The Sea Hawk (1940)

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:

Lord Wolfingham, the villain of this movie, is clearly based on Lord Francis Walsingham - an unhappy libel for a great patriot. Lord Walsingham was one of Queen Elizabeth's closest advisers, and would never have betrayed her.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Captain Ortiz opens a door towards the end of the movie when he is running away from Thorpe and a string is visible, attached to the door. A sword slides down the string to give the impression that it is thrown at Ortiz and barely misses him.

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:

Referenced in "Family Guy: Long John Peter (#6.12)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Old Spanish Song

Capstone to Errol Flynn's Swashbucklers!

THE SEA HAWK is usually listed with THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and CAPTAIN BLOOD as Errol Flynn's finest films, an honor it richly deserves. Filmed in 1940, at the peak of Flynn's popularity, before the sensational rape trial and revelations of his hedonistic lifestyle combined to tarnish his reputation and gradually make his screen persona more of a roué and less heroic, the film combined all of the classic 'Flynn' elements; spectacular battles, a chaste but passionate romance, wonderful camaraderie, a thoroughly despicable villain, and a climactic light/shadow sword fight finale to top things off, accompanied by the fabulous music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This is a FABULOUS film adventure!

Based on the privateering adventures of Sir Francis Drake and the 'Sea Dogs' of Elizabethan times, the WB lifted the title from a Rafael Sabatini novel, and changed the 'Sea Dogs' to 'Sea Hawks' (which DOES sound more romantic!). Flynn is Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, a brilliant commander in the 'Horatio Hornblower' mold, adored by his crew (led by the irreplaceable Alan Hale, of course!), admired by his fellow Sea Hawks, and even respected by his Spanish adversaries. As the film opens, his ship, the Albatross, having crossed the Atlantic in record time, takes on a giant Spanish galleon carrying the new Ambassador to England (Claude Rains, in a small but memorable role) and his daughter, Maria (played by the luminous Brenda Marshall, who has always been unfairly judged as a 'substitute' for Olivia de Havilland; Miss de Havilland would have been totally wrong in the role of an innocent Spanish girl!) After a breathtaking battle, featuring the kind of cutlass-swinging pandemonium director Michael Curtiz was famous for, Thorpe is victorious, and the Spaniards and their cargo are transferred to the Albatross. (Wonderful Hispanic actor Gilbert Roland has a nice bit as the Spanish captain, granted the right to be the last to leave his sinking ship).

Thorpe is immediately smitten by Maria, but, in true Hornblower fashion, is uncomfortable trying to talk to her, much to the amusement of his crew! This discomfort doesn't apply to ALL women, however; to Queen Elizabeth, wonderfully portrayed by Flora Robson (for the second time, as she'd played the Virgin Queen in the earlier FIRE OVER ENGLAND), Thorpe displays a rakish charm that she secretly adores. (This was Flynn's second film in two years dealing with the monarch; as lover/potential usurper to a more neurotic Elizabeth, played by Bette Davis, in 1939's THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, she chopped off his head...something Davis, who despised Flynn, would have liked to have done in real life, as well!)

Despite the growing love between Maria and Thorpe, he has a brilliant scheme, attacking a Spanish treasure port in Central America by land, so he's off again, with Elizabeth's secret blessings. Unfortunately, traitorous Lord Wolfingham (played to slimy perfection by Henry Daniell), figures out the plan, and warns the Spanish, who defeat Thorpe and his crew in the jungle (a wonderful, sepia-toned sequence), then subjects the survivors to a life chained to the oars of a Spanish galleon. Discovering Wolfingham's duplicity, and ultimate goal of power after the Spanish Armada crushes England, Thorpe and his crew manage to break free of their chains, capture the Spanish ship, and race back to England, culminating in a spectacular climactic duel between Thorpe and Wolfingham, and Elizabeth's rousing "We'll build an Armada" speech added to the script to inspire an audience witnessing the beginning of WWII.

A rousing adventure, THE SEA HAWK marked the pinnacle of Errol Flynn's rollercoaster career, and is a true classic of the genre!