Le fils du capitaine Blood

It has a certain "gimmick" value -- casting the son of Errol Flynn in a sequel to one of Errol Flynn's greatest hits -- but the results are never more than mildly diverting. While the movie has been tolerably well mounted and the musical score has a few good moments, its story line is lax and unconvincing and its direction lacks the energy and style found in the better swashbucklers. An earthquake which erupts in the final reel fails to lift the movie above the level of "routine."

The main reason to watch this, however, is the chance to see Errol Flynn's ill-fated son in what has come to be his best-remembered movie. He spends much of his part bare-chested and wearing tight pants and it would be easy to dismiss him as a shallow "boy-toy" whose acting abilities are better suited to amateur theatrics at a fraternity house. Yet one can't help but wonder how those pretty-boy, almost androgynous looks might have aged, acquiring needed lines and character, and one can't help but wonder if maturity would have given Sean Flynn a substance to go along with his casual likeability. Alas, we'll never know.

Comparisons between father and son will work to the father's favor. Note the whipping which Errol endures at the beginning of "Against All Flags" and then contrast it to the whipping given Sean about half-an-hour into "The Son of Captain Blood." Errol really seems to be suffering pain when the cat-o-nine-tails strikes his bare back. Sean's expressions, on the other hand, evoke nothing more than: "Ouch. That like, you know, stung."

(For another father-son team who've felt the sting of a lash, check out John Wayne in "The Conqueror" and Ethan John Wayne in "Man Hunt.")

In the early 1960s Italian film producers churned out a ton of so called "sword and sandal" Hercules, muscleman type movies.....Hercules, Samson and Goliath type movies that packed American movie houses. After much success with these gladiator/Hercules movies, Italian film producers decided to make a few pirate movies also. They changed the pace of history a bit and came up with two very good pirate tales in "Guns of the Black Witch" with Don Megowan and "Morgan the Pirate" with Steve (Mr. Hercules, himself) Reeves.......then a good idea came up to cast the true son of Earl Flynn, Sean Flynn in "The Son of Captain Blood" in another pirate tale. As pirate tales go this one is pretty good considering a poor cast and a very inexperienced Sean Flynn in the lead role. Flynn, very young and handsome is the son of the legendary Captain Blood and sets sail for the seven seas......along the way he is captured by a band of pirates and flogged. Amusing scene as he is being flogged by pirate captain....after turning around after much whipping there is not one scratch on his back!!! Then mysteriously after being put in a hole on the ship a pirate deckmate becomes his friend without much explanation and frees him to overtake the pirate ship. Flynn then after taking over the pirate ship sets sail and captures a few Spanish ships. Along the way the very lovely Allessandro Panaro becomes Flynn's love interest. The plot of this movie is pretty good but the supporting cast behind Flynn is weaker than ten day old water. Ann Todd as Flynn's mother plays a solid role as a wise lady plantation owner. At the end of the film as Flynn and his pirates return to Port Royal, a hurricane destroys much of the island. Some pretty good special effects with the hurricane as miniature sets are destroyed. A very good scene also with Flynn in a thrilling sword fight in a tavern with rival pirate captain. For my money looking at the lovely Allesandro Panara is worth watching the film for me. This is not a bad pirate movie but it is not in a league with "Morgan the Pirate" with the immortal Steve (Mr. Hercules, himself) Reeves. This film was intended for a young audience in its time and it will not disappoint teenage and a little older ladies who would ogle at the handsome Flynn. Flynn shows surprisingly a good bought of swordfighting in several scenes. Not a bad pirate tale at all.

