More and at the same time less than just another Errol Flynn swashbuckling epic, this movie struck me as somewhat darker and grittier than some of the star's earlier outings (although this was perhaps accidentally aided by the pretty poor quality print I viewed on UK satellite TV with jump-cuts a-plenty - one for the restorers methinks). Here we get echoes of "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" and of course "Captain Blood" but unlike Bette Davis in the former, Flora Robson makes a great Queen Elizabeth with that required air of authoritative coquetry projected superbly. She in fact is the best thing in the movie winning every scene she's in, exceeding even the redoubtable Claude Rains, himself less commanding as usual in a somewhat subservient role, slightly overcome, I sense, by his clothing! Flynn is rather good, in the first half his usual, dashing, handsome but somewhat diffident self around beautiful or authoritative women, (in sharp contrast of course with his real life persona!) but reduced to a hardened ravaged but always resilient and resourceful galley slave who engineers his devoted crew's escape from penury to save the day and stay the machinations of the Spanish King. Brenda Marshall does her best Olivia De Havilland and emerges with credit too although the film suffers slightly from lacking a really nasty sword-wielding protagonist who measures up to Flynn, Basil Rathbone style. Indeed it's a surprise when the effete traitor Lord Wolfingham gives Flynn's Thorpe any kind of sword fight at all at the climax. The scenes in the jungle and on board the Spanish galley are noticeably darker than usual in Flynn's work, the star unabashed at appearing unglamourous, unkempt and battle-worn for lengthy periods. The sets, particularly of the warring boats and at Elizabeth's court all reflect the usual Warner Bros high production values and if models were used in the battle scenes, they certainly fooled me. There's of course the usual element of yo-ho-ho tomfoolery between Flynn and his men, slightly at odds with the realism evinced elsewhere. "Jack-of-all-trades" Michael Curtiz emerges again with credit, marshaling his forces well and occasionally pulling off a nicely unexpected camera angle, one crane shot memorable in particular from what appears to be almost the poop deck as Flynn and co. return to their apparently deserted ship, while the climactic sword fight against the combatants' own massive shadows again shows imagination. Korngold's celebrated score also helps the action flow along grandly. I suspect that Robson's rallying speech at the conclusion had as much to do with Britain's war with Germany as the story in hand, (Hitchcock used a similar trick in "Foreign Correspondent") but avoids jingoism and bears comparison with Olivier's more famous "Henry V" rallying call. All of Flynn's swashbucklers are worth watching but I was more than pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of this slightly lesser known (to me anyway)example of the genre.
Review of The Sea Hawk
