Jacques Tourneur’s pirate classic had sexuality pulling off its sleeves.
Director Jacques Tourneur made a lot of eclectic films during his career, though few were as positioned as amorously in their genre as Anne of the Indies. Featuring a female pirate captain that takes what- (or whom-) ever she wants and a trove of suggestively off-the-shoulder costumes, the pirate flick has a lot of sex sequestered beneath its high seas surface.
Catherine Grant’s video essay isolates these moments of wardrobe-based subversiveness and zeroes in on the absolute sexiness inherent in context of a shoulder-bared pirate bearing down on someone.
Starring Jean Peters (the future wife of Howard Hughes) as Anne and a bisexual pantheon for her to choose from, this adventure’s romantic allure is easily understood through its single clothing motif.
Related Topics: Costume Design, pirates, Video
