Captain Blood (1935)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Absolutely Fantastic

Absolutely brilliant

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This pirate's story of guts and glory is, pretty much, a "Robin Hood" tale of the high seas.If you don't take 1935's "Captain Blood" too seriously - Then - Yes. It can actually be quite an enjoyable 2-hour romp of pre-CGI swashbuckling action.Directed by Michael Curtiz (of "Casablanca" fame) - "Captain Blood" stars movie-idol and heartthrob, Errol Flynn (26 at the time) in his first major movie role (as the title character).Set in the 17th century - This $1.5 million production first takes its story to England and then it's onto a high seas adventure to Port Royal, Jamaica where (guess what?) romance is, indeed, waiting for Captain Blood with arms opened wide. (kissy-kissy-smooch-smooch)(And you can be sure that with a name like "Blood" there's gonna be some serious changes made)

This film tells the story of Dr. Peter Blood, who becomes a pirate after an unfounded accusation of treason to the British Crown. Directed by Michael Curtiz, the film has a screenplay by Casey Robinson and stars Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.Its probably one of the best known films of Flynn's meteoric career, who owes part of its fame to swashbuckling films where he played heartthrobs and heroes. Good collaboration with Olivia de Havilland, used to be the damsel in distress, ensured the popularity of the film, which remains very popular today. The story is not bad, although the script, very simple and naive, is not trouble-free. Pirates movies were in fashion, with these maritime outlaws being seen in a romantic and imaginative way.The performance of the two main actors lived up to public expectations, which was greeted with a great job. The rest of the cast did not disappoint, keeping the film quite high level. The very theatrical performances and forced poses were in fashion during this period and should be seen that way. That was how the film was made, and this is part of the charm of this movies. The scenarios are good and try to recreate the seventeenth century ships. The special, visual and sound effects are the state of the art.

Captain Blood made a star out of Errol Flynn, its also fair to say he made a star out of Captain Blood.Flynn plays English doctor Peter Blood, a decent man sentenced to slavery in the outer colonies for the ridiculous crime of healing a man, whose loyalty was to Britain's enemies. Flynn's death stare in reply to the sentence, is one of the great close ups in cinema history. Its also a sign of things to come, because Blood goes on an epic rampage to wreak revenge, while simultaneously maintaining his strong sense of fairness. It's truly one of the great characters in film and Flynn embodies it with rapier like precision. I'm a huge fan of Michael Curtiz (director of Casablanca). As the story goes, He and MGM wanted an unavailable Robert Donat (39 Steps) and so took a chance on an inexperienced but plucky Aussie larrikan from Tasmania instead. Curtiz ordered that he take fencing lessons and filmed them. The resulting footage convinced MGM they had their man.Olivia de Havilland (who would return to Flynn's side for the legendary action adventure film, The Adventures of Robin Hood) plays his love interest. The chemistry was so stunning, it made them huge stars and led to them making seven more films together. De Havilland's sweetness plays well with Flynn's roguish charms.

. . . who leads a charmed life. Whenever his tail gets caught in the wringer, Wash Day is suddenly cut short. If he pokes Victory in one eye, she gives him a wink with the other. If it was his turn to be drawn and quartered, he'd beat Mel Gibson at rock-paper-scissors to swap places in line. He's not unlike CANDIDE, plus the nine lives of a cat. The only thing mitigating CAPTAIN BLOOD's success is that most of his key battles are won over the French, which isn't saying much. But BLOOD plays down to the level of his competition, prevailing against all comers, as a Zorro of the seas. His pirate crew is about the most docile bunch you'd ever run across, at least as far as he's concerned. He can do almost no wrong in their eyes, whether it's frittering away a fortune in booty on his own private beauty, or leading a suicide foray on her behalf (the exact same ending, with the two same actors--Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland--that Warner Bros. recycled a couple of years later to close THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE).