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

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:

Henry Daniell couldn't fence. The climactic duel had to be filmed using a double and skillful inter-cutting.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the crew intercept a shipment of gold in the Panama forest, they fire multiple shots from muzzle loading flintlocks without reloading.

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 Il silenzio dei prosciutti (1994)

Soundtrack:

Strike for the Shores of Dover

A great adventurous story!

What really makes "The Sea Hawk" good is the great adventurous story. It's filled with action, romance and adventure. A true swashbuckler.

Errol Flynn really is one superb hero. Not only has he got the right looks but he also was a very talented actor who unfortunately died far too early at the age of 50.

I also love how the rest of the characters are portrayed such as Elizabeth I and the 'gentleman' villains. Also the love story is done good in a non-distractive way and Brenda Marshall really was one beautiful woman!

Still its funny to see how much more polite the English are portrayed than the Spanish. Not only do they politely capture all the Spanish soldiers but they also find time to free all the galley slaves and take them ALL on their ship back to England. It really is funny to see how black and white the story is at times. But this is really my only small point of critic about this movie.

A very entertaining adventurous swashbuckling movie with some wonderful music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. After more than 60 years it hasn't lost any of its power and therefor is recommendable to everyone, even those who aren't familiar with 'classics'.

9/10