1935
The great movie streak continues with Captain Blood. This is a spectacular adventure story that includes everything you could possibly want in a swashbuckling movie: a sexy pirate, a beautiful damsel, sword fights, and an exotic location.
Errol Flynn is a magnificent dreamboat. I don't know why I never knew about him (although I am still true to you, Clark Gable). He plays a doctor who is wrongfully convicted of treason and sent to Port Royal to be a slave. He is bought by a lady and so begins the sexual tension. That is another thing I loved about this movie; these kinds of films usually end up having a completely idiotic woman blunder around while the hot hero saves her. However, she is able to save him as much as he saves her.
I am a huge Michael Crichton fan (RIP buddy). A manuscript of his was published posthumously titled Pirate Latitudes which is a thrilling novel that takes place in Port Royal. This movie reminded me of it and consequently reminded me of all of Crichton's novels so I teared up a bit. This film is just plain fun and exciting if a little bit shallow.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
I was all excited to learn more about Errol Flynn. Apparently he slept with everything that moved, including lots of underage girls and Ross Alexander. He also would play awful pranks on costars (i.e. putting a dead snake in Olivia de Hailland's underwear). Okay, so maybe I don't like him that much...
The scenes with the ships were filmed with miniatures. They also used footage from Sea Hawk.
Trailer:
Three years ago I had an attack of Gout in one of my toes and all I could think of was the Governor in Captain Blood. Oh, horror.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't really comparable but I am currently learning sign language and have pretty much convinced myself I am Meryl Streep from The River Wild.
ReplyDeleteIn which the evils of white slavery are eventually overcome by the end of the movie and replaced by a an equitable system of black slavery instead. Hooray!
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