A little-seen Disney television adventure shot on location in Bahrain with a largely local cast.
We all know Disney for their pirate adventures, from Treasure Island and Peter Pan to the monolithic Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. But in 1971, the studio released a television film that used the Middle East as its backdrop.
Sitting somewhere at the collision point between feature film, documentary and TV movie, Hamad and the Pirates immediately surprises with director Richard Lyford’s striking photography of Bahrain. The dunes and buildings are vistas not often seen in the weekly Disney anthology shows of the 1970s.
The film follows the titular Hamad (Khalid Marshad), a young orphan boy who, while diving for pearls, falls overboard during a storm. He is rescued by a dhow sailing nearby, only to discover that its crew are pirates transporting stolen treasure.
Hamad escapes the pirate captain (Khalifa Shaheen) and begins a journey across the region in an effort to alert the authorities and bring the pirates to justice.
The Boy from Bahrain
Shot entirely on location in Bahrain, Hamad and the Pirates underwent significant expansion during production. Originally titled The Boy from Bahrain and conceived as a one-hour television film, the project was later reworked into a longer, two-part presentation forThe Wonderful World of Disney. Filming took place over an 18-month period, beginning in May 1969 and concluding in October 1970, with Disney said to have spent $250,000 on the production.
Khalid Abdullah Marshad Al-Kubaisi (to use his full name) plays the title role of Hamad, having reportedly been selected from around 500 local schoolboys and paid just over BD4,000 (just under US$11,000). He is the dominant on-screen presence, carrying much of the narrative, although it is Michael Ansara’s narration that remains the film’s prevailing voice. In this respect, the film has more in common with Disney’s docudramas of the era, relying on minimal spoken dialogue.
Combined with intimate location work, the film conveys a sense of fidelity, if not outright authenticity. Consider the engaging underwater photography of pearl divers, the depiction of noonday prayer and the shuttering of shops, or a memorable chase through Bahraini back alleys that briefly takes on the rhythm of a thriller. As Robert F. Brunner and Franklyn Marks’ music drops away, all that remains are the repetitive footfalls of Hamad and his pursuers. It’s a great moment.
The young star was not the only local employed. Khalifa Shaheen, originally hired as production manager and assistant director, was suggested by Lyford for the role of the pirate captain in preference to more established international actors. (Fun fact: he later became a director of the Budaiya-based photographic company KSDi).
A swashbuckling legacy
While difficult to verify elsewhere, Shaheen told Gulf Weekly in 2007 that a potential follow-up, The Purple Falcon, was discussed but never progressed beyond the proposal stage.
Beyond its original Wonderful World of Disney broadcast in March 1971, Hamad and the Pirates appears to have resurfaced intermittently. Surviving VHS-sourced recordings circulating online suggest later television screenings, though I was unable to find specific dates.
What is verifiable is the film’s afterlife in Bahrain, where it has received renewed attention as a cultural artefact. Most notably, it screened on Bahraini television during Eid al-Fitr programming in 2020 and has appeared in educational and open-air cinema contexts, where it has been used to showcase Bahraini heritage. In 2021, for instance, the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, in cooperation with the Bahrain Cinema Club, screened the film in the outer courtyard of the Pearling Path Visitors Centre in Muharraq.
Even so, Hamad and the Pirates remains a slightly obscure albeit fascinating moment in Disney history. Of course, pirates of very different waters would later loom large in the studio’s legend.
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