Marketed as "the great M-G-M musical romance," The Pirate (1948) brings together some of the studio's biggest musical talents including Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, director Vincente Minnelli and producer Arthur Freed. The film stars Kelly as Serafin, a traveling performer who pretends to be the legendary pirate Macoco to win over the beautiful but overly imaginative Manuela (Garland). The plot allows Kelly to showcase his athletic and acrobatic dance style as he literally jumps, climbs and swings his way around the San Sebastian sets. The Cole Porter score also gives Garland a chance to display her famed vocals in such songs as "Mack the Black" and "You Can Do No Wrong". But perhaps the highlight of the film is the ballet, which, with its highly stylized sets and choreography, resembles Kelly's later, more celebrated ballets in On the Town (1949) and An American in Paris (1951).

The film came out just as the Freed production unit was nearing its creative and artistic peak, with such films as On the Town, An American in Paris, and Singin' in the Rain (1952) going into production in the four years following. As the second film to star both Kelly and Garland (the first being For Me and My Gal [1942], though both had also appeared in two MGM all-star musical shows--Ziegfeld Follies (1945) and Thousands Cheer [1943]), The Pirate would have seemed to be yet another sure-fire hit for the studio but the film was troubled from the start with shooting constantly postponed due to Garland's illness and insecurities. According to Arthur Freed biographer, Hugh Fordin, Kelly even feigned illnesses throughout production to protect Garland. Critical reception was lukewarm and the film only recouped about half its cost, becoming the only one of Garland's MGM films to lose money. Today, however, the film is generally viewed as featuring four artists at the peaks of their careers, particularly Kelly, and has developed an ardent cult following.