ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

This is perhaps the greatest pirate movie ever made, with legendary Errol Flynn in his first starring role!

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this classic motion picture.
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~ The first screen duel between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, which would be reprised three years later (and to grander effect) in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Note from me: The duel in Captain Blood isn't as impressive as other screen duels like the ones in The Mark of Zero and Scaramouch. The one in Robin Hood was supposedly fought with broad swords, which were so heavy they required two hands to swing, so the swords in the movie were obviously light weight and flimsy, easily swung with one arm. Errol Flynn's is visibly bent the end of his duel with Rathbone!

~ In his first major starring role, Errol Flynn was so nervous during the early shooting that director Michael Curtiz had to re-take his early scenes much later in production, by which time Flynn had gained an acceptable level of confidence.

Note from me: Errol acting does seem much less suave than in later films, but his performance is still very enjoyable.

~ Though he fit the part physically, Basil Rathbone felt miscast as a French pirate.

Note from me: I must admit the Rathbone's "French accent" is pretty unconvincing.

~ No full-sized ships were photographed for the battle scenes. The sequences relied on a combination of process shots, miniatures, and footage from The Sea Hawk (1924), which was based on another Rafael Sabatini novel.

Note from me: I was surprised when I read this, because there are many scenes in the movie that obviously used full-sized ships. But apparently those scenes were taken from the 1924 version of The Sea Hawk. The 1940 version also used some of those same scenes!

~ In his autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways" Errol Flynn (a notorious prankster) states that he played many pranks on Olivia de Havilland. One of them was leaving a dead snake in her underwear, which she found when she went to put them on. After that she lived in terror of what prank he would pull on her next.

Note from me: Yes, sir — Errol certainly knew how to charm the ladies! Just put reptiles in their panties and they'll simply fall into your arms!

~ Warner Bros. considered renting the services of Cary Grant from Paramount to star in the film, but Michael Curtiz thought he was "too effete."

Note from me: There roles that are just right for Cary Grant, and roles that are just wrong. This one was a "just wrong" . . .

(These next two items are related. so I put then together.)

~ Although they worked together a total of 12 times, Errol Flynn and Michael Curtiz disliked each other intensely.

~ Michael Curtiz would often drive Errol Flynn to do ten takes per scene.

Note from me: The second trivia item would seem to pertain to the first one.

~ During the making of this film, Olivia de Havilland was 19 years old and Errol Flynn was 26 years old.

Note from me: Ms de Havilland is wonderful in the movies which allow her to be highly emotional, both serious and humorous — but not so much in movies like Gone With the Wind. in which she's far too reserved to be interesting.

~ Xavier Atencio, who scripted the Disney attraction, "Pirates of the Caribbean", based the tone and dialogue on "Captain Blood" as well as other Hollywood swashbucklers.

Note from me: If you'd like to see the obvious inspiration for the Disneyland / Disney World ride, watch the opening scenes of the movie below. I've been on that ride several times, and this movie is the undeniable inspiration.

The opening scene includes moments that must have given the Disney Imagineers specific ideas.

__ The Black Swan | OSCAR WINNER | Pirate Movie


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If you want to see this movie in it's full Technicolor glory, for God's sale just break down and buy the DVD from Amazon for a paltry $16.25.

Gentlemen, remember . . . "You can't take it with you!"
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Fun & entertaining movie. I'm a big fan of Errol Flynn.

However, the man clearly had serious flaws. David Niven, one of Errol's closest pals at one time, wrote about Flynn in his autobiography.

Niven wrote that when Captain Blood made a major star of Errol at Warner Brothers, Flynn was only too happy to take the credit for all of it. Flynn didn't acknowledge WB, the director Michael Curtiz, the script, his co-stars, and so forth. It was all Flynn in Flynn's mind.

"You can always depend on Errol Flynn, he'll let you down every time." DN.