The Sea Hawk (1940)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Howard Koch (screenplay) and
Seton I. Miller (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 July 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

Dashing . . . romantic . . . Errol Flynn at his thrilling best!

Plot:

Geoffrey Thorpe is an adventurous and dashing pirate, who feels that he should pirate the Spanish ships for the good of England...

Plot Keywords:

Spanish | Queen | Queen Elizabeth I | Ship | Pirate

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Errol Flynn	...	Captain Geoffrey Thorpe
Brenda Marshall	...	Doña Maria Alvarez de Cordoba
Claude Rains	...	Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Donald Crisp	...	Admiral Sir John Burleson
Flora Robson	...	Queen Elizabeth
Alan Hale	...	Carl Pitt
Henry Daniell	...	Lord Wolfingham
Una O'Connor	...	Miss Marthe Latham
James Stephenson	...	Abbott
Gilbert Roland	...	Captain Lopez
William Lundigan	...	Danny Logan
Julien Mitchell	...	Oliver Scott
Montagu Love	...	King Phillip II
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Eli Matson
David Bruce	...	Martin Burke
Clifford Brooke	...	William Tuttle
Clyde Cook	...	Walter Boggs
Fritz Leiber	...	Inquisitor
Ellis Irving	...	Monty Preston
Francis McDonald	...	Samuel Kroner
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Captain Mendoza
Ian Keith	...	Peralta
Jack La Rue	...	Lieutenant Ortega (as Jack LaRue)
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Astronomer
Alec Craig	...	Judocus Hondins - The chartmaker
Victor Varconi	...	General Aguirre
Robert Warwick	...	Captain Frobisher
Harry Cording	...	Slavemaster
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Anderson	...	Eph Winters (uncredited)
Mary Anderson	...	Maid of Honor (uncredited)
Whit Bissell	...	Gate guard at Palace entrance (uncredited)
Edgar Buchanan	...	Ben Rollins (uncredited)
J.W. Cody	...	Whipper (uncredited)
Maurice Costello	...	Man Carrying Spear (uncredited)
Michael Harvey	...	Sea Hawk (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Officer (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Arnold Cross (uncredited)
Dave Kashner	...	Whipper (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Officer (uncredited)
Crauford Kent	...	Lieutenant (uncredited)
Frank Lackteen	...	Captain Ortiz (uncredited)
Lester Matthews	...	Guard Officer (uncredited)
Art Miles	...	Drum beater (uncredited)
Gerald Mohr	...	Spanish Messenger (uncredited)
Leonard Mudie	...	Castle Sentry (uncredited)
Nestor Paiva	...	Slavemaster (uncredited)
Elizabeth Sifton	...	Maid of Honor (uncredited)
Harry Silversmith	...	Native (uncredited)
John Sutton	...	Captain of the Guard (uncredited)
David Thursby	...	Driver (uncredited)
Anthony Warde	...	Whipper (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Martin Barrett (uncredited)
Frederick Worlock	...	Darnell (uncredited)
Harry Worth	...	Spanish Officer (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Curtiz

Writing credits
Howard Koch		(screenplay) and
Seton I. Miller		(screenplay)

Produced by
Henry Blanke	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Cinematography by
Sol Polito		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
George Amy

Art Direction by
Anton Grot

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jack L. Warner	....	in charge of production
Frank Mattison	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Sullivan	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Leo K. Kuter	....	assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Francis J. Scheid	....	sound

Special Effects by
Byron Haskin	....	special effects
Hans F. Koenekamp	....	special effects (as H.F. Koenekamp)

Stunts
Ned Davenport	....	fencing double (uncredited)
Ralph Faulkner	....	fencing double (uncredited)
Harry Froboess	....	stunts (uncredited)
Don Turner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buster Wiles	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestrator
Ray Heindorf	....	orchestrator
Howard Koch	....	lyricist: songs
Milan Roder	....	orchestrator
Simon Bucharoff	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Jo Graham	....	dialogue director
Ali Hubert	....	technical advisor
William Kiel	....	technical advisor
Thomas Manners	....	technical advisor
Fred Cavens	....	fencing master (uncredited)
Ralph Faulkner	....	fight choreographer (uncredited)
Robert Foulk	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Georg Rothkegel	....	german version dubbing director/german dialogue 1949 (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. First National

