The Sea HawkRating:
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The Sea Hawk Reviews
Strike for the shores!
The Sea Hawk is the only picture to give The Adventures of Robin Hood a run for its money in the greatest adventure film of all time stakes. Sharing only the title with Warners enjoyable silent film and reusing the sets and costumes from The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, it's a great example of the genius of the studio system in the days before packaging became a dirty word. Errol Flynn is at his very best here, whether he's capturing Spanish galleons in the English Channel, wooing Brenda Marshall or fighting off a quartet of palace guards to warn Queen Elizabeth of the impending Armada - he's the kind of guy every man wants to be and every woman just wants. And he's backed up by a strong array of talent - villainous Claude Rains and eternally snide and condescending Henry Daniell, sidekick Alan Hale, Flora Robson's haughty but playful Elizabeth, reliably decent Donald Crisp and a slew of other familiar faces all the way down to J.M. Kerrigan's shifty spy. Even the eternally irritating Una O'Connor is on her best behavior here.
And there's real talent behind the cameras too - Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller's unashamedly stirring screenplay, Sol Polito's great black and white photography, where every swordfight casts giant shadows, Anton Grot's far from grotty art direction, Michael Curtiz's vivid direction and, of course, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's greatest score (not to mention that song!). Warner's recent DVD release is a fine package, boasting the fully restored version (the obvious anti-Nazi parallels were removed for post-war reissues, reducing Donald Crisp's role to a mere extra) and the sepia tint to the Panama sequences.
Extras are good, although it is a shame that the terrific - and very different - silent version was not included as well.
My favorite swashbuckling film...
The Sea Hawk is the one film that I saw as a kid and could not stop watching from start to finish. With breathtaking action, great acting, and a plot line that takes you all over the world [from England to South America and back] The Sea Hawk is one movie that you should see if you want to know what a real pirate movie is all about.
Errol Flynn stars as Captain Thorpe, a privateer who robs Spanish ships at the time when England and Spain were at war hundreds of years ago. After a great sea battle in the beginning of the moive [Yes there are guns, sword fights, and cannon fire galore!]Thorpe and his men sail back to England with their captured treasure as well as the Spanish ambassador who was sailing toward England to talk with Queen Elizabeth.
Joining the ambassador is his daughter Olivia [played by Brenda Marshall] who eventually [or should I say inevitably?] falls in love with Thorpe after several romantic scenes in a rose garden as well on Thorpe's ship, The Albatross.
The Sea Hawks are a group of privateers who rob pirate ships as well as Spanish ships in the name of the Queen as well as England. The ambassador is not too pleased with the way he was captured and treated by the men, but the Queen secretly applauds Thorpe for making him look like a fool in front of her.
Thorpe is soon sent on a mission to the isthmus of Panama to steal a great amount of gold that is shipped by Spanish troops by caravan to suport Spain's vast amount of wealth in the war. Being very poor compared to Spain, England's only hope it seems is to steal the gold and use it for itself in the war. The Albatross along with Thrope and his crew set sail to steal the gold.
I won't spoil the movie for you, but I will say that a great battle for the gold caravan takes place as well as other great storylines that involve treason, betrayal, and retribution. One involves a secret plot that is revealed involving a massive armada of Spanish ships that will attack England, and also a great sword fight near the end of the movie.
This is the movie that started the great chain of Pirate movies for new generations to see. But it is really nice to go back and watch some of the early ones. Sure the special effects aren't as good but the acting is terrific and there are plenty of great action scenes.
Extras include:
Flynn In Action - A showing of Flynn behind the scenes
Subtitles
And a newsreel on the movie called "Warner Night at the Movies - 1940"
This DVd is highly recommended
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