In diametric contrast to Mandy was Robert Siodmak's buccaneering yarn, The Crimson Pirate (1952). Alwyn's enjoyment oozes from every stave of this score - one senses a relief from serious-minded assignments, a satisfaction of his romanticism and his sense of fun. Financed by Warner Brothers - director and stars Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat were American, other actors and film crew were British - it found inspiration, as the title suggests, in the 1926 Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler The Black Pirate : several stunts were alike, and both were irreverent extravaganzas typified by the fixed grins of their heroes.

Alwyn's often tongue-in-cheek composition lies in the tradition of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's swashbuckling action music, especially his composition for The Sea Hawk (1940). There is a great deal of music in the film, with the cues often separated by just a few seconds. But the film is not over-scored, even though this fast-moving dramatic structure, with frequent changes in direction and several fight and chase sequences, demands prolific scoring. Moreover, the composition supplies a thematic and motivic unity to the texture of the film, the themes often blending and maintaining a musical flow even as they mickey-mouse or hit split-second timings. Alwyn restricts the number of his motifs, a decision that helps his audience to familiarise itself with the tunes. At the same time, he allows himself a great deal of liberty in their handling by classical variations of harmony, melody, and rhythm.

Thus, Alwyn's vigorous main pirate anthem, which commences under titles, appears to be based on gypsy-like rhythms, complete with tambourine - appropriate for the rovers of the high seas. As important is another motif, encountered by our heroes Vallo (Burt Lancaster) and his mute companion Ojo (Nick Cravat, who communicates by whistles and mime like a swarthy Harpo Marx) as they reconnoitre an occupied island. Here they meet the island's grenadiers, strutting like clockwork soldiers and accompanied by a militarymarch motif appropriately scored for brass and flutes. When the militia chase the two pirates, the motif becomes a mocking recitation when the pirates win every round. Alwyn jumps this major motif through several stylistic hoops, transforming it into an anthem (like the brass-based anthem from State Secret) and a minuet, and in the ultimate fight sequence he somehow permits it to be seized by the pirates for their own motif. (Maybe that is something pirates do.)