Directed by Albert Parker, it stars Douglas Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Sam De Grasse, and Billie Dove.

In 1993, The Black Pirate was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

But first, the son appears as the "Black Pirate", who offers to join their company and fight their best man to prove his worth.

Being in love at first sight for her, the Black Pirate finds a way to temporarily save her from this fate by presenting her as a "princess" and urging the crew to use her as a hostage to ensure their ransom will be paid, as long as she remains "spotless and unharmed".

At noon the next day, with the ransom ship having failed to show, the Pirate Lieutenant goes to the woman to claim his prize.

Donald Crisp (MacTavish) had directed Fairbanks' Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) in addition to playing the villain in that film.

The script was adapted by Jack Cunningham from a story by Fairbanks, who used his middle names "Elton Thomas" as a pseudonym.

Fairbanks and his art director, Carl Oscar Borg, sought to replicate Pyle's evocative illustrations in the film.

[4] Fairbanks' wife Mary Pickford doubled for Dove for the kiss between the Princess and Black Pirate at the end of the film.

[5] Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance maintains that “The Black Pirate was the most carefully prepared and controlled work of Fairbanks’s entire career” and “the most important feature-length silent film designed entirely for color cinematography.” Vance believes the limitations imposed by early Technicolor forced him to remove the "pageantry and visual effects" of his earlier swashbuckler and produce a straightforward action adventure.