Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 7-August-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Captain Blood (1935)

Everybody knows that the runaway hit "Pirates of the Caribbean" grew out of a Disney attraction, but what many people may not know is that it harkens back to "Captain Blood," a grand old classic that is every bit as rousing and fun. This is the film that put an obscure actor named Errol Flynn on the (treasure) map, and while he may not have carried off an Oscar nomination like Johnny Depp, he blazes onto the screen with all the gusto and sex appeal of a legend.

Based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, "Captain Blood" opens in 1685 after the vastly unpopular James II has ascended the throne of England. The hero, Peter Blood, is a world-weary doctor who chooses to sit out the ensuing revolution but is nevertheless arrested and sentenced to death for attending the bedside of a rebel. Before he makes it to the gallows, however, his sentence is reduced to 10 years of slavery and he's shipped to the colony of Jamaica. Thus begins his remarkable journey from man of medicine to slave, then leader, then pirate, then lion triumphant. (As he notes in adorable quaintness, "Faith, it's an uncertain world entirely.")

Of course, someone as fetching as Flynn must also be a lover, so when he reaches the market of Port Royal he is bought by Arabella Bishop (Olivia de Havilland), the niece of the colony's cruel governor (Lionel Atwill) who has a keen eye for man flesh. He resents his captivity as much as he admires her curls, so they enter into the perfect I-can't-love-you-so-I'll-hate-you relationship. While he may have been content to brook a tyrant at home, his disgust with the abuse of power is now great enough to propel him into action. He orchestrates his escape with a hearty bunch of lads, which luckily coincides with the arrival of some Spanish buccaneers. Having procured himself a boat by force, Doctor Blood changes his tack and becomes Captain Blood, a man without a country and the most notorious pirate on the high seas.

Movies like this require that you overlook the heroes' vocation of murder and theft, and Flynn makes it easy to do so. He's never so desirable as when he's on the prow of his ship barking out orders like "Up that rigging, you monkeys, aloft!" (And those lace-up tunics that show a bit of chest fully compensate for the unfortunate hair.) It helps that Blood is a gentleman pirate as well, whose articles include a strict injunction against the molestation of ladies. This creed gives rise to the film's single swordfight (a doozy featuring — who else? — Basil Rathbone), in which the noble captain battles a French marauder for the virtue of the captured Arabella.

When the swashbuckling is through, Blood engages in a terrific sea battle and receives news from Europe that changes his fortunes again. Fate must reward such a man, forsooth! But the rewards aren't his alone. Even after 70 years, "Captain Blood" is jolly good entertainment filled with history, romance, and derring-do — not to mention a star who can still steal any show, and many hearts.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.