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Captain
Blood
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The
story is about a doctor (Flynn) who is convicted of treason and sent to
Jamaica as a slave. He was sold to the wicked plantation owner
Bishop (Atwill) and fell in love with Bishop's niece (DeHavilland). During a Spanish attack on Port Royal, Dr. Blood
and his fellow slaves escaped, captured a Spanish galleon, and set sail as
pirates in the Caribbean.
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| After Levasseur's death, Captain Blood sets sail for Jamaica to return Miss Bishop home. He learns from the King's emissary Lord Willoughby that King James has been replaced by King William. Lord Willoughby offers Blood and his crew a full pardon. As they near Jamaica, they see that Port Royal is under attack from the French, and the English fleet that should be protecting the city is out chasing pirates! Blood fights the French ship and is victorious. As reward Willoughby appoints Blood Governor of Jamaica. |
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The highlight of the film is the duel between Captain Blood and Levasseur, which resulted in Levasseur's death. Rathbone and Flynn exhibit excellent swordplay. Rathbone's acting, and even his French accent, was superb. In an interview, Rathbone described the difficulty of filming that final swordfight on the beach:
| "Now, what we had to do was this: a man
stood with a stopwatch and he timed the waves coming in. There was
a short routine in which Flynn had to get me, kill me, and I had
to fall just as a wave was coming in. If I fell exactly as a wave
was coming in, it would cover me with water and as the wave went
back out again, there I would be lying on the ground with my eyes
wide open. You try lying with your eyes wide open, and sea water
in them, without blinking. Well, we did it! exactly to the second,
we timed the swordplay which took fifteen seconds. At the end . .
. all the extras applauded loudly! They were so thrilled at the
sheer skill of it because this required beautiful timing and Flynn
and I worked very hard on that sequence. . . . Another thing--you
see, if I went into that water and the scene was no good, I would
have had to wait until the next day for a new costume."
Castle of Frankenstein #13 (1969), pp. 32-33 |
Cast |
Credits |
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| Errol Flynn......................Dr.
Peter Blood Olivia de Havilland.......Arabella Bishop Lionel Atwill..........................Col. Bishop Basil Rathbone..............Capt. Levasseur Ross Alexander......................Jeremy Pitt Guy Kibbee..............................Hagthorpe Henry Stephenson......Lord Willoughby George Hassell.......................Gov. Steed Forrester Harvey...........Honesty Nuttall Frank McGlynn Sr...................Rev. Ogle Robert Barrat......................Wolverstone |
Production Co.
..................Warner Bros. Producer.......................Harry Joe Brown Director............................Michael Curtiz Screenplay...................Casey Robinson Cinematographers..................Hal Mohr .............................................Ernest Haller Editor...................................George Amy Music Composer.......... ......................Erich Wolfgang Korngold Art Director...........................Anton Grot Special Effects..................Fred Jackman Choreographer...................Fred Cavens |
Images on this page and page two are from the film "Captain Blood," copyright Warner Bros.
