User Reviews

More and at the same time less than just another Errol Flynn swashbuckling epic, this movie struck me as somewhat darker and grittier than some of the star's earlier outings (although this was perhaps accidentally aided by the pretty poor quality print I viewed on UK satellite TV with jump-cuts a-plenty - one for the restorers methinks). Here we get echoes of "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" and of course "Captain Blood" but unlike Bette Davis in the former, Flora Robson makes a great Queen Elizabeth with that required air of authoritative coquetry projected superbly. She in fact is the best thing in the movie winning every scene she's in, exceeding even the redoubtable Claude Rains, himself less commanding as usual in a somewhat subservient role, slightly overcome, I sense, by his clothing! Flynn is rather good, in the first half his usual, dashing, handsome but somewhat diffident self around beautiful or authoritative women, (in sharp contrast of course with his real life persona!) but reduced to a hardened ravaged but always resilient and resourceful galley slave who engineers his devoted crew's escape from penury to save the day and stay the machinations of the Spanish King. Brenda Marshall does her best Olivia De Havilland and emerges with credit too although the film suffers slightly from lacking a really nasty sword-wielding protagonist who measures up to Flynn, Basil Rathbone style. Indeed it's a surprise when the effete traitor Lord Wolfingham gives Flynn's Thorpe any kind of sword fight at all at the climax. The scenes in the jungle and on board the Spanish galley are noticeably darker than usual in Flynn's work, the star unabashed at appearing unglamourous, unkempt and battle-worn for lengthy periods. The sets, particularly of the warring boats and at Elizabeth's court all reflect the usual Warner Bros high production values and if models were used in the battle scenes, they certainly fooled me. There's of course the usual element of yo-ho-ho tomfoolery between Flynn and his men, slightly at odds with the realism evinced elsewhere. "Jack-of-all-trades" Michael Curtiz emerges again with credit, marshaling his forces well and occasionally pulling off a nicely unexpected camera angle, one crane shot memorable in particular from what appears to be almost the poop deck as Flynn and co. return to their apparently deserted ship, while the climactic sword fight against the combatants' own massive shadows again shows imagination. Korngold's celebrated score also helps the action flow along grandly. I suspect that Robson's rallying speech at the conclusion had as much to do with Britain's war with Germany as the story in hand, (Hitchcock used a similar trick in "Foreign Correspondent") but avoids jingoism and bears comparison with Olivier's more famous "Henry V" rallying call. All of Flynn's swashbucklers are worth watching but I was more than pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of this slightly lesser known (to me anyway)example of the genre.

The most sombre of Errol Flynn's 3 great adventure films (the others are Captain Blood and Robin Hood), this dark movie has none of the sexy romping or witty banter that enliven the other two. It has, however, plenty of passion, if not the romantic kind. The Sea Hawk dramatises the need for the US to enter World War II, with sixteenth-century Spain standing in for Nazi Germany, and analogies to wartime Europe every few minutes.

At the beginning, Flynn's privateers board and sink a Spanish ship, freeing its galley slaves (ie, victims of Nazism). The Spanish heroine is horrified when she sets eyes on them for the first time, and Flynn later tells her he realised, when he saw her expression, that she was not as cold as he thought (ie, decent people should sympathise with the conquered nations, not act as if the suffering doesn't exist because they don't see it). There are forceful speeches by Flynn, Queen Elizabeth, and her ministers about England's policy toward Spain, whose king we have heard saying that he wants to conquer the whole world to satisfy his own ambitions. The Queen says that King Philip may not be planning to attack England and she doesn't want to make him angry. Flynn says why would he be building up a navy if he didn't intend to use it. The Spanish ambassador rebukes Flynn for freeing the galley slaves, who he says were properly tried and sentenced under Spanish law. Flynn replies that an Inquisition court and slavery are not what any Englishman would recognise as proper--he seems to stop just short of saying "cruel and unusual punishment"! The Queen is warned that England may find herself all alone in a world of enemies. The courtiers who oppose antagonising Spain are shown as doing so because they are profiteering traitors, not because they have different ideas. So the Queen can be regarded as a stand-in not only for Churchill but for Roosevelt.

When Flynn and his men are betrayed, and then captured by the Spaniards and made into galley slaves, they manage to slip their chains and then silently wait below decks for the Spanish to pass by, one at a time, and then pull each one down below and overpower him--in other words, they literally become underground fighters.

