The Sea Hawk (1940)

Geoffrey Thorpe is an adventurous and dashing pirate, who feels that he should pirate the Spanish ships for the good of England. In one such battle, he overtakes a Spanish ship and when he ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Howard Koch (screenplay), Seton I. Miller (screenplay)

Stars:

Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Errol Flynn	...	Geoffrey Thorpe
Brenda Marshall	...	Doña Maria
Claude Rains	...	Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Donald Crisp	...	Sir John Burleson
Flora Robson	...	Queen Elizabeth
Alan Hale	...	Carl Pitt
Henry Daniell	...	Lord Wolfingham
Una O'Connor	...	Miss Latham
James Stephenson	...	Abbott
Gilbert Roland	...	Capt. Lopez
William Lundigan	...	Danny Logan
Julien Mitchell	...	Oliver Scott
Montagu Love	...	King Phillip II
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Eli Matson
David Bruce	...	Martin Burke

Storyline

Geoffrey Thorpe is an adventurous and dashing pirate, who feels that he should pirate the Spanish ships for the good of England. In one such battle, he overtakes a Spanish ship and when he comes aboard he finds Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal. He is overwhelmed by her beauty, but she will have nothing to do with him because of his pirating ways (which include taking her prized jewels). To show his noble side, he suprises her by returning the jewels, and she begins to fall for him. When the ship reaches England, Queen Elizabeth is outraged at the actions of Thorpe and demands that he quit pirating. Because he cannot do this, Thorpe is sent on a mission and in the process becomes a prisoner of the Spaniards. Meanwhile, Dona Maria pines for Thorpe and when he escapes he returns to England to uncover some deadly secrets. Exciting duels follow as Thorpe must expose the evil and win Dona Maria's heart.

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Plot Keywords:

spanish | queen | queen elizabeth i | ship | pirate | 

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Taglines:

Dashing . . . romantic . . . Errol Flynn at his thrilling best!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 July 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beggars of the Sea

Filming Locations:

Laguna Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,700,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 109 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone) (South America sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is a version of Seton I. Miller's story "Beggars of the Sea," and as such is radically different from the original "Sea Hawk" novel and movie (The Sea Hawk).

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Goofs

When what's left of Captain Thorpe and his men are coming back to their ship after being ambushed by the Spanish, you can see the shadow of a boom mic on the upper right portion of the ship on the screen.

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Quotes

[first lines]
King Philip II: The riches of the New World are limitless, and the New World is ours - with our ships carrying the Spanish flag on seven seas, our armies sweeping over Africa, the Near East, and the Far West; invincible everywhere... but on our own doorstep. Only northern Europe holds out against us; why? Tell me, why?

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Connections

Featured in Northern Pursuit (1943)

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Soundtracks

"Old Spanish Song"
(uncredited)
Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Lyrics by Howard Koch
Sung by Brenda Marshall (dubbed by Sally Sweetland)

User Reviews

Capstone to Errol Flynn's Swashbucklers!

THE SEA HAWK is usually listed with THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and CAPTAIN BLOOD as Errol Flynn's finest films, an honor it richly deserves. Filmed in 1940, at the peak of Flynn's popularity, before the sensational rape trial and revelations of his hedonistic lifestyle combined to tarnish his reputation and gradually make his screen persona more of a roué and less heroic, the film combined all of the classic 'Flynn' elements; spectacular battles, a chaste but passionate romance, wonderful camaraderie, a thoroughly despicable villain, and a climactic light/shadow sword fight finale to top things off, accompanied by the fabulous music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This is a FABULOUS film adventure!

Based on the privateering adventures of Sir Francis Drake and the 'Sea Dogs' of Elizabethan times, the WB lifted the title from a Rafael Sabatini novel, and changed the 'Sea Dogs' to 'Sea Hawks' (which DOES sound more romantic!). Flynn is Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, a brilliant commander in the 'Horatio Hornblower' mold, adored by his crew (led by the irreplaceable Alan Hale, of course!), admired by his fellow Sea Hawks, and even respected by his Spanish adversaries. As the film opens, his ship, the Albatross, having crossed the Atlantic in record time, takes on a giant Spanish galleon carrying the new Ambassador to England (Claude Rains, in a small but memorable role) and his daughter, Maria (played by the luminous Brenda Marshall, who has always been unfairly judged as a 'substitute' for Olivia de Havilland; Miss de Havilland would have been totally wrong in the role of an innocent Spanish girl!) After a breathtaking battle, featuring the kind of cutlass-swinging pandemonium director Michael Curtiz was famous for, Thorpe is victorious, and the Spaniards and their cargo are transferred to the Albatross. (Wonderful Hispanic actor Gilbert Roland has a nice bit as the Spanish captain, granted the right to be the last to leave his sinking ship).

Thorpe is immediately smitten by Maria, but, in true Hornblower fashion, is uncomfortable trying to talk to her, much to the amusement of his crew! This discomfort doesn't apply to ALL women, however; to Queen Elizabeth, wonderfully portrayed by Flora Robson (for the second time, as she'd played the Virgin Queen in the earlier FIRE OVER ENGLAND), Thorpe displays a rakish charm that she secretly adores. (This was Flynn's second film in two years dealing with the monarch; as lover/potential usurper to a more neurotic Elizabeth, played by Bette Davis, in 1939's THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, she chopped off his head...something Davis, who despised Flynn, would have liked to have done in real life, as well!)

Despite the growing love between Maria and Thorpe, he has a brilliant scheme, attacking a Spanish treasure port in Central America by land, so he's off again, with Elizabeth's secret blessings. Unfortunately, traitorous Lord Wolfingham (played to slimy perfection by Henry Daniell), figures out the plan, and warns the Spanish, who defeat Thorpe and his crew in the jungle (a wonderful, sepia-toned sequence), then subjects the survivors to a life chained to the oars of a Spanish galleon. Discovering Wolfingham's duplicity, and ultimate goal of power after the Spanish Armada crushes England, Thorpe and his crew manage to break free of their chains, capture the Spanish ship, and race back to England, culminating in a spectacular climactic duel between Thorpe and Wolfingham, and Elizabeth's rousing "We'll build an Armada" speech added to the script to inspire an audience witnessing the beginning of WWII.

A rousing adventure, THE SEA HAWK marked the pinnacle of Errol Flynn's rollercoaster career, and is a true classic of the genre!