Watching ERROL FLYNN in THE SEA HAWK is a pleasure--by this time he had perfected his swashbuckling image and his polished performance is a cut above most of his other work at this time. But the film, as gorgeous as the sets and costumes are, and as painstaking as the detail is in the Panama jungle scenes photographed in sepia (on the DVD), cries for color. Technicolor, of course.
Technicolor and Flynn's favorite co-star, Olivia de Havilland, are two of the vital missing ingredients.
BRENDA HARSHALL, with her sculptured cheekbones, is an impassive beauty. Her face is a mask when it comes to emotions. Nor is there any of the witty, spirited byplay between Errol and Brenda, as there usually is in a Flynn-de Havilland partnership. Brenda Marshall is unable to be more than a cardboard heroine.
Nevertheless, all the other elements are here, although the tale is burdened by what feels like an extremely long running time of 127 minutes. The big seaboard fight comes much too early in the film and is never given a worthy reprise.
The Warner stock company is in fine form--Alan Hale, Claude Rains, Henry Daniell and a wonderful portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Flora Robson. And Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score is one of his most rousing contributions to the art of film scoring.
Sometimes, the choral work is a bit over the top--notably when men are rigging the sails for their return to England! Korngold's music almost never lets up in intensity.
Others may find it a little cumbersome at times--but there can be no doubt that the $1.7 million budget (an enormous amount in 1940) is visible in the sets and costumes, many of which appear to be holdovers from both ELIZ. AND ESSEX and ROBIN HOOD.
Michael Curtiz shows true command of all the action scenes and makes sure that Sol Polito's camera-work makes the most of the gorgeous sets and art decoration. The final duel between Henry Daniells and Flynn is staged for maximum effect.
Technicolor and Flynn's favorite co-star, Olivia de Havilland, are two of the vital missing ingredients.
BRENDA HARSHALL, with her sculptured cheekbones, is an impassive beauty. Her face is a mask when it comes to emotions. Nor is there any of the witty, spirited byplay between Errol and Brenda, as there usually is in a Flynn-de Havilland partnership. Brenda Marshall is unable to be more than a cardboard heroine.
Nevertheless, all the other elements are here, although the tale is burdened by what feels like an extremely long running time of 127 minutes. The big seaboard fight comes much too early in the film and is never given a worthy reprise.
The Warner stock company is in fine form--Alan Hale, Claude Rains, Henry Daniell and a wonderful portrait of Queen Elizabeth by Flora Robson. And Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score is one of his most rousing contributions to the art of film scoring.
Sometimes, the choral work is a bit over the top--notably when men are rigging the sails for their return to England! Korngold's music almost never lets up in intensity.
Others may find it a little cumbersome at times--but there can be no doubt that the $1.7 million budget (an enormous amount in 1940) is visible in the sets and costumes, many of which appear to be holdovers from both ELIZ. AND ESSEX and ROBIN HOOD.
Michael Curtiz shows true command of all the action scenes and makes sure that Sol Polito's camera-work makes the most of the gorgeous sets and art decoration. The final duel between Henry Daniells and Flynn is staged for maximum effect.