The film ends with a fiery speech from Queen Liz, who says who the hell is King Philip to tell us what to do, and promises to turn all the trees in England into ships to fight those Spanish bastards, with everyone cheering her on. For an utterly persuasive combination of argument and emotion, this was a pitch for the US entering the war that should have won all the Warner Brothers honorary knighthoods.

EF does a decent job of buckling his swash in this B&W (why no color, it's 1940)? It's interesting how the B&W turns to sepia when they hit Panama and then back to B&W once back in England. I liked Flora Robson as QEI in this and both Henry Danielle (his sword fighting scenes with EF are a hoot; he obviously couldn't duel so a double was used and then close up of just his head bobbing around to make it look like he was actually doing it)and Claude Raines made perfect villains. The obligatory female interest in this epic was kind of sappy looking and couldn't act, but provided a means for Errol to get back into see QE after his return from Panama. I recently overdosed on film noir and accidentally discovered pirate movies so was looking for something in blinding Technicolor with red headed sultry vixens. Oh, well...tonight I'm watching Flame and the Arrow with Virginia Mayo so my redhead fix will be quite satisfied I'm sure. I saw a VividColor MellerDrama with her and Arlene Dahl (or was it Rhonda Fleming & Arlene Dahl)...whatever...when they were both on screen, I needed sunglasses. I'm off subject. A pretty good movies, I gave it six, maybe give it more as I view others.

1902. That's when the first color short was made. 1939. "Gone With The Wind" and "The Wizard Of Oz." Both in remarkable color.

I mention that because when I watched this 1940 film by cheapo Warner Brothers (who certainly made fine movies), I kept thinking what a shame it was that considering the budget film, WB didn't throw in a bit more money to make it in color. This films cries out for color!!!!! Of course, one of the reasons it's in black and white is that some scenes from the 1924 silent version were cut into the production. A few scenes in the print used on TCM have badly deteriorated.

Perhaps the best performance in the film is that of Flora Robson as Queen Elizabeth.

This is a rousing tale, although for me, there are a number of Flynn movies that I would place above it. Historically, apparently it's not very accurate. Perhaps Flynn's best acting in the tale is when he is a prisoner -- essentially a galley slave -- aboard a Spanish ship...Flynn not in control.

There are a number of fine character actors here, including Flynn's frequent sidekick Alan Hale, but, from my perspective, none of the roles stand out.

Worth seeing once, or maybe twice, but this title won't sit along side other Flynn movies on my DVD shelf.

This is yet another vintage film that I'm only just catching up with, some 70 years after its initial release and this probably has a lot to do with how indifferent I feel about it. Whilst I've always found Errol Flynn charming with great charisma I sensed a strain on both here. Brenda Marshall is wooden in the extreme and there is absolutely no chemistry between her and Flynn. Claude Rains, too, seems oddly ill-at-ease possibly because unlike his Captain Renault in Casablanca he is not permitted to display the impish side of his character and come on as more of a lovable rogue than black-as-night villain. Even the swordplay was lacklustre and it's too easy to say that Henry Daniell is a poor substitute for Basil Rathbone. I've given it five out of ten whereas had I seen it earlier I may have gone to seven or eight.

THE SEA HAWK is usually listed with THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and CAPTAIN BLOOD as Errol Flynn's finest films, an honor it richly deserves. Filmed in 1940, at the peak of Flynn's popularity, before the sensational rape trial and revelations of his hedonistic lifestyle combined to tarnish his reputation and gradually make his screen persona more of a roué and less heroic, the film combined all of the classic 'Flynn' elements; spectacular battles, a chaste but passionate romance, wonderful camaraderie, a thoroughly despicable villain, and a climactic light/shadow sword fight finale to top things off, accompanied by the fabulous music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This is a FABULOUS film adventure!

Based on the privateering adventures of Sir Francis Drake and the 'Sea Dogs' of Elizabethan times, the WB lifted the title from a Rafael Sabatini novel, and changed the 'Sea Dogs' to 'Sea Hawks' (which DOES sound more romantic!). Flynn is Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, a brilliant commander in the 'Horatio Hornblower' mold, adored by his crew (led by the irreplaceable Alan Hale, of course!), admired by his fellow Sea Hawks, and even respected by his Spanish adversaries. As the film opens, his ship, the Albatross, having crossed the Atlantic in record time, takes on a giant Spanish galleon carrying the new Ambassador to England (Claude Rains, in a small but memorable role) and his daughter, Maria (played by the luminous Brenda Marshall, who has always been unfairly judged as a 'substitute' for Olivia de Havilland; Miss de Havilland would have been totally wrong in the role of an innocent Spanish girl!) After a breathtaking battle, featuring the kind of cutlass-swinging pandemonium director Michael Curtiz was famous for, Thorpe is victorious, and the Spaniards and their cargo are transferred to the Albatross. (Wonderful Hispanic actor Gilbert Roland has a nice bit as the Spanish captain, granted the right to be the last to leave his sinking ship).