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (edited)
• Dominant Pictures Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (edited) (re-release)
• Swashbuckler Films (2006) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Union-Film (1962) (Austria) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Bros. (1947) (France) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Key Video (video)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (VHS)
• Sociedade Importadora de Filmes (SIF) (Portugal)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (video)

Other Companies

• Filmstudio Tempelhof, West Berlin, Germany  German dubbing 1949 (uncredited)
• RCA  recording system

Also Known As:

Beggars of the Sea (USA) (working title)
El halcón del mar (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
L'aigle des mers (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
De zeearend (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Der Herr der sieben Meere (West Germany) [de]
Der Seefalke (Austria) [de]
Havørnen (Denmark) [da]
Lo sparviero del mare (Italy) [it]
Merihaukka (Finland) [fi]
Morski jatrzab (Poland) [pl]
O Gavião do Mar (Brazil) [pt]
O Gavião dos Mares (Portugal) [pt]
Oi aetoi ton thalasson (Greece) [el]
Slaghöken (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

109 min (re-release) | 127 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Black and White (Sepiatone) (some sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Portugal:M/6 | USA:Approved (certificate #6090) | UK:U | Australia:G | New Zealand:PG | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | France:U | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Laguna Beach, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. First National

Trivia:

Whit Bissell's film debut.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When what's left of Captain Thorpe and his men are coming back to their ship after being ambushed by the Spanish, you can see the shadow of a boom mic on the upper right portion of the ship on the screen.

Quotes:

[first lines]
King Philip II: The riches of the New World are limitless, and the New World is ours - with our ships carrying the Spanish flag on seven seas, our armies sweeping over Africa, the Near East, and the Far West; invincible everywhere... but on our own doorstep. Only northern Europe holds out against us; why? Tell me, why?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer (2006)

Soundtrack:

Strike for the Shores of Dover

A Lot To Like In Yet Another Entertaining Flynn Film

This is definitely an Errol Flynn classic, meaning one of his best films and the charismatic star of the mid-'30s to mid-'40s did a number of entertaining ones. He's best known - on screen, that is - as a swordsman from his "Captain Blood" and "Adventures of Robin Hood" days, but he also was terrific as boxer James J. Corbett in "Gentlemen Jim" and as western star "Wade Hatton" in "Dodge City."

He's great here as pirate "Geoffrey Thorpe" and what makes this pirate movie different is that half of the action scenes are on land, not sea. (They on are on island, or back in the castle of Queen Elizabeth). Flynn captains "The Albatross" and is a privateering ship captain for her Majesty the queen in the 1500s. They are battling the Spanish in this story. The real bad guys are some of the turncoats in Elizabeth's court.

The film is interesting even with its length of over two hours. It keeps a good balance of drama, action, romance and suspense, never overdoing any of those.

While it's hard to beat the entertainment duo of Director Michael Curtiz and actor Flynn, Brenda Marshall as "Doria Maria," Thorpe's love interest, doesn't quite cut it. Olivia de Havilland usually played his female interest, and - although that doesn't require she play in every Flynn movie - they could have found someone more attractive and likable than Marshall who, justifiably, had a thin career. Her casting in here is a big mystery to me.

Whatever, Flora Robson was fun to watch as "Queen Elizabeth." Claude Rains and Henry Daniell played their normal bad-guy roles well and Thorpe's crew, led by Flynn's best friend Alan Hale, are all entertaining guys.

I enjoyed the sepia-tone sequence when Flynn and the boys go for the gold on the Panama island. That was a nice, little visual twist to this black-and-white movie..

Not to be left out is the sweeping score, under the direction of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, which is one of the more magnificent ones you'll hear in a classic film.