CAPTAIN BLOOD

Warner Bros., 1935.  Directed by Michael Curtiz.  Camera:  Ernest Haller, Hal Mohr.  With Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson, Robert Barrat, Hobart Cavanaugh, Donald Meek, Jessie Ralph, Forrester Harvey, Frank McGlynn, Sr., Holmes Herbert, David Torrence, J. Carroll Naish, Pedro de Cordoba, George Hassell, Henry Cording, Leonard Mudie, Ivan F. Simpson, Stuart Casey, David Cavendish, Mary Forbes, E.E. Clive, Colin Kenny, Maude Leslie, Gardner James, Vernon Steele, Reginald Barlow, Murray Kinnell, Gunnis Davis, Matthew "Stymie" Beard.

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Late one night in 1685, Irish physician Peter Blood is called to treat his friend Lord Gildoy who has been wounded in a rebellion against England's King James II.  While he tends to the injuries, the King's men burst into the room and arrest everyone there as traitors. T he trial is quick and unfair.  The men are sentenced to death by hanging, but the sentence is commuted when one of the King's advisors recommends selling them as slaves to wealthy landowners in Port Royal, Jamaica.

Blood's arrogant attitude offends Port Royal's leading citizen, Colonel Bishop, but it intrigues Bishop's high-spirited niece, Arabella, who bids for him herself.  Blood is brutally treated, but Arabella intervenes again and finds him easier work.

He forms an escape plan but, on the night set for the escape, Port Royal is fired on by Spanish pirates.  In the confusion, the men flee.  When Bishop discovers the escape, he vows revenge against Blood.  The men have no choice but to become pirates ranging through the Caribbean.

During a visit to Tortuga, Blood reluctantly joins forces with the French pirate, Levasseur.  The untrustworthy Levasseur boards an English ship, captures two of the passengers and holds them for ransom.  They are Lord Willoughby, an emmissary of the King, and Arabella, who has been visiting in England, while her uncle, now governor of Jamaica, chases the pirates.  To save her from Levasseur, Blood buys her for a handful of pearls.  Frustrated, Levasseur demands a fight and is killed in the duel.

Misunderstanding everything, Arabella scorns Blood.  Stung by her disdain, Blood decides to return her to Port Royal, even though it means his death.  In the harbor, they find a battle raging.  Willoughby tells the astonished Blood that England and France are at war and, what's more, King James II has been driven from the throne and replaced by King William, who has sent Willoughby to pardon Blood and his men and offer them a commission in the Navy.  With one voice, the men vote to fight the French and bravely defeat the fleet.  Bishop is removed from his office, Blood is made governor, and Arabella happily agrees to become his wife.

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Notes
The film was based on the novel Captain Blood: His Odyssey by Rafael Sabatini (Boston, 1922).  It marked the beginning of Errol Flynn's successful career as a swashbuckling actor and the first teaming of Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, who went on to make seven films together.

News items in DV note that some scenes were filmed in Palm Springs, California.  Six editors worked to reduce the 60,000 feet of film to 12 reels in time for a Christmas release.

Modern sources indicate that the character of Peter Blood was based on the historical pirate Henry Morgan who was made Governor of Jamaica as a reward for his actions against the Spanish.  Modern sources note that no full-sized ships were used in the battle scenes.  Director Michael Curtiz used a combination of process shots, miniatures and footage from the 1924 film The Sea Hawk, based on another Sabatini novel.  This was Erich Korngold's first original screen score.  Modern sources credit Robert Lord as supervisor.

Captain Blood was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture but lost to Mutiny on the Bounty.

The Sabatini novel was filmed in 1924 by Vitagraph, starring J. Warren Kerrigan and directed by David Smith.  Several films were made later using the same character including The Fortunes of Captain Blood produced by Columbia in 1950 with director Gordon Douglas and starring Louis Hayward and Patricia Medina, and Columbia's 1952 film Captain Pirate, again starring Hayward and Medina and directed by Ralph Murphy.  Son of Captain Blood, a U.S. European co-production released by Paramount in 1962 starred Sean Flynn, Errol Flynn's son.  The 1935 version was reissued nationally in 1951.

American Film Institute Catalog

Poster artwork courtesy of Joe and Dieter.  Additional photos courtesy of Gary and Frances.