Dame Flora Robson brings the Shakespearean Elizabeth to life all for a good cause against villain Spain as the proto- Axis Empire. Flynn could not be improved upon in taking over every aspect of this huge movie. Korngold defines the adventure soundtrack and inside the Curtiz concept of a complex of coordinated variables of rare spectacle. Two massive ships connect in combat, the piratical takeover choreographed minutely down to the abandonment and sinking. Lavish sets, costumes, furniture, dialogue, sheer numbers of cast that keep on coming as a preview of WWII production, the wealth of nations beyond the familiar movie budget by a lot. You say this isn't historically accurate but we see it with our own eyes. Not just political optics for 1940 Hollywood but party to Anglophone history America is born in this era and never escapes from clashes of empire.
Review of The Sea Hawk
