Warner Brothers pulled together this entertaining swashbuckling pirate film with a large budget. Michael Curtiz directed and one of Warner's best screenwriters Casey Robinson adapted the book the film was based on. The photography is excellent, the special effects and model work for 1935 were at a very high standard. The composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a master at writing large scale symphonic scores and he provided a very entertaining one for this film. The film really couldn't miss.
Warner Brothers took a big chance with the cast. Errol Flynn essentially an unknown actor at the time was chosen as the title character. Olivia de Havilland hadn't even turned twenty yet and was cast as the female lead and love interest for Flynn. But both of these performers were soon to become mainstays at the studio and were very popular with the movie going public during the 1930's and 40's.
Captain Blood is mostly entertaining with lots of colorful characters and interesting locations. The action never lets up with sword fights and everyone's favorite pirate movie scene two ships blasting at each other with their cannons. It's true swashbuckling film making.
Probably the worst thing to say about this film is that it is very dated even for a film set in the 1600's. A lot of the plot has to do with the character Peter Blood being forced into slavery by the King of England, escaping and becoming a pirate fighting against the English. By the end of the film the screenwriter has had to spend a lot of time juicing the plot to get Captain Blood back fighting on the side of the English and become a true English patriot again. All fairly ludicrous stuff but that's Hollywood story telling after all.
The film runs 119 minutes.
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