Captain Blood

Over the next week or so I'll be taking a look at the films in the boxed set called the Errol Flynn Signature Collection, which consists of five features and a documentary. The set does not include what is probably Flynn's best-known film, The Adventures of Robin Hood, but it does have a fair representation of his Warner Brothers output.

Flynn's first starring role was in the swashbuckling tale Captain Blood. Based on a popular novel, Warner Brothers ran through many possibilities before settling on Flynn, who was a complete unknown. This role made him a star overnight, and according to one film expert quoted on the supplemental materials, it was the most successful movie debut of all time (I'd argue Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, but what do I know?)

Flynn plays Peter Blood, a physician in 1685 England. There is a rebellion going on against the current monarch, James II. When Flynn is called on to treat a wounded rebel, he is arrested and charged with treason. He is sentenced to die, but instead is sent to Jamaica as a slave. He ends up working on the plantation owned by the villainous Lionel Atwill, but Atwill's niece, Olivia DeHavilland (also her first starring role) takes an interest in him. Ultimately Flynn and his compatriots escape and become pirates of the Caribbean.

Captain Blood was directed by Michael Curtiz, who would make several pictures with Flynn (as would DeHavilland and composer Eric Korngold). Curtiz was kind of a utility man in Hollywood, making all sorts of movies, from swashbuckling epics like this one to Westerns, musicals (Yankee Doodle Dandy) and one of the greatest movies of all-time, Casablanca. He shows a firm hand here, as almost every scene is perfectly suited to the action. The first half of the picture, in which Flynn is a slave, does drag a bit, but the second half, on the high seas, really ramps things up. One of the most enduring images from this golden age of Hollywood is the sight of two high-masted ships exchanging cannon fire (in Captain Blood, they used miniature ships--miniature meaning eighteen feet, so they weren't exactly toys). It's a shame the film wasn't done in color, but of course it was 1935 and Technicolor still wasn't available.

I wonder how well Flynn is known today. He was a huge star at the time, but wasn't taken very seriously as a thespian, almost all of his roles were in action films. He died very young after years of alcohol abuse and sex scandals. Before seeing Captain Blood, the only Flynn film I know for sure I've seen was Robin Hood, so these next few days should be fun.