Spirited, brisk and sprightly are good words to define the first moments of "El hijo del capitán Blood", or any time Sean Flynn has the opportunity to move, be it in a sword fight or sliding through ropes among masts and sails aboard a ship. My opinion is based on the original Spanish version of this sort of sequel to his father Errol's own "Captain Blood" (1935), one of the best American paradigms of adventure film, that tells the story of doctor Peter Blood, who became a pirate after being submitted to slavery. His son Robert has minor problems: he wants to follow his father's steps, but mother Arabella (Ann Todd) wants him to study. She rapidly concedes and grants him a trip to London, so the movie can take off (or sail off). The film slows down a bit when the ship in which he is travelling is captured by one of his father's enemies, the mean Captain de Malagón (José Nieto), and we have to wait until the pirate friends of Robert's father come to the rescue, to regain the lively atmosphere of the beginning. By now Robert's juvenile adventure turns more dramatic, following the struggle of his mother against racism in the Caribbean, and it is crowned with an earthquake and flood, with typical 1960s visual effects, in the line of George Pal's "Atlantis, the Lost Continent", released a year before. In all, we cannot appreciate Sean in full, due to dubbing (he must have been around 20 years old when he made the film), but whenever he has the opportunity to perform action scenes, what is on the screen is more than enough. There are also Italian and US versions of this film, with different editing, score, dialogues, and running times.

I cannot say that I was expecting much from this belated third sequel to the classic Warner Bros. swashbuckler CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) – which managed to recruit (pardon the pun) both the real-life offspring, Sean, of its late star Errol Flynn and screenwriter Casey Robinson; however, I was still disappointed by the dire results of this international production (distributed in the U.S. by Paramount)! Incidentally, it should be noted that all four films in the series (also comprising the two recently-viewed Louis Hayward vehicles made by Columbia i.e. FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD {1950} and CAPTAIN PIRATE {1952}) were produced by Harry Joe Brown since, presumably, he personally owned the rights to the character created by Rafael Sabatini; that said and, in spite of having Italian journeyman director Demicheli at the helm, the film is considered to be a Spanish production, with that language being denoted as its official one on IMDb! For the record, Jean Marais had also assumed the role of the elder Blood for a 1960 French film that was simply called LE CAPITAIN...

In any case, it is inevitable yet futile to compare the son's skills here with those of his more famous (but equally short-lived) father: Sean has little of the charisma and leadership qualities Errol exuded in spades – suffice it to say that he seemed too well-mannered and youthful-looking (even if only 4 years younger than when his father essayed the character's 'old man') to pass muster as a pirate captain! When we first see him, he is already being made to live up to his name – which he obviously revels in; mother (a thoroughly wasted Ann Todd) looks on as he decides to leave his family's plantation and follow in his famous buccaneer father's footsteps in search of adventure on the high seas. He runs into both friends and foes of the original Captain Blood and, of course, romance (given that the ship he happens to board includes a quartet of schoolgirls and their not-so-stern matron).

There are few genuine highlights along the way – though a spat with the chief villain inside the obligatory tavern is quite animated, with stools being liberally thrown about(!) - yet when he gets the obligatory flogging, there is no trace of a fleshwound anywhere on his back(!) - and the unexpected earthquake climax emerges as reasonably impressive for the meager budget afforded it. Among the supporting cast, playing one of the young Blood's closest associates, is "Euro-Cult" regular Fernando Sancho – albeit saddled with an unlikely Irish brogue! In conclusion, I should say a few words about the unappetizing (beside the fact that, it goes without saying, the English dubbing left much to be desired) condition of the "You Tube"-derived copy I watched: not only was the movie divided into 13 parts (at least, I was given a "Play All" option) but it was plagued by extraneous noise running underneath it (including Alanis Morissette's 1995 hit "Head Over Feet"!) for the entire duration!! For the record, two other Sean Flynn action-oriented efforts are available in this manner, namely THE SIGN OF ZORRO (1963; nothing to do with the similarly-titled 1959 compression of the popular Walt Disney TV series) and yet another Umberto Lenzi Indian adventure, TEMPLE OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT (1964), which I would have watched had it not been exclusively a French-dubbed version!

Sean Flynn swashes but never buckles as the son of Captain Blood, a role played years earlier by his father, Errol. He fights pirates, withstands a hurricane and ends up with the beautiful leading lady, Alessandra Penaro at the final fade. This is by no means a great film (it is far better when seen in its original CinemaScope, which, alas, is not available on the video version), but as one of the last films of its type it is well worth a viewing. The handsome Flynn made only a handful of films before going missing as a war photographer in Cambodia, and this is his best. (If you like him in this one, try Mission to Venice.)THE SON OF CAPTAIN BLOOD is a great guilty pleasure for a rainy Sunday