Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Released in 2003 by Walt Disney Pictures, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl arrived as a gamble few expected to pay off, a big budget swashbuckler inspired by a theme park ride. Directed by Gore Verbinski and anchored by Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, the film revived the pirate genre for a new generation and became a defining blockbuster of the early 2000s, spawning one of Disney's most enduring franchises.
This cell brings together Hector Barbossa and Elizabeth Swann, two of the film's central figures whose fates are bound by the curse driving the story. Barbossa, played by Geoffrey Rush, is the cursed mutineer captain of the Black Pearl, a role collectors prize for its blend of menace and dark charisma. Elizabeth Swann, played by Keira Knightley, represents the story's moral and romantic center. A pairing of these two names points to one of the film's key confrontations, the kind of dramatic pairing often reserved for a trailer or title card frame meant to sell the tension between captor and captive.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower portion of the strip beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area track; a row of small rectangular Dolby Digital data blocks is also visible between the lower perforations and the optical track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-teal tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads as a rich, saturated colour image with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot and the dark costumed figure with a mechanical hand is consistent with imagery from the film on record.
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2003 release date of the film on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063444
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
