The Sea Hawk (1940)

What a year for swashbucklers 1940 was!

Fox made THE MARK OF ZORRO with Power, Rathbone, and Cavens, and

Warners made THE SEA HAWK with Flynn, Daniell and Ralph Faulkner.

The Sea Hawk offers much to delight the audience -- most of the team from the

Adventures of Robin Hood are here again in top form.

Most notable, of course, is Errol Flynn. Appearing here in a more mature

incarnation than Captain Blood or Robin Hood and before the dissipation

of his later years set in, this is THE Errol Flynn.

Based on the exploits of Sir Francis Drake, The Sea Hawk unfurls its flag

against the backdrop of England's struggle against the Spanish armada, (and

more pointedly, the Allies' struggle against the Axis, as evidenced by Elizabeth's

final speech). Superb BW cinematography, Korngold's magnificent score, lavish

sets and costumes, and the intrigue-laden script make this a perfect film for a

popcorn night on the sofa with your significant other, all punctuated by great

battle sequences and that blinding final rapier duel between Thorpe and

Wolfingham. If at all possible find the restored British print with 18 additional

minutes and the Panama sequence in sepia tone.

Fmovies: It is no wonder I suggest, when one reads the credits for 'The Sea Hawk", (1940) that it was made into a splendid and memorable motion picture. It is a Warner brothers "A" effort, a B/W answer to "Gone With the Wind". Warners was called the 'outlaw studio' because its tsars had a habit of making films about men who were either criminals or revolutionaries against a U.S.. the studio's bosses seemed to mistrust more than anyone else did. In this case the government they chose to study is Elizabeth I's Protestant England, she herself considered an enemy of the mighty Catholic Empire of Spain under Philp II. To counter Spain's attempt to destroy England, as she had overrun her ally The Low Countries (Benelux), England's Queen expanded the building of Henry VIII's fleet and bettered her father's design by refusing to waste money and men in wars and by making her navy's ships smaller and more swift than Spanish galleons. Hero of this film is rebellious but loyal Geoffrey Thorpe played adequately as a very young and promising fellow by Errol Flynn. He and others are disowned publicly but privately backed in their conducting of raids on Spanish shipping. In the film, Geoffrey is returning from one such raid with a prize, including a captured Spanish lady he is falling in love with, to whom, for love, he has returned her jewels. Elizabeth I is furious at this but is softened; and Thorpe goes off on his greatest adventure to the New World, to go after the Spanish Empire's annual treasure fleet. Betrayed to the Spaniards and captured in Panama, he and his men escape imprisonment in a slave galley, make their way through swamps, win a battle, and return to England in time to expose traitors, and save Elizabeth. His reward is the lady, who has waited for him, and the chance to serve England further. In the huge cast with Flynn are splendid ,Alan Hale, the great Flora Robson reprising her "Fire Over England" role as Elizabeth, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, powerful Henry Daniell, pretty but rather weak Brenda Marshall as the lady he loves, Julien Mitchell, Montagu Love, Gilbert Roland, William Lundigan, Ian Keith, Una O'Connor, Jay Silverheels and Robert Warwick. This expensively-mounted production was written by Seton I Miller of the "Mississippi Gambler" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" fame with Howard Koch. Director Michael Curtiz was in charge of this sumptuous offering; the music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold is justly famous;the credits for 'The Sae Hawk read like a who is who in Hollywood; makeup was by Perc Westmore, cinematography by Sol Polito, art direction by Anton Grot and gowns by Orry-Kelly. Special effects were by Byron Haskin. Watch for the slave galley scene; this is the scene adapted by William Wyler for Ben Hur's galley setups. This is a stirring and very entertaining film, with everything from an amusing monkey to great acting to clever dialogue as Slizabeth inspires, scolds but brilliantly misleads those who would thwart her course--to make England secure in her pre-Imperial days from Spain's tyrannical ambitions.

The boys do know how to swash their buckle! By "the boys," I mean the team that made "Captain Blood" in 1935 and "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" three years later, in 1938.

Two years after Robin Hood, in 1940, the boys then made this wonderful, fun classic. "The Sea Hawk" is nothing short of wonderful four-star entertainment.

Of course, this team, aka "the boys," was comprised of the greatest swashbuckling star of them all, Errol Flynn (better even than Doug Fairbanks Sr.): the greatest director of swashbucklers in th history of cinema, Michael Curtiz; the finest composer of unforgettable anthemic soundtracks, Erich Wolfgang Korngold; and the happiest, jolliest, laughingest sidekick of them all, Alan Hale, Sr.

The lovely Olivia De Havilland would also naturally be included here except that for whatever reason, she was replaced by Brenda Marshall in "The Sea Hawk." Bummer! Marshall is a talented and pretty actress - but she can't tough De Havilland, especially when teamed with ol' "In Like" Flynn.

