O Capitão Blood

This is remembered as Errol Flynn's great opening movie role - which is partly true. He had a nice career in Australian movies (one a film about Fletcher Christian and the Bounty), but CAPTAIN BLOOD was his first Hollywood film as a star, and it was a brilliantly colorful opening role.

Flynn plays Dr. Peter Blood, a physician who is the 1685 version of Dr. Samuel Mudd in the Assassination of Lincoln. Mudd, if you recall, treated John Wilkes Booth's broken leg, and was sentenced to life imprisonment as a result. Flynn treats some injured men not realizing they are soldiers in a revolt. When they are arrested so is he, and he ends up being transported as an indentured servant (little better than a slave) to Jamaica in the West Indies.

The revolt, by the way, is that of James, Duke of Monmouth. The son of one Lucy Walters, his father was supposed to be King Charles II, one of several lovers Walters had when James was born. King Charles had ennobled Monmouth, and treated him well at court, but refused to legitimize him as the Whigs hoped (they wanted the Protestant Monmouth on the throne, rather than the Catholic brother of Charles, James, Duke of York. In the end Monmouth led this ill-fated revolt, which was defeated at the battle of Sedgewick Moor. Monmouth was beheaded at the Tower of London. King James II (the former Duke of York) sent his most belligerent jurist, Judge George Jeffreys to the west country where hundreds were hanged at fast trials (known forever after as "The Bloody Assizes". Jeffreys appears in the film as the judge that orders Blood's transporting to the New World. However in the film Blood (desperate to prove he is just a doctor) says the judge is suffering from tuberculosis. Jeffeys actually suffered from kidney stones, and was a heavy drinker and curser as a result. King James II made him Lord Chancellor for his work.

Flynn's real adventures begin in Jamaica, where he is working at the estate of Colonel Bishop (Lionel Atwill) and his niece Arabella (Olivia De Haviland). It was the first film Flynn and De Haviland co-starred in. Atwill is a bully to these traitorous indentured servants, but Flynn's medical abilities raises him above the others. With the aid of two local doctors he plans an escape, and he and the other indentured servants (Guy Kibbee, Ross Alexander, etc.) escape after defeating a pirate attack on the island. They also have the pleasure of plundering and discomforting Atwill, who vows to hunt them down and destroy them. The only regret Flynn has in leaving is he and Arabella have fallen in love.

We watch the rise of Peter Blood as a leading pirate, his temporary partnership with the French pirate Captain Lavasseur (Basil Rathbone) - which ends in a duel over De Haviland (and the first time Rathbone had to die at Flynn's hand in a duel in their films), and his gradual emergence as a friend of a reformed England represented by Lord Willoughby (Henry Stephenson) after the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 overthrows James II. Although not exactly the same, Blood's rise from Pirate king to Governor of Jamaica (as the film ends) is a mirror of the story (a decade earlier) of the rise of Pirate, Henry Morgan, to being Sir Henry Morgan, Lt. Governor/Governor of Jamaica. A closer acting job regarding Morgan was done by Laird Cregar in THE BLACK SWAN, where he played that Governor - and with a welsh accent. But Flynn does very nicely, with his charm, humor, good looks, and athletic grace. It was a good introduction to a Hollywood legend.

CAPTAIN BLOOD, Warners' 1935 remake of a popular 1924 silent film, is best remembered today as Errol Flynn's springboard to stardom, and the first of a series of classic swashbucklers from the studio. Yet the film was nearly shelved, and it's story is as entertaining as the film.

Intended to attract the same audience that had made MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and TREASURE ISLAND box office hits, the film boasted great production values, a talented director (Michael Curtiz), a musical score from Hollywood's greatest composer (Erich Wolfgang Korngold, although time limitations forced him to borrow heavily from Franz Liszt), the captivating beauty of young Olivia de Havilland (in only her fourth film), and, originally, the respected British actor (and future Oscar winner) Robert Donat as physician-turned-pirate Peter Blood. Donat, however, had chronic health problems (which would, sadly, eventually curtail his film career), and Warners faced a major production starting date with no leading man.