Thorpe is immediately smitten by Maria, but, in true Hornblower fashion, is uncomfortable trying to talk to her, much to the amusement of his crew! This discomfort doesn't apply to ALL women, however; to Queen Elizabeth, wonderfully portrayed by Flora Robson (for the second time, as she'd played the Virgin Queen in the earlier FIRE OVER ENGLAND), Thorpe displays a rakish charm that she secretly adores. (This was Flynn's second film in two years dealing with the monarch; as lover/potential usurper to a more neurotic Elizabeth, played by Bette Davis, in 1939's THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, she chopped off his head...something Davis, who despised Flynn, would have liked to have done in real life, as well!)

Despite the growing love between Maria and Thorpe, he has a brilliant scheme, attacking a Spanish treasure port in Central America by land, so he's off again, with Elizabeth's secret blessings. Unfortunately, traitorous Lord Wolfingham (played to slimy perfection by Henry Daniell), figures out the plan, and warns the Spanish, who defeat Thorpe and his crew in the jungle (a wonderful, sepia-toned sequence), then subjects the survivors to a life chained to the oars of a Spanish galleon. Discovering Wolfingham's duplicity, and ultimate goal of power after the Spanish Armada crushes England, Thorpe and his crew manage to break free of their chains, capture the Spanish ship, and race back to England, culminating in a spectacular climactic duel between Thorpe and Wolfingham, and Elizabeth's rousing "We'll build an Armada" speech added to the script to inspire an audience witnessing the beginning of WWII.

A rousing adventure, THE SEA HAWK marked the pinnacle of Errol Flynn's rollercoaster career, and is a true classic of the genre!

I have long been a fan of the pictures that Warner Brothers put out in the 1930s and '40s, as well as a longtime fan of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn, of Hungarian director Michael Curtiz, and of the genre of film known as the swashbuckler, so it was perhaps inevitable that 1940's "The Sea Hawk" should wind up on my personal Top 10 list. But it is perhaps strange that I should rank this particular swashbuckler so very high, when so many others have topped it in various departments. Flynn's breakthrough film, the swashbuckler "Captain Blood" (1936), was there first, and features a short but very sweet beachside sword fight between Flynn and Basil Rathbone; "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), also starring Flynn, is one of the most gorgeously filmed Technicolor movies ever made ("The Sea Hawk" was shot in B&W) and also features one of the greatest sword fights in cinema history, that between Flynn and Rathbone at the picture's conclusion; "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) also sports one of the finest sword fights of all time, that between star Tyrone Power and, still again, villainous Basil Rathbone; and "Scaramouche" (1952) gave us what is most likely THE very greatest (and lengthiest) sword fight in film history, a truly acrobatic and swinging affair between star Stewart Granger and villainous Mel Ferrer. (And by the way, I am using the term "sword fight" here generically, with full knowledge that many of these bouts were between two men fencing with rapiers or foils.) But for this viewer, "The Sea Hawk" remains the greatest swashbuckler of them all; a film in which all the elements come together to create one truly rousing and memorable film experience. After having been produced by the Warners studio at a cost of $1.7 million, the picture opened on July 1, 1940 and proved modestly successful at the box office, ultimately raking in $2.6 million. Based on Rafael Sabatini's 1915 novel "The Sea Hawk," the picture was actually a remake; the 1924 silent film, which I have also seen and enjoyed, supposedly hews a lot closer to the novel than does the Curtiz production, which uses as its model the exploits of the British sailor Sir Francis Drake. Personally, I have seen the 1940 film several dozen times and never seem to tire of it. I have seen it on both the small screen at home and on the large screen theatrically, and it never fails to leave this viewer with a happy grin on his face by the closing credits. Now almost 80 years old, it would seem to be a film for the ages.

