas	Keith Pyott	60	9 Mar 1902		6 Apr 1968	66	2	2	4
Silver	Denis Shaw	41	7 Apr 1921		28 Feb 1971	49	4	3	7
Tom Blackthorne	Desmond Llewelyn	47	12 Sep 1914		19 Dec 1999	85	2	2	4
Villager	Emille Stemmler	51	1911					6	6

Production


FILMING BEGAN	3 July 1961
UK RELEASE	13 August 1962
STUDIO	Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England
LOCATION	Black Park Lake, Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England	Blood River
	Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England	Jungle
	Callow Hill Sandpit, Virginia Water, Surrey, England	Penal Colony

Footnotes

Michael Carreras formally left Hammer in 1961 to pursue projects elsewhere and, although he came back for the occasional film, he did not return full-time until 1971. Carreras’s departure seems to have provided Anthony Nelson Keys with a promotion opportunity and this is his first film as Producer.

A very young Dennis Waterman appears here. Later famous for his roles in Thames TV’s “The Sweeney” and “Minder” series, he also worked for Hammer in “Scars of Dracula”( 1969 ).

John Gilling’s other credits for Hammer as director are “The Scarlet Blade” (1963), “The Brigand of Kandahar”(1965), “The Plague of the Zombies” {1966), The Reptile (1966) and The Mummy’s Shroud (1966).

Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection