trailer:
Slant Magazine gives it 3 out of 4 stars, says "It's a reliable template, handled with visual flair by able director Michael Curtiz" but adds,
the film owes a slavish obligation to propaganda that cursed many a wartime adventure story. The Elizabethan era is a cloak for World War II moralizing, with the Spanish armada standing in for Hitler's quest for world power, and Elizabeth I as a Churchill-style orator calling all good free men into action against the powers of evil. This gets a bit thick...Empire Online gives it 5 out of 5 stars and closes with this: "One of the very best and most lavish of all the Errol Flyn sweeping adventures. A feast for the eyes and the a good fun romp." DVD Talk mentions its influence on George Lucas' Star Wars franchise and calls The Sea Hawk "exciting". The Guardian discusses the historical inaccuracies and mentions Hitler. Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 100% and an audience score of 88%.
Posts
I enjoyed the Sea Hawk, but I'm a real Errol Flynn fan. I think my personal favorite is Captain Blood which was I believe one of the first attempts at Technicolor.
ReplyDeleteerrol flynn is a trip and watchable in anything. curtiz directed captain blood, too. and flynn's robin hood. a fun team.
DeleteThe studio system of making films created these groups of actors and directors that worked together over and over again, Curtiz , Flynn, Alan Hale sr., Korngold usually did the music. What a great idea find people that work well together and let them entertain us.
ReplyDeleteyes, there were certainly advantages there. we love alan hale, sr!
DeleteI vividly remember a heated discussion in 1981, I think we had been to see Raiders of the Lost Ark, and my father said "Ford has nothing on Flynn - he is just the best". My mother sided with the kids, and he was voted down, and Flynn judged "ancient and irrelevant". If Flynn had lived, he would have been 72 then, which is exactly what Ford is today. Having no children, it is realizations like this that remind me I´m getting on. ;-)
ReplyDeletelol good comparison. my only problem with flynn is that i think he plays the same character in film after film. in fact, i think his films are all incredibly similar. they are great fun but much of a muchness.
Delete