The Cinematic Voyage of The Pirate

During Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's glory days, the studio's Arthur Freed Unit made a string of dazzling musicals. One of its very best was The Pirate. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and starred Gene Kelly and Judy Garland. Drawing on exhaustive research in archives, memoirs, interviews, and newspaper coverage, this study takes the reader from the original conception of the story, through the Broadway production, to the task of crafting a screenplay at MGM.