Irish doctor Peter Blood, played by Errol Flynn in his first high profile lead role, is wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to transportation and enslavement in the West Indies. While in Port Royal he becomes personal physician to the cruel and petty governor. When a Spanish privateer attacks the town, Blood seizes the moment to escape, capturing the Spanish vessel and fleeing. Over time he rises to become the leader of a fleet of pirate vessels and eventually captures an English royal envoy. Will Blood be able to clear his name?

Based on the 1922 bestselling novel of the same name by Rafael Sabatini, this 1935 film followed a 1925 silent adaptation of the book. This film also uses footage originally shot for a prior silent adaptation of another Sabatini novel, The Sea Hawk, which in turn was itself remade in 1940, and which we will be watching next. That additional film also stars Errol Flynn and was directed by Michael Curtiz, who directed the film we will watch today, Captain Blood.

So to recap, this Captain Blood is a remake of a prior adaptation and this film also will have used footage from another prior adaptation of the same author’s work which will itself, in time, that is, be remade – that is to say, has been remade – by substantially the same creative team that will have made, well, did in fact, make this film.

Got that? Good. That may well be a relation set before ye to recount as an element of your next board examination, gentlemen! I certainly hope you were attending to your properly detailed notes.

By 1935, swashbuckling costume dramas were no longer the surefire successes they had been in the silent era, and this film had a complicated preproduction with a number of players declining roles. The studio turned to a fresh face, the new to Hollywood Errol Flynn, cast opposite Olivia deHavilland. The pair would work together many times over long screen careers. Flynn was rightly perceived to be the heir to Douglas Fairbanks’ throne after the immediate and sustained success of Captain Blood. In fact, Flynn and deHavilland would go on to remake one of Fairbanks’ most important films, Robin Hood.

Cast off there! Ready the hawsers and ma’e fast the futtocks! Inveigle the walnut tree and clap yon nuts together, with a whimsy I say! Lively now! Away then I say, away for Port Royal and to where the winds of fortune may take us!

Captain Blood Action, Adventure, History, Romance | December 28, 1935 (United States) 7.7

Director: Michael CurtizWriter: Rafael Sabatini, Casey RobinsonStars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel AtwillSummary: Arrested during the Monmouth Rebellion and falsely convicted of treason, Dr. Peter Blood is banished to the West Indies and sold into slavery. In Port Royal, Jamaica the Governor's daughter Arabella Bishop buys him for £10 to spite her uncle, Col. Bishop who owns a major plantation. Life is hard for the men and for Blood as well. By chance he treats the Governor's gout and is soon part of the medical service. He dreams of freedom and when the opportunity strikes, he and his friends rebel taking over a Spanish ship that has attacked the city. Soon, they are the most feared pirates on the seas, men without a country attacking all ships. When Arabella is prisoner, Blood decides to return her to Port Royal only to find that it is under the control of England's new enemy, France. All of them must decide if they are to fight for their new King. —garykmcd

Photos

See all photos >>

Source: imdb.com