tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post6497805286848694912..comments2024-03-17T07:25:56.478-04:00Comments on Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Guest Review: Warner Bros. Night at the Movies – The Sea Hawk (1940)Ivan G Shreve Jrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04067177808320053382noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-91578895934122950512014-08-16T05:23:50.522-04:002014-08-16T05:23:50.522-04:00The Sea Hawk (1940) is a fantastic Errol Flynn swa...The Sea Hawk (1940) is a fantastic Errol Flynn swashbuckler. However, earlier this year TCM ran a silent film The Sea Hawk (1924) which is an actual adaptation of Sabatini's novel of the same name. I highly recommend that version as well, as it was a super-production featuring sea battles with full-sized ships! Some of this footage was recycled into the 1940 Flynn film and may have helped determine the choice to shoot that film in black and white.Ralphhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281448922514496584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-17931207717689395042014-08-09T19:24:07.232-04:002014-08-09T19:24:07.232-04:00THE SEA HAWK is a very well-made, entertaining fil...THE SEA HAWK is a very well-made, entertaining film--but I agree that it doesn't compare to THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. And, as you pointed out, it's nothing like the book. WB should have made it in color--Jack Warner was a cheapskate.Rick29https://www.blogger.com/profile/00240396644130014121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-91620311850487767722014-07-31T03:51:29.856-04:002014-07-31T03:51:29.856-04:00Just a minor quibble: I'd say Maria was alread...Just a minor quibble: I'd say Maria was already smitten with Thorpe by the time he sailed for Panama. Her attempt to warn him about her father's trap as soon as she learned of it sort of argues for that.<br /><br />Anyway, <i>Adventures of Robin Hood</i> is fun, no argument there. Gorgeous Technicolor, a great cast and yet another rousing E. W. Korngold score. But somehow it never quite engaged me the way <i>Captain Blood</i> and <i>The Sea Hawk</i> did. <br /><br />Since I've been fascinated with pirates and sailing ships since I was a young boy, I guess this is pretty understandable. The nautical sets, with their incredible attention to detail, are just one of the reasons I like TSH so much.<br /><br />But also, more and more, each time I see AoRH, well ... it just looks too damn pretty! And I find myself wincing at stuff like swords that are obviously lighter than steel, don't sound like steel when they clash, and get bent during the swordfights.<br /><br />Oddly, filming Flynn's two seafaring epics in black-and-white makes them seem more real to me. Especially the tinting they used in TSH for the Panama sequence: that yellowish-sepia tone makes the heat and humidity of the jungle almost palpable. Paired with the awesome, funereal theme Korngold composed for drums and strings, it gives you a near-visceral sympathy for the plight of Thorpe and his men, their misery and weariness as they're hunted through that tropical swamp.<br /><br />I also think Flynn had matured somewhat as an actor by this point, and gave one of his best performances here. The interplay between Thorpe and Flora Robson's Queen Elizabeth strikes just the right notes. <br /><br />But de Havilland probably made a good choice in staying out of this one. The character of Maria was too passive to be a good fit with the on-screen persona she'd created by that point. I mean, Marshall could do the haughty and disdainful bit almost as well as de Havilland, but I have a hard time seeing Olivia as the weepy Maria, quietly pining for Thorpe. FWIW, I also think Henry Daniell was a far better choice for Wolfingham than Rathbone would have been, even if he was a lousy fencer.<br /><br />I think Terry Gilliam must have a certain fondness for this film, too, since <i>The Crimson Permanent Assurance</i> features a brilliant parody of the mutiny-on-the-galley sequence from TSH.grouchomarxistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7307577717655310918.post-67421296431501957792014-07-30T10:15:26.076-04:002014-07-30T10:15:26.076-04:00I love "The Sea-Hawk", one of my very fa...I love "The Sea-Hawk", one of my very favourite films, and the one that got me hooked on history as a child. Wonderful score, beautifully filmed, smashing film.Bookhoundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03101346534682901240noreply@blogger.com