Development In the early 1960s
Hammer Films were best known for their horror movies, but they also tried other genres. The studio made a swashbuckler,
The Pirates of Blood River (1962), written by
Jimmy Sangster and starring Christopher Lee; it was a success at the box office, so Hammer commissioned Sangster to write another pirate-themed story for Lee,
The Devil Ship Pirates. "The idea was to release these bloody-but-not-too- bloody adventure films during school holidays, and they made a fortune on them," said Don Sharp, who would direct
Devil Ship. The film was part of a new slate of eight films James Carreras announced in July 1963 that Hammer would make, others including
Quatermass and the Pit,
She,
Blood of the Foreign Legion,
Brainstorm (which became
Fear in the Night),
The Evil of Frankenstein, ''
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, and The Secret of Blood Island. Most of these were not made until later and Blood of the Foreign Legion'' was never made at all. It was the first time Sharp had worked with Christopher Lee. The director had seen several of Lee's performances "and I was worried about a range I saw as playing down one line. But right from our first meeting we got on and when we talked it was two actors talking. We'd explore his character and I found myself suggesting depths to Captain Roebles that I hadn't expected I'd be able to. Chris is tremendously professional and can essay roles that are charming and threatening at the same time - he has a lovely stillness about him. He’s a very commanding presence." Lee received top billing for the first time in films.
Shooting Filming began on 19 August 1963 at
Bray Studios in Berkshire and took place until mid October. Sharp did not get along particularly well with producer
Anthony Nelson Keys who he called "a general manager type and any idea he had was most obvious. I remember him telling me that he wanted Christopher Lee's pirate to be clad in blue and I said, ‘A blue pirate. Tony? What shall we call him. Little Boy Blue?’ So he asked me what colour I wanted and I told him grey, which he thought was dull and unthreatening until I reminded him that it was threatening enough for the Nazis!” ". According to
Christopher Lee, Hammer had built a full-sized galleon in some sand pits on a steel structure under the water. Although warned not to have too many people on board at once, one day the tea boat was lifted onto a platform level with the water and too many people rushed over to get a cup of tea. The ship capsized, throwing most of the cast and crew in the water. Lee was on the
poop deck and luckily managed to hold on to the rail. No one was drowned or seriously hurt. Lee says he "saved the most valuable article possible: the continuity girl's typewriter. The whole structure took several days to right, so that it could be blown up at the end in a glorious holocaust." "It was lucky we didn't have a serious accident," said
Michael Reed, who was the cinematographer. Sharp said, "The scaffolding went to the bottom and was there for two years with the company who owned the pit still charging hire for it!” In another letter he called Sharp "sone of the most talented and imaginative young directors to have appeared on the British scene for a long time.... I personally have never received better or more intelligent photographic coverage in any picture and, though I say it myself, had more chance to show what I can do with a really rougher part than I had in Blood River, where owing to the incompetence of the director, we were all fighting hard to get our faces anywhere near the camera.” ==Reception==