Legend has it that Jack Warner's wife recommended young Errol Flynn (just 26 at the time) for the role; she had described him as the most "gorgeous" man she'd ever seen, and helped convince the studio to bring him from England, where he was doing repertory theater, after several years of hell-raising around the world. His largest American role, to date, had been as a corpse in a Perry Mason B-movie, but his sexual conquests and social life were already becoming legendary, and he and new wife, actress Lili Damita, were constantly promoting the young actor around town. The studio finally decided to take a chance on the untested actor in the lead (budget-wise, picking a low-paid contract player was a smart financial move)...but it initially appeared to be a MAJOR blunder, as Flynn looked tense and amateurish in the dailies. Director Curtiz was unfazed, however, and worked with him, and gradually the actor developed confidence. Word spread around the studio that a charismatic new star was emerging, and the first few days' scenes were scrapped and re-shot. By the end of the hugely favorable test screenings, Warners knew it had finally had a bona-fide sex symbol of their own, who could compete for female audiences against Gable, Cooper, and Cary Grant. Errol Flynn had inherited Douglas Fairbanks' title of premier swashbuckler, and had done it with only one film!

CAPTAIN BLOOD may lack the opulence of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, and the pure adventure value of THE SEA HAWK, but without this pirate saga, and the dynamic star it introduced, the 'Golden Age' of Hollywood may never have seen these subsequent classics reach the screen. CAPTAIN BLOOD has earned a place in film history that cannot be underrated.

Nearly 80 years old and `Captain Blood' still is one of the greatest sea-adventures ever made. It initially served as an appropriate answer to `Mutiny on the Bounty', also released in 1935 and starring Clark Gable. This film launched the terrific career of Errol Flynn, who only appeared uncredited in other film until then. Captain Blood is a compelling and versatile story about a young Irish doctor, named Peter Blood. After giving medical attention to rebellions, he's sold as a slave to the wondrously beautiful Arabella Bishop (Olivia de Havilland)…niece of the rancorous Colonel Bishop (Lionel Atwill). Blood escapes slavery and, together with his faithful crew, he starts a successful and diverse career as a pirate in the Caribbean sea. Yet, the unanswered love he feels for Arabella never really allows him to be fully free. Naturally, this film doesn't feature as many outrageous swordfights as in later pirate movies, but the decors and scenery are breath-taking and very inspired. Some neutral sequences (mainly in the beginning of the film) can be considered tedious, but long and delightful patriot speeches and exiting battles make up for those. Errol Flynn does a great job as the rebellious captain, even though his handsome looks don't really match the image of a feared pirate. Special mention goes out to Basil Rathbone, flawlessly cast as a French corsair. Highly recommended if you're a fan of classic and nostalgic cinema.

I'm not that big on pirate movies and I thought this might be overrated.....but I was wrong. This is good stuff and I wonder if a more realistic pirate movie has ever been made.

This was Errol Flynn's first starring role and it sure got him off to a flying start. Few actors have ever played the "dashing hero" as well as Flynn. Despite being almost "worship idol" status by women, he is still comes across as a "man's man," and that all started with this film.

What I liked best about this was that the story stood out more than the action or the romance. Many times classic films overdid the latter, producing lulls in what was considered an adventure story. That's not the case here. It also isn't the typical clichéd pirate film in which the captain is seen with an eye patch and a parrot on his shoulder.

This is nothing fancy, just a just solid story.....period, which is probably why it holds up so well over 70 years later!

Flynn's first starring role in Hollywood! This is a lavish, knock-you-silly gorgeous production with a solid, book-based plot, packed with action, salt water, swordplay AND hordes of pirates "celebrating in pirate fashion" (!). Flynn and de Havilland spark as they spar in the best love-hate mode, and this time, when she inadvisedly condescends to him in his slavery, his pride is as involved as hers. Suave, deadly French pirate captain Rathbone's betrayal of Flynn makes their thrilling, fated-from-the-start duel very satisfying indeed. The icing on the cake -- Flynn at his slim, youthful, sexy freshest, so beautiful he breaks your heart!