Captain Blood (1935)

starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone

directed by Michael Curtiz

119 minutes

Dr. Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) escapes hanging in 1685 and is instead sent to Port Royal, Jamaica to be sold into slavery. Blood ends up working for Col. Bishop (Lionel Atwill) after Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), his niece, insists that her uncle buy him. Blood was headed to work in the mines when Miss Bishop intervened. He isn't grateful for her intercession on his behalf.

Blood starts to make plans to escape the island. He has a certain amount of freedom as a doctor, even though he is a slave. He gets some money from a couple other doctors, free men, and then finds another man to buy him a ship. Blood tells the other slaves about his plan.

Arabella sees him meeting with the man who is going to buy the boat. She tells her uncle that Blood is up to something, but then covers for him by saying he was with her when he was supposed to be tending to the governor.

The plans to buy a boat fall apart when the Spanish invade Port Royal. Blood and the others escape, overwhelm some Spanish soldiers and then take over the Spanish ship. Blood and his men blow the Spanish long boats out of the water when the Spanish soldiers try to return to their ship.

Col. Bishop is surprised to learn that Blood and the others are the ones who saved Port Royal. He comes out to the ship. His former slaves men are ready to hang him but Blood instead has him thrown overboard.

Blood and his men become pirates. They attack and plunder British and Spanish ships. The British government grows tired of Captain Blood and makes Col. Bishop the governor of Port Royal. Arabella sails back to England. The ship she is on almost gets attacked by Blood and his men. They are on their way to Tortuga and decide to stick with their plan and let the English ship go.

Blood meets and forms an alliance with Captain Levasseur (Basil Rathbone) while in Tortuga. Levasseur is Blood's only real rival. Blood has his doubts about the alliance but he goes ahead with it anyway.

Arabella Bishop decides to return to Port Royal. She is captured by Captain Levasseur, along with Lord Willoughby. Blood and Levasseur meet up again on the island of Virgen Magra. Levasseur is planning to ransom Miss Bishop. Blood objects. The two men fight and Levasseur is killed.

Blood and his men head for Port Royal but when they get close they see that it is under attack by French war ships. The English fleet is nowhere to be seen. Blood considers letting the French take the city until Lord Willoughby explains that King William and Queen Mary are prepared to offer a full pardon to Blood and his men.

Thoughts

I know I saw this movie at least once before but I really didn't remember much about it. I don't recall when I first or last saw it but it was probably 30-40 years ago. I knew that it starred Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and that it was a pirate film. I remembered that Peter Blood did not start off as a pirate but a doctor. I think that's about all I recalled.

I didn't recall that Basil Rathbone was in this movie. He doesn't show up until the second hour and probably isn't in it for more than 20 minutes. I wasn't too crazy about his French accent.

This was Errol Flynn's and Olivia de Havilland's first movie together. It was also the first movie that starred either of them. They would go on to make several movies together, including the Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which also featured Basil Rathbone and was directed (in part) by Michael Curtiz.

There is a cribbage moment in this movie. I wasn't expecting that. I call it a moment because it doesn't last more than 15 seconds.

I thought the first hour was decent but the second hour felt very rushed. There were just a few too many twists and turns to satisfy me.