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Yo ho ho, and a bottle of – are we allowed to drink rum in ImaginOn? Hmmmm, probably not. Well, stow the grog but remain agog at the Public Library’s “Ships Ahoy!” series, eight films with a nautical theme that are being shown through Aug. 4 at 300 E. Seventh St. As usual, they’re free; all at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and will be introduced by Sam Shapiro, the library’s film coordinator. (Details: www.cmlibrary.org.)
The series sets sail Saturday with “A Night to Remember,” the 1958 film about the Titanic that helped inspire James Cameron to undertake his own version. This one’s about half as long but still a combination of spectacle and historical report. Here’s the rest of the list:
June 23: “Lifeboat” (1944). Alfred Hitchcock’s drama is set entirely on a small boat; the survivors of a torpedoed ocean liner pick a Nazi out of the water and must trust him to row them to safety. June 30: “The Black Pirate,” Douglas Fairbanks’ silent 1926 outing as the guy with cutlass, gypsy earrings and an endless array of stunts (which he did). Ethan Uslan accompanies on piano.
July 7: “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” an adaptation by Peter Weir of the first two novels in Patrick O’Brian’s Napoleonic-era series; Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany star in this underrated 2003 outing. July 14: “The Crimson Pirate” (1952), which reminds us that Burt Lancaster had experience as a circus acrobat. He stars as Captain Vallo, who’s caught between the Spanish army, the rebel forces, and his own scurvy mates. July 21: “Billy Budd,” a 1962 adaptation of Herman Melville’s novella about a sailor charged with murder whose innocence may not save him; Peter Ustinov directed and plays the conscience-stricken ship’s captain.
July 28: “The Sea Hawk” (1940), the most famous and beloved of all pirate movies, with Errol Flynn looting Spanish ships (allegedly on behalf of Queen Elizabeth) and saving Spanish beauty Brenda Marshall from predatory Claude Rains. Aug. 4: “Mutiny on the Bounty,” the 1935 Oscar winner starring Charles Laughton as tyrannical Captain Bligh and Clark Gable as big-hearted but mutinous Fletcher Christian.