Flynn and his "legal" pirates are put through their paces in this one, even braving fever in the jungles of Panama as they fight a traitor and the King of Spain (the rat) - oh, and that all-time great rat, good old Claude Rains.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!! Swash me buckle, me hearties, Errol Flynn's on watch!

The Sea Hawk fmovies. It's Erich Wolfgang Korngold who carries "The Sea Hawk". He picks it up at the first frame with a rousing trumpet fanfare; he follows the story all the way from England to Panama, where a kind of syncopated not-jazz-exactly with saxophones makes its way into the score; he even bursts into song (well, not him personally) when Captain Thorpe's and his crew win through to freedom - and, after so much musical participation, that moment when the sailors become a chorus never strikes me as unnatural.

Korngold's brisk motion would count for nothing if the actors or the direction or the story were lethargic, of course - and they aren't. Errol Flynn plays an "I know I'm breaking international law, but hey, I'm charming and dashing and the Spaniards aren't" role - and hey, he IS charming and dashing, and the Spaniards aren't. A lot of films are described as roller-coaster rides. Many of them are just one thing after another, and don't feel at all like a single ride in a single vehicle. With "The Sea Hawk", I'm not sure about the vehicle, but we ARE taken on a single, swift ride. Few adventure films can beat it.

The Sea Hawk was the eleventh of twelve collaborations between actor Errol Flynn and director Michael Curtiz, and one of the best. It's a return to the sure-fire swashbuckler format that had given them their biggest successes so far, but it has a maturity and a darkness to it that was absent from their previous efforts.

Comparing this to Flynn's previous sea-faring adventure Captain Blood, made in 1935, you can see how much cinema had changed in the intervening years. Despite the title, the earlier film isn't really that bloodthirsty. Its depiction of slavery is fairly tame, there aren't too many deaths, and the tone remains optimistic throughout. The Sea Hawk on the other hand, while still a rousing swashbuckler is shot through with despair. The galley-slave scenes come far closer to reality than Captain Blood's plantation. Darker still are the sepia-tinted Panama scenes, where some men are gunned down in cold blood, only for others to die by inches under a glaring sun. Above all, you really get the impression that this time, the enemy is truly menacing, and it will take the heroes more than a few cutting remarks and a few minutes of derring-do to get out alive. The approach of World War Two (which broke out during production) in particular seems to have cast a shadow over this picture.

The Sea Hawk is not an out-and-out propaganda piece, but demonstrates that fear of a sinister, aggressive nation bent on world domination, which had been subtly creeping into cinema during the late 1930s (a good example is Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes). I don't know for certain but I get the feeling that Elizabeth's final speech at the end of the picture may have been added at the last minute when war began. However, even without this rather obvious morale booster on the final reel, the comparison between 16th century Spain and Hitler's Germany is fairly clear. Right from the opening scene, the Spaniards are introduced as particularly sinister types (the sinister touch, by the way, is something Curtiz was really good at; there's a hint of it in nearly all his films). On top of that there's this dark feeling that here is a real enemy, not some cartoon villain we can laugh away.

Regardless of the context, The Sea Hawk also stands out amongst Flynn's swashbucklers because of the strength of its elements. The score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold is one of his best. The production design is particularly lavish, and the hefty budget enabled Curtiz to get a really grand scale to the sea battles. The cast is fantastic too. Flynn was really maturing as an actor, and he gives a kind of sober world-weariness to the character. Some of the era's best supporting players make appearances, including Alan Hale, Claude Rains and Una O'Connor. There's also a memorable turn by Victor Varconi – albeit just a couple of lines – as a sleazy Spanish general. There are a few wrong notes – for example Brenda Marshall's character is equally as annoying as the usual Oliva de Havilland heroine, although she isn't as good an actor. Henry Daniel also isn't a match for Basil Rathbone.

So, a more mature Errol Flynn, a darker edge to the adventure picture, but also the end of an era. Flynn and Curtiz were soon to part ways, and the adventure genre as a whole was beginning to wane in favour of the western and the noir thriller.

What really makes "The Sea Hawk" good is the great adventurous story. It's filled with action, romance and adventure. A true swashbuckler.

Errol Flynn really is one superb hero. Not only has he got the right looks but he also was a very talented actor who unfortunately died far too early at the age of 50.

I also love how the rest of the characters are portrayed such as Elizabeth I and the 'gentleman' villains. Also the love story is done good in a non-distractive way and Brenda Marshall really was one beautiful woman!

Still its funny to see how much more polite the English are portrayed than the Spanish. Not only do they politely capture all the Spanish soldiers but they also find time to free all the galley slaves and take them ALL on their ship back to England. It really is funny to see how black and white the story is at times. But this is really my only small point of critic about this movie.

A very entertaining adventurous swashbuckling movie with some wonderful music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. After more than 60 years it hasn't lost any of its power and therefor is recommendable to everyone, even those who aren't familiar with 'classics'.

9/10

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