☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The
Sea Hawk (1940) – M. Curtiz
Another rousing swashbuckler from director
Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn.
This time Flynn is a pirate captain working for Queen Elizabeth I,
plundering Spanish ships and freeing the galley slaves that have been entrapped
by the Inquisition. At his side is Alan
Hale and others who may be familiar from earlier similar pictures. However, The Sea Hawk is a slight notch down
from Captain Blood (1935) or especially Robin Hood (1938) because Brenda
Marshall makes a duller love interest than Olivia de Havilland (Flynn’s usual
starring partner) and Henry Daniell is wicked but not quite as wicked as Basil
Rathbone. Both of these stellar co-stars
turned this picture down to seek different horizons. Claude Rains is here but with little to
do. Still there is no denying the
thrilling adventure scenes, often shot in the giant Maritime soundstage at
Warner Brothers where giant sailing ships battle each other and men leap from
one to the other cutlasses drawn. Erich
Wolfgang Korngold’s score undoubtedly adds to the effect.
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