88. Captain Blood (1935)

Directed By Michael Curtiz

Synopsis

An Irish protestant doctor is wrongly convicted of being a traitor to James II of England. He is sent to Jamaica and breaks out to become the most feared pirate in the Caribbean, Captain Blood! There's a love interest in there somewhere as well.

Review

This film is the 1935 equivalent of a big-budget special effects blockbuster. The characters aren't very well rounded, some of the acting isn't the best in the world, but by golly it's fun!

Captain Blood has got everything you could expect from a swashbuckler, sword-fights, sea battles, a dashing hero and a damsel in distress. It is a bit formulaic, in fact it is very formulaic, but it works out in the end. Errol Flynn is a ham, but that's what you want from a swashbuckling hero.

There is much glitter, and quite impressive one at that, the sea battles are really well done, all action sequences are pretty amazing, but it is a shallow film. Another thing that annoyed me here is that you can really tell this was done for an American audience with little knowledge of European history, the big reveal that the French are attacking Port Royal because James II is no longer the king and William of Orange has taken over is a reveal to no one with a slight knowledge of history. And why is Captain Blood an Irish protestant collaborator? Has he forgotten Cromwell? Or is it just that Papists always have to be portrayed as evil while the goodly Protestants take the day? As someone brought up Catholic it annoys me. The Protestants had ripped Ireland apart, how can Blood be proud of being Irish and not English as he states repeatedly and still hate the Catholics? It is just skewed logic, but hey! Still a good bit of fun. Buy it from Amazon UK or US.

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The film stars Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland with Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone. It was the first of eight films co-starring De Havilland and Flynn, and in 1938, the two would be re-united with Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Rathbone hated Flynn, and in the swordfighting scene, he intentionally scarred Flynn's arm, for life.

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and, despite not being nominated, Michael Curtiz received the second-greatest number of votes for Best Director, solely as a write-in candidate. Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Casey Robinson also failed to be nominated and also received substantially more votes for their work on this film than most of the official nominees.

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