The Sea Hawk

The Sea Hawk
1940 - Warner Brothers
Directed By Michael Curtiz



SYNOPSIS

Swashbuckling English pirate Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) sinks a ship carrying the new Spanish ambassador (Claude Rains) to England. He delivers the man and his niece (Brenda Marshall) to Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson.) She sends Thorpe on a secret mission to learn of the armada the Spanish are building. There are traitors in her ranks... and Thorpe and his men are ambushed in Panama and enslaved in the galleys of the Spanish ships.



MY THOUGHTS

Director Michael Curtiz and star Errol Flynn team up for the last time and deliver a truly epic finale to their collaboration.
The Sea Hawk is a little bit of Captain Blood, The Adventures Of Robin Hood, and The Private Lives Of Elisabeth and Essex and their other films all rolled into one.

Much of the plot is an allegory of World War II, which had already erupted in Europe. Here, the Spanish stand in for Hitler and the Axis powers. The Sea Hawk is not very subtle about it.
Especially Elizabeth's final speech:

"And now, my loyal subjects, a grave duty confronts us all: To prepare our nation for a war that none of us wants, least of all your queen. We have tried by all means in our power to avert this war. We have no quarrel with the people of Spain or of any other country; but when the ruthless ambition of a man threatens to engulf the world, it becomes the solemn obligation of all free men to affirm that the earth belongs not to any one man, but to all men, and that freedom is the deed and title to the soil on which we exist. Firm in this faith, we shall now make ready to meet the great armada that Philip sends against us. To this end, I pledge you ships - ships worthy of our seamen - a mighty fleet, hewn out of the forests of England; a navy foremost in the world - not only in our time, but for generations to come."

When FDR called the heads of the studios to Washington a few years before this film, he asked them to make films that would help prepare the American populace for the eventual war. Most of the studios balked at the idea, but Warner Brothers obliged. Confessions of a Nazi Spy was one the first (and one of the most overt) in this cycle of films. Films set in World War I and in earlier times like The Sea Hawk helped to fulfill the studio's duty to FDR.

Errol Flynn gives his most dashing, swashbuckling performance here with sharp wit and excellent swordsmanship. This film would be the perfect introduction to the actor and his unique screen presence.

The film drags in many spots, especially when the love story comes front and center.
This time around, Brenda Marshall is Flynn's girl. She's no Olivia de Havilland. She's not very likable, but not bad.

Every fight scene in the film (and there are many) is exciting and even thrilling. There are so many actors present in them that it must have been a pain to stage it all, but they all turned out amazing in the end.
Those battles wouldn't have been nearly exciting with out the music by Erich Korngold. He did the memorable music for all of Flynn's swashbuckler adventures, and this is his best. I imagine hearing this music apart from the film would still make me want to grab a sword and do battle.

The Sea Hawk's rousing action scenes and the performance by Errol Flynn definitely lift this far above the average Hollywood action film of any decade.