Review of The Sea Hawk (1940) by Dave H — 12 Oct 2014

Great movie, but one of the lesser Curtiz-Flynn collaborations (for me, anyway), a bit less energetic than their earlier efforts. Part of it is the casting - Alan Hale is once again great here, in the Little John/offsider role, and Flora Robson is appropriately weird/magnetic at QE1.

But Rains isn't quite on his game here, and NONE of the other villains are a match for the charisma of Basil Rathbone. Yet the main casting issue is Brenda Marshall - she lacks the hotness factor, charm and acting ability of De Havilland (or any number of actresses of the day) - and her scenes (with and without Flynn) fall flat.

Yet the main issue with the film isn't casting - it's the script's pacing - interspersing a few terrific action/suspense set pieces with some way-too-long expository sequences featuring characters we mostly don't care too much about.

Yet...those set pieces (particular the opening ship vs ship rumble, the swamp scenes, and the ultimate chain-gang escape) ARE terrific - featuring some outstanding technical work, music, suspense, editing and stuntwork.

And Flynn (even the weary version here) is always Flynn. Classic swashbuckling of the highest order. Like I've always said, "Any pirate movie is a good pirate movie". This film mightn't qualify exactly as a pirate movie.

But it's close enough for me.