Directed by Michael Curtiz
1935/USA
Warner Bros
Repeat viewing
#88 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Dr. Peter Blood: Up that rigging, you monkeys! Aloft! There’s no chains to hold you now. Break out those sails and watch them fill with the wind that’s carrying us all to freedom![/box]
Captain Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is living peacefully as a physician when he is called on to tend a wounded rebel. For his trouble, he is convicted of treason and transported to Jamaica as a slave. Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), the niece of a wealthy landowner (Lionel Atwill), admires Blood’s defiant spirit and buys him. Blood mightily resents this. His medical skills make him a favorite of the gouty Governor of the island and allow him to plan his escape and that of his comrades. The men soon turn pirate but Arabella and her uncle seem part of Blood’s fate. Also starring Basil Rathbone as the French pirate Levasseur and a host of Warner Brothers character actors.
This movie was the first pairing of Errol Flynn and the 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland and made them both stars. It drags a bit in spots but basically is an exciting romantic adventure with thrilling sword fights and sea battles and dynamite chemistry between the two leads. The magnificent score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold adds to the fun.
Trailer
Yes, this is indeed fun, almost a precursor to Robin Hood a few years later although Captain Blood does not laugh entirely as much. You can see where Pirates of the Caribean got much of its inspiration.
Basil Rathbone is awesome!
I love Basil Rathbone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give a bad performance. It’s funny that his specialties were bad guys and Sherlock Holmes.
Flynn comes into his own when he leaves slavery behind and becomes the dashing pirate! De Havilliand’s charm does not fade with the years. Curtiz brings a lot to the picture, especially with his full and active frame. Korngold is lush and wonderful, as always.
Was Olivia ever more lovely? She seems so mature for an 18-year-old!
My two favorite beautiful men in the same film always gives me a thrill……Flynn and Rathbone. I like this one (of course, not as well as “Robin Hood”) and Rathbone is so sexy as Lavasseure. I have a feeling that most people don’t think of him as sexy but with those great legs and that profile (a little bit like John Barrymore’s) I consider him a hottie!!!!!!! But he was never a matinee idol, whatever that means, which is rather surprising. And there was no one more handsome than Flynn….too bad he aged badly and his career went down the tubes…..but he was great at his peak.
I read that Rathbone thought he was miscast but I thought he was a very convincing Frenchman! He does indeed have a sinister kind of sexuality.