The Sea Hawk
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Movie Reviews of The Sea Hawk
Movie Review: Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a gift for my son for Christmas
Wow was this a great movie for my
son who wanted it for his collection
Thank you Amazon
Movie Review: spectacular swashbuckler
Summary: 5 Stars
Are some of the chapters on this DVD supposed to have a brown tint or is this a defect in the manufacturing?Movie Review: fantastic adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
breathtaking sea adventure. hearts and swords crossed with tons of action. very good film.Movie Review: Sea Hawks
Summary: 5 Stars
I love the movie. It had plenty of sword fights & action in it .Movie Review: Errol Flynn skewers his enemies and saves England in this rouser of an adventure. Note: take deodorant on those Spanish galleys
Summary: 4 Stars
"With England conquered, nothing can stand in our way. Northern Africa... Europe as far east as the Urals... then the New World: to the north, to the south, west to the Pacific..." No, that's not Hitler speaking to his generals. The year is 1585 and that's Phillip II speaking to his admirals. Phillip is busy building his armada so he can conquer England, while Elizabeth dithers indecisively. She doesn't want to start a war with Spain, but she doesn't mind capturing a bit of Spanish treasure if the action can't be traced back to her. She relies on the Sea Hawks, English privateers who go after Spanish ships to capture Spanish riches for Elizabeth...and for themselves. It's also 1940 and Warner Brothers wanted this film to demonstrate to American audiences how brave the British are as they faced the Nazis. After giving us this message, Warner Brothers proceeds to the real point, selling movie tickets to a great rouser of an adventure story. Errol Flynn plays Captain Geoffrey Thorpe, the most adventurous and patriotic of the Sea Hawks. In the course of little over two hours, we'll be with him as fights Spanish warships, struggles through Panamanian swamps, is chained to the oars of a galley, leads his men in a revolt, thrusts and slashes his way through numerous sword fights, uncovers an English traitor (Henry Daniell), falls in love with Dona Anna (Brenda Marshall), niece of Don Jose Alvarez de Cordoba (Claude Raines), the slippery Spanish ambassador to Elizabeth (Flora Robson), delivers vital evidence to the Queen of Phillip's true intentions...and at last, overcoming all obstacles, becomes Sir Geoffrey, ready to lead the fight against the Armada as he listens to Elizabeth's inspiring words..."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." At the last moment, Warner Brothers remembered it was 1940.
The Sea Hawk is a swashbuckler of the old school, a first-rate if predictable tale of swords and derring-do. Jack Warner lavished resources on the production. Every dollar shows up on the screen. The miniatures of the ships are exquisitely detailed and the full-scale ship sets look substantial. The rigging may or may not be accurate, I wouldn't know, but all those ropes and spars are impressive. Great attention is placed on lighting and mood. Scenes are carefully composed, with every palm frond and tree branch arranged for maximum framing. Sure, no Panamanian swamp or English garden ever looked as well groomed, but it all adds to the impression of a wonderfully detailed adventure story.
Flynn does a typically impressive job leaping about, skewering his enemies and leading his men. Surprisingly, he does a better job charming Elizabeth than he does striking sparks with Brenda Marshall. She was not an especially captivating actress to begin with. In Sea Hawk, she also spent most of her time separated from Flynn and needing to look either sad or distressed. The part didn't give her much to work with, and the lack of rapport between her and Flynn makes for a clock-work romance. On the other hand, Flynn has to deal with two first-rate villains in Claude Raines and Henry Daniell. Raines, with that smooth voice and frequently cocked eyebrow, almost steals the film. Daniell, with his cool condescension, matches the cool contempt Basil Rathbone brought to Robin Hood. As Elizabeth, Flora Robson does a fine, ripe job. Robson was a first-rate stage and screen actress. She became Dame Flora Robson in 1960. Also satisfying is the large number of character actors populating the movie with names you may not recall but with faces as familiar as old friends...among them Gilbert Roland, Alan Hale, Montague Love, Donald Crisp, Edgar Buchanan, Una O'Connor, Whit Bissell and, one of my favorites, J. M. Kerrigan. Kerrigan was a short, round man who could play twinkling elves, nervous down-and-outers or unreliable second-raters. As a sleazy opportunist, he's the main reason to enjoy Gary Cooper's The General Died at Dawn.
The Sea Hawk looks first rate on the DVD transfer. The disc contains a few light-weight extras I only sampled.