Long before 2003 when Captain Jack Sparrow became a household name, there had been several movies with actors in pirate costumes. ‘The Curse of The Black Pearl’, which was to be the first of the ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’ series was not a new idea, instead it made swashbuckling cotemporary with a big budget and 21st century enhanced special effects.

Right from the early days of film there have been many stories of buccaneers, deep buried treasures and attractive wenches to thrill viewers the world over. Everything about these tales of adventure in the high seas has always proved to be very popular with the public; the treasure maps, the creaking ships, the villains dressed in pirate costumes and the roar of cannons. It is something that appeals to a great many of us.

The child within us all loves the excitement and romance that is such a large part of these great movies. Just as many of us ‘enjoy’ being frightened by a good creepy film, we also love all of the adventure of a good swashbuckling epic.

Right from being children we are taught that pirate costumes are synonymous with adventure by being told stories such as ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘Peter Pan’.

If you want to see some good movies prior to Johnny Depp becoming Captain Jack Sparrow, then there are some great ones to choose from.

‘The Black Swan’ was released in 1942. It starred Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara. Errol Flynn wore pirate costumes for many of his roles. Amongst his best films to be made were ‘Captain Blood’ and ‘Sea Hawk’. The ‘The Crimson Pirate’ from 1952 with Burt Lancaster playing Captain Vallo. Lancaster was a huge influence when writers created the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in his pirate costume