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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Pitted against "The
Adventures of Robin Hood," director Michael
Curtiz's "The Sea Hawk" (1940) is probably the
second greatest Errol Flynn swashbuckler of all
time. It stars Flynn as Geoffrey Thorpe, a Robin
Hood-esque pirate, robbing the wealth of the
Spanish fleet for the sake of merry ol' England.
Of course Thorpe's threshold for pillage and
plunder is put to the test when he discovers the
rapturous royal, Dona Maria Alvarez de Cordoba
(Brenda Marshall). Overwhelmed by her beauty, and
now, technically his personal property through
acquisition, Thorpe discovers that love will not
be persuaded at the point of a sword. To
ingratiate his honorable intentions, Thorpe makes
a gift to her by returning the royal jewels he had
previously stolen. Naturally, when the ship docks
in England, Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) is none
too thrilled that her most enigmatic scallywag is
contemplating retirement for true romance. To
break his interests in Dona Maria, Liz sends
Thorpe on a mission which inadvertently makes him
a prisoner of the Spaniards.
"The Sea Hawk" showcases Flynn's flair with a
sword at its very best in some genuinely visceral
bouts of action that continue to hold up under the
scrutiny of today's cynical film critic. Both
wildly engaging and tenderly poignant, it's easy
to see why women swooned over Flynn at every turn
-- both on screen and in his private life. Donald
Crisp, Claude Rains and Alan Hale turn in
wonderful supporting performances that lend an air
of thrilling sophistication to the proceedings.
The screenplay by Seton I. Miller, and Howard Koch
effortlessly glides the action and melodrama to a
fevered and power-driven pitch, pitting good
against evil in a manner that never renders the
conventional plot twist as contrived or out of
date.
Warner's DVD is a rather nice looking one. The
grayscale has been handsomely rendered with deep
solid blacks and overall clean whites.
Occasionally minor age-related artifacts crop up,
but nothing that will distract from the overall
enjoyment of this classy, classic swashbuckler.
The audio has been very nicely cleaned up.
Background hiss is slightly detected during
quiescent moments, but again, for a film of this
vintage it is to be expected and, on the whole,
ignored. Truthfully, this is a very fine film
transfer that, although hinting a signs of age,
never allows for the scrutiny to rival or dominate
one's overall enjoyment of the film itself. "The
Sea Hawk" as both film and DVD transfer, comes
highly recommended. |
