The Sea Hawk (1940) - film review

King Philip II of Spain plans to build an armada that will invade England, the one country that threatens his dream of world domination.   Aware that Queen Elizabeth is becoming aware of his political ambitions, he sends an ambassador, Don Jose Alvarez, to England to allay her suspicions.  Whilst crossing the English Channel, Alvarez’s galleon is attacked by English pirates led by Captain Geoffrey Thorpe.  The latter is one of a large body of English privateers who have been raiding Spanish ships for gold to finance the construction of a fleet to defend England from the Spanish in the event of war.  Back in England, Thorpe tells the Queen of his plan to travel to the New World to steal a caravan of Spanish gold.  The scheme is uncovered by Lord Wolfingham, one of the Queen’s ministers and a secret agent of the Spanish king.  Confident of success, Thorpe sets sail for Panama, not knowing that he is about to walk into a trap that may cost him his life...

Arguably the finest of the Errol Flynn adventure epics, The Sea Hawk is the definitive Hollywood swashbuckler.  Lavishly made, it is packed with exciting action sequences of the kind that audiences had come to expect by the late 1930s.  Once again, the unassailable Mr Flynn is directed with great style by Michael Curtiz, in what feels like a reprise of their first major collaboration, Captain Blood (1935).

At 31, Errol Flynn was at his peak when he made this film and no one was better suited to play the role of the swashbuckling hero, such was his charm, charisma and energy.  As Flynn gained in confidence and popularity, his relationship with his employers at Warner Brothers showed a marked deterioration.  By 1940, the studio was already looking around for a replacement to Flynn and had originally intended that another actor would take the leading role in The Sea Hawk.  WB resorted to Flynn when they couldn’t find anyone who would be anywhere near as good.

Whilst Flynn dominates The Sea Hawk (just as he had done in all of his previous films), his is not the only performance of note.  Claude Rains and Henry Daniell make two deliciously slimy villains, although the latter’s inability to hold a sword presented a few problems for the film’s set piece swordfight sequence, which had to be shot using a double.  Brenda Marshall makes an attractive ingénue but she is no substitute for Olivia de Havilland, the actress that everyone associates with Errol Flynn.  The best of the bunch is Flora Robson, who gives a splendidly tongue-in-cheek interpretation of Queen Elizabeth I (she had played the role previously in a British film, Fire Over England, released in 1937).  It is interesting to compare Robson’s portrayal of the virgin queen with that of Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), in which Flynn had recently starred.

The Sea Hawk is less a depiction of historical fact and more an allegory of the conflict that was brewing in Europe at the time (the film was released in July 1940).  Phillip II is likened to Hitler and much of Elizabeth I’s dialogue has a distinctly Churchillian anti-fascist resonance.  The Queen’s speech at the end of the film feels like it was added to inspire British audiences but it may also have been intended to galvanise support for America’s entry into the war.

With a budget of 1.7 million dollars, The Sea Hawk was a major blockbuster even by the standards of Hollywood.  A fair chunk of this large pot of gold went on the construction of two full-size replica ships mounted on a sound stage.  These were fitted with hydraulic jacks and wheels to give a realistic impression of movement in the sea.  A rousing score from Erich Wolfgang Korngold and some sumptuous photography by Sol Polito shore up the film’s stunning production values, making this an example of Hollywood bravura filmmaking at its best.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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