Everything is right in this film loosely based on the exploits of Sir Francis Drake and very little on the Rafael Sabatini novel. Errol Flynn, Claude Rains, Michael Curtiz, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, The WB Banner and piracy on the High Seas – What more could one ask for? Obviously the answer would be "The Sea Hawk". The only shortcoming to my knowledge was no Olivia de Havilland who for some reason was overlooked by Jack L Warner when he made the film. Flynn is at his dashing best as the fictionalised Geoffery Thorpe matching wits with the likes of King Philip of Spain and his treacherous agents . He matches swordplay, tongue in cheek and romance with ease making this his best ever. Claude Rains and Henry Daniel are unpleasantly debonair in their roles of Spanish spies. Brenda Marshall is adequate but just does not match up as one is always wishing Olivia alongside Errol as his lady love. Flora Robson re-creates her role as Elizabeth I and adds a great aura of grace and majesty in her depiction. One cannot but help feeling that her rendition is of such conviction that it makes one believe that Elizabeth could not but have spoken and behaved the way in which she is played. Michael Cutriz once again scores with his excellent action sequences but overall it is Korngold who enthralls the viewer with his sweeping score which is unforgettable. One cannot but recollect the similarities of this film to "Fire Over England" but the Hollywoodization of medieval England is more pronounced here. Some unforgettable scenes: The beginning of the film – the shadow of a dictator (Philip of Spain) covering the map of Europe wanting to covet England and her colonies bears a striking resemblance to Hitler and his dream all the more significant as the film was released in early 1940 when the Phoney war had just begun and Dunkirk was in the near distance. The swordplay between Flynn and the Spanish captain where he points out that the English are a practical people who do not sink with their ships – a veiled message to the Nazis that Britain would fight on even if all Europe was to fall? The speech by the Queen towards the end of the film where she warns her subjects of being prepared for the Armada that was poised to strike ( Hitler's Luftwaffe and The Battle of Britain) and a distant appeal to America to join the fight against Fascism. Last but not least the scene where the freed slaves of the Spanish Galley look wistfully at the distant Cliffs of Dover and ex- slave Tuttle mouths just one word "England" which to me was the émigré Curtiz announcing to all of downtrodden Europe that their safe haven in the wake of the impending onslaught was indeed Britain. One can go on and on about Sea Hawk but a review needs to be concise. The greatest of a swashbuckler that does not age a bit and can be viewed over and over again.
Review of The Sea Hawk
