The Pirate (1948)

Plot: It is the year 1830. In the Spanish Main, local beauty Manuela Alva, is living on the island of Calvados and dreams of falling in-love with the legendary Caribbean pirate Macoco. However, her guardians, her aunt and uncle, aiming to get rich, insist she marries Don Pedro, the town mayor, a fat and bullying man. Manuela resigns herself to her fate but before the wedding day, in the nearby Port Sebastian, she meets by chance a troupe of traveling circus actors, led by the handsome Serafin. They both are attracted to one another but, while Serafin wants to woo Manuela, she refuses his advances claiming to be promised in marriage to Don Pedro. At the circus show, during a hypnosis act, Serafin learns that Manuela is secretly in-love with Macoco the pirate. This revelation persuades Serafin to resort to a trick in order to woo her. He pretends to be the famous pirate Macoco and he plays the part well, assisted by the complicity of his troupe. His performance is so well executed that it convinces everyone in town, including Manuela, that he truly is Macoco the pirate. Unfortunately, it also convinces the local authorities and the visiting Spanish Viceroy that he is a wanted pirate. Poor Serafin, masquerading as Macoco the pirate, is arrested by the Spanish troops. Despite his pleas that he only is a circus actor impersonating a pirate, he is found guilty of piracy, partly on fake evidence supplied by a jealous Don Pedro. Serafin, aka Macoco the pirate, is sentenced to death by hanging. Only a miracle can save his neck.