The Sea Hawk [Blu-ray]

Overview

In the 1580s, the Sea Hawks -- the name given to the bold privateers who prowl the oceans taking ships and treasure on behalf the British crown -- are the most dedicated defenders of British interests in the face of the expanding power of Philip of Spain. And Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) is the boldest of the Sea Hawks, responsible for capturing and destroying more than 50 Spanish ships and ten Spanish cities. His capture of a Spanish galleon, however, leads to more than he bargained for, in a romance with the ambassador's niece (Brenda Marshall) and the first whiff of a plan to put Spanish spies into the court of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson). Thorpe's boldness leads him to a daring raid on a treasure caravan in Panama which, thanks to treachery within Elizabeth's court, gets him captured and, with his crew, sentenced to the life of a slave aboard a Spanish ship. Meanwhile, Philip of Spain decides to wipe the threat posed by Elizabeth's independence from the sea by conquering the island nation with his armada. Thorpe, though chained to an oar, knows who the traitor at court is and plans to expose him and Philip's plans, but can he and his men break their bonds and get back to England alive in time to thwart the plans for conquest? The Sea Hawk was the last and most mature of Flynn's swashbuckling adventure films, played with brilliant stylistic flourishes by the star at his most charismatic, and most serious and studied when working with Flora Robson, whom he apparently genuinely respected. Boasting the handsomest, most opulent production values of a Warner Bros. period film to date, The Sea Hawk was made possible in part by a huge new floodable soundstage. Another highlight was the best adventure film score ever written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold; and the script's seriousness was nailed down by various not-so-veiled references not to 16th century Spain but 20th century Nazi Germany. The movie was cut by over 20 minutes for a reissue with The Sea Wolf, and the complete version was lost until a preservation-quality source was found at the British Film Institute. Since then, that 128-minute version -- which actually contains a one-minute patriotic speech by Robson as Elizabeth that was originally left out of U.S. prints, as well as amber tinting in all of the Panamanian sequences -- has become standard.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/18/2018
UPC:	0888574712488
Original Release:	1940
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	2:07:00

Special Features

Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1940 with: Newsreel, Short Alice in Movieland; Cartoon Porky's Poor Fish; Theatrical Trailers; Featurette: The Sea Hawk: Flynn in Action

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Errol Flynn	Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe
Flora Robson	Queen Elizabeth
Claude Rains	Don Jose Alvarez de Cordoba
Alan Hale	Carl Pitt
Brenda Marshall	Dona Maria Alvarez de Cordoba
Gilbert Roland	Capt. Lopez
Una O'Connor	Miss Latham
Henry Daniell	Lord Wolfingham
Clyde Cook	Walter Boggs
William Lundigan	Logan
James Stephenson	Abbott
Montagu Love	Phillip
J.M. Kerrigan	Matson
Julien Mitchell	Scott
Donald Crisp	Sir John Burleson
David Bruce	Martin Burke
Frank Wilcox	Martin Barrett, a Galley Slave
Herbert Anderson	Eph Winters,Maids of Honor
Clifford Brooke	William Tuttle
Charles Irwin	Arnold Cross
Edgar Buchanan	Ben Rollins
Ellis Irving	Monty Preston
Francis McDonald	Samuel Kroner
Pedro de Cordoba	Capt. Mendoza
Ian Keith	Peralta
Fritz Leiber	Inquisitor
Halliwell Hobbes	Astronomer
Alec Craig	Chartmaker
Frank Lackteen	Capt. Ortiz
Victor Varconi	Gen. Aguirre
Lester Matthews	Lieutenant
Leonard Mudie	Officer
Robert Warwick	Capt. Frobisher
Harry Cording	Slavemaster
Nestor Paiva	Slavemaster
Frederic Worlock	Darnell
David Thursby	Driver
Michael Harvey	Sea Hawk
Gerald Mohr	Spanish Officer
Leyland Hodgson	Officer
Colin Kenny	Officer
Crauford Kent	Lieutenant
Elizabeth Sifton	Maids of Honor
Jack La Rue	Lieutenant Ortega
Whit Bissell	Gate Guard at Palace Entrance
J.W. Cody	Whipper
Maurice Costello	Man Carrying Spear
Dave Kashner	Whipper
Alan Hale Jr.	Carl Pitt
Guy Anderson [Herbert]	Eph Winters
Guy Bellis	John Hawkins
Michael Martin-Harvey	Sea Hawk
Erich Wolfgang Korngold	Composer

Technical Credits

Howard Koch

Seton I. Miller

Michael Curtiz	Director
Henry Blanke	Producer
Howard Koch	Screenwriter
Seton I. Miller	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Byron Haskin	Special Effects
H.F. Koenekamp	Special Effects
Hal B. Wallis	Producer,Executive Producer
Ned Davenport	Stunts
Francis J. Scheid	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Jack Warner	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn, who had previously teamed up in Captain Blood (1935) and the The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), join forces once again in this full-rigged adventure, one of the best of the swashbuckler genre. Based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film follows the exploits of privateer Sir Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn), aka the Sea Hawk, as he raids Spanish ships to swell the coffers of England, under orders from Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson). At 1.7 million dollars, one of the most expensive films to date, this lavish production has just about everything one could ask of a seafaring adventure: swordplay, romance, a dashing hero, a dastardly villain (Claude Rains), beautifully choreographed sea battles, and two nations on the brink of war. Flynn, who could not have been more perfectly cast, is at the peak of his powers as the resourceful, insouciant pirate. He's aided by a huge supporting cast with many of the best character actors of the time, including Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, Gilbert Roland, Henry Daniell, and J.M. Kerrigan. But aside from Flynn, the film's key component is the lustrous score of Erich Korngold, who (along with Bernard Herrmann) was perhaps the finest film composer of the period.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello