In 1974, Gene Kelly told biographer Tony Thomas that he had "decided on this Fairbanks-Barrymore approach" to his role in THE PIRATE ('48) "at the very start and [Vincente] Minnelli entirely agreed with it. It didn't occur to us until the picture hit the public that what we had done was indulge in a huge inside joke. It was done tongue-in-cheek, but it didn't really come off, and that's my fault. But I thought Judy was superb — and what Minnelli did with color and design in that film is as fine