"The Sea Hawk" takes place during the reign of Elizabeth I, a time during which the Spaniards were getting their famous armada together to wage war; in other words, just prior to the year 1588. As the film opens, the Spanish king, Philip II, sends his ambassador Don Alvarez (the always-wonderful character actor Claude Rains) to England, accompanied by his niece, Dona Maria (Brenda Marshall), to convince Elizabeth that Spain has no hostile intentions as regards any of its neighbors. While en route, the ambassador's ship is captured by the Albatross, under the command of privateer Geoffrey Thorpe (our Errol), and Alvarez and his niece are taken prisoners. Back in England, Elizabeth (truly regally portrayed here by Flora Robson, who was 38 at the time and here portraying a monarch who would have been, in 1588, 55 years old) publicly chastises Thorpe for his actions, but privately commends his deeds and valor on behalf of England. Thorpe is later given a rather hazardous assignment: to take his ship to the isthmus of Panama, in the New World, and capture a Spanish gold caravan that will soon be traveling there. And all would have gone well with this mission, had not traitorous Lord Wolfingham (the always hissable Henry Daniell) tipped the Spaniards off in advance. Thorpe and his men are ambushed in the swamps of Panama and many of them are killed; the few who remain are shipped back to Spain, stand trial under the Inquisition, and are sentenced to live out the rest of their lives as galley slaves aboard a Spanish galleon. Can Thorpe and his fellows ever escape from their rowers' shackles, make it back to England, and convince the queen of Spain's real intentions?

"The Sea Hawk" was the 10th film that Curtiz and Flynn collaborated on together, and by now, the team was working like a well-calibrated machine. Besides "Captain Blood" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood," those previous films had been "The Charge of the Light Brigade"; the Westerns "Dodge City," "Santa Fe Trail" and "Virginia City"; the swashbuckler "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," in which Bette Davis essayed the role of Elizabeth (a very different interpretation of the role as compared to Robson's); and even lighthearted comedies such as "The Perfect Specimen" and "Four's a Crowd." Curtiz really makes his film move here, and nobody, for my money, has ever excelled Flynn in this type of role. The director and actor are abetted by the Warners studio working at peak efficiency, and aided by a raft of wonderful Warners character actors: Alan Hale, Donald Crisp, Una O'Connor, Gilbert Roland, Montagu Love, et al. And perhaps most especially by the great composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, whose rousing and lusty score for this film, once heard, will never be forgotten. Korngold had previously contributed the scores for "Captain Blood," "Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Private Lives...," but his work here is truly spectacular. Finely shot by DOP Sol Polito, featuring sumptuous sets, and boasting a sparkling screenplay by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller, "The Sea Hawk" is a class production all around. It is perhaps most famous today for the inspirational speech that Elizabeth makes toward the film's conclusion, in which she forcefully declaims the necessity of a country and her people to fight for their freedom; a speech that was seen as a Hollywood message to our British allies overseas during the early days of WW2. It is a film that really cannot be bettered, I feel...unless it would be to substitute Brenda Marshall with Olivia de Havilland, Flynn's frequent costar. But having a different leading lady play opposite the great Flynn for a change can hardly be seen as a bad thing, and Marshall surely does possess a unique charm of her own.

On a personal note, there is one scene in "The Sea Hawk" that is an especial favorite of mine, and that I think back on frequently. It is the scene in which Thorpe and his men escape from their shackles and take over the Spanish galleon, a truly thrilling sequence indeed. By this time, the English slaves are in a pretty sorry state, dirty and worn out from their incessant, backbreaking toil. They are as abject a lot as can be imagined. But after they capture the ship, and put their Spanish tormentors belowdecks, they turn around and set sail for England, doing the same backbreaking work, but now joyful and singing lustily as can be, the great Korngold theme bellowing from their throats. The same exact work, but under different circumstances. That really strikes a chord with yours truly. As a proofreader and copy editor, I often sit at my office desk and read the most egregiously awful dreck all day long. And come evening, I often go home and...do what? Read! But now I am reading what I want to read, and what a difference it makes! Freedom is the difference, of course; the freedom to be doing what you want to be doing. And that message has never been shown more effectively than in that wonderful scene in "The Sea Hawk."

It has just struck me that I have yet to mention the climactic sword fight that caps the action in this very fine film...that between Flynn and Daniell. While perhaps not as memorable as that of some of the others mentioned above, it is yet a highly satisfying affair, bringing to a close a film that should manage to charm and entertain audiences of all ages. If you have never had the pleasure of seeing this film, I would urge you to put it at the very top of your list. Personally, after not having seen it for a good number of years, I find that I am now hankering for another good solid dose of Geoffrey Thorpe & Co....