American Cinematographer - August 1996 - 92

The Sea Hawk Sets Sail
Warners'

swashbuckling epic lowers its anchor and
finds

an

enthusiastic audience.
Part 2 of 2

by Rudy Behlmer

In 1935, Warner Bros,
the

executives were so inspired by

of their Errol

Flynn swashbuckler, Captain
Blood, that they began preparations for a new version
success

of Rafael Sabatini's novel, The Sea Hazvk. After numer¬

roic

privateer Goffrey Thorpe's (Flynn) ship and the
Spanish galleass, near the opening of the film was be¬
ing shot on the marine stage. Associate producer
Henry Blanke sent a memo to executive producer Hal

ous

B. Wallis

on

age that
shots of

postponements it finally went before the cameras
February 1, 1940, with Captain Blood's esteemed
star-director team of Flynn and Michael Curtiz. Art

American

August 1996

Filming the
palace garden
the

Warner backlot.
Lefthand photo,
left to

right:

Brenda

Marshall, Errol

Flynn, Sol
Polito, ASC

(leaning under
camera),
assistant
cameraman

Frank Evans and
director
Michael Curtiz

(with hat and
top coat).

(Author's
Collection.)
Right photo:
Brenda

Marshall and
Errol Flynn in
the backlot

palace garden
set. (Courtesy:
AMPAS.)

88

March 14 in which he outlined the foot¬

Crisp, Flora Robson and Gilbert Roland. Henry
Daniell proved a fine villain, but was unable to handle
the swordplay for the climactic duel with Flynn.
Through extensive doubling, furious pacing and some
imaginative shadowplay devised by Curtiz and cin¬
ematographer Sol Polito, ASC, the duel became a vi¬
sual delight.
By mid-March, the spectacular battle scene
that takes place near the start of the film,between he¬

director Anton Grot and his associate, Feo Kuter, cre¬
ated methods of staging action that involved two fullscale ships in water on the new Stage 21. Prominently
cast were Claude Rains, Brenda Marshall, Donald

scene on

on

could be lifted from the 1935 Captain Blood:
men
swinging from ship to ship during the
battle, close-ups of cannons firing, and clips showing
the devastating effect of the cannons on the ship. In ad¬
dition, he made use of some medium and long shots
of general battle and men falling into the water from
The Divine Lady (1929), a rather lavish First National
Picture about Ford Nelson and Lady Hamilton, which
had also been re-used in the 1935 Captain Blood. The
fact that there was a discrepancy of roughly two cen¬
turies between the respective time periods of The Sea
Hawk and The Divine Lady seemed to bother no one.
After the battle between the two ships, all of
the galley material was photographed on Stage 3.
Scenes taking place in a galley with slaves shackled

Cinematographer



American Cinematographer - August 1996

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