Sea Hawk, The (DVD)

It's a classic, solid sword fights and sea battles, with a little political intrigue and a love story.

This was the last of the Errol Flynn swashbucklers that began with CAPTAIN BLOOD. In my mind, it is also the best of them. Flynn plays captain Geoffrey Thorpe, an English privateer under the reign of Elizabeth I. His mission is the liberate Spanish treasure and English prisoners held as slaves on Spanish galleys and galleases. It anyone's guess which he prefers but the whole situation is sticky since England and Spain are not at war. The Armada is still a few years in the future. Many English seaman are sure that it is coming but are having trouble making Her Majesty believe it really will be used against England. Court intrigue plays its part. One of the Queen's ministers is a traitor in the service of Spain. He is doing everything he can to thwart the work of the Sea Hawks, the privateers that serve in place of a navy. Claude Raines plays the Spanish ambassador and does a great job of playing something other than a one dimensional villain. He has his good points as well. One of these is his niece, played by Brenda Marshall. She is Flynn's love interest and is a nice replacement for Olivia DeHaviland. Alan Hale plays the sidekick as is obligatory in any Flynn movie. All of the supporting cast is, however, just support. This film is a vehicle for Flynn to show off, be daring, get the girl and play the hero. He never takes himself too seriously and that just lends to the air of fun. He is a rakish and roguish character that everyone can appreciate. One of the nice things about this one is that by the time it was made, Flynn had learned how to fence. The action sequences are some of the best he ever shot and the cinematography of them is splendid as well. The image of the two swordsmen slashing their way across the throne room as their shadows engage in the same but larger than life duel on the wall is one of the great scenes out of Hollywood. This DVD has some nice extra features on it. It contains the original newsreel, cartoon and short subject that the original film were released with. It also has a nice restrospective of the SEA HAWK. It's a nice package all around.

Excellent adventure movie.

Warner has been releasing blu ray upgrades of individual dvd's from their early 2000's Errol Flynn Collections. An irksome drawback in these issues is keeping the highly regarded Special Features in their original (not upgrade) dvd format . Feels kind of disrespectful to serious film collectors. Fortunately, I can always resort to my prized dvd player to enjoy the features in the correct aspect ratio. I believe it was during the filming of the THE SEA HAWK (1940) that director Michael Curtiz shouted “lunch” when he meant “lunge” at the extras holding to ropes and ready to board an enemy ship. The men obeyed his call by breaking out for lunch... So it's told somewhere in the mythical Book of Hollywood Fables..

Came quick. Standard jewel box. Audio and picture clear. It was fun to get a personal copy of a childhood favorite.

This has got to be one of Flynn's best pirate or swashbuckeler movies.Its a shame that its not in color but the movie is awesome. Flora Robson is superb as queen Elizabeth, Claude Rains allways delivers and of course Alan Hale father of" Alan Hale jr. probably more remembered as the skipper from Gillagan's island." is allways entertaining and seemed to have appeared in most of Errol Flynn's film's. The "Skipper" looked so much like his father I thought they were one and the same, when ever I saw Alan Hale Jr. In a movie out side of Gillagans island being a young kid I could'nt tell the differance I just thought Alan Hale was Alan Hale jr." the skipper" when he was younger and vice versa. Back to "The Sea Hawk" Everyone delivers top notch performances Flynn shows off some of his best lightning fast fenceing moves ever. If your a fan of pirate films this is a must have movie allthough he is officaly a privateer there is a slim destinction between the two. I supose a privateer can be viewed as a patriot and be portrayed as haveing more honor. yeh tell that to Captain Kidd he had the bad luck of attacking a enamey ship that was owned by friendly's so was hung to avoid any political issues, privateer quickly labled pirate bummer. But as a privateer Captain Thorpe makes Queen Elizabeth a crap load of money making him a endearing rascal and protector of a England in desprate need of a stonger navy. The movie is fast paced so fast past you allmost forget the love intrest do to all the action, " No time for yove docor yones". This movie is just plain good so if your curious do'nt worry get it, its worth owning.

A real swashbuckler of a film. Great scenes, a lot of swish and a lot of buckler!

Estupenda película de aventuras. Buena calidad de audio y vídeo.

I had a corrupted VHS copy of this fantastic old movie. Just love the Errol Flynn movies. I have been waiting a long time to get a good copy. The BluRay version is excellent the picture quality and sound are excellent. The story of-course is as good as it gets and the action is marvellous. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys old pirate movies. It will take pride of place in my collection.

Plus sombre que Captain Blood, plus enlevé cependant que "Elisabeth et Essex" cet Aigle des mers recèle des beautés et des fulgurances qui n'appartiennent qu'à ce duo prodigieux formé par Curtiz et Flynn. Cette alchimie cinématographique qui signe toutes les collaborations de ces deux là. Un plaisir identique dans chaque image, dans chaque scène, un plaisir intact depuis 85 ans. Indispensable.

El DVD ha venido en el plazo indicado y es tal y como se ve en las fotos. Pero el repartidor en vez de entregármelo en persona, lo ha dejado en el buzón y sin avisarme, con el peligro de que alguien lo vea, fuerze el buzón y se lo lleve.