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Captain Blood (1935)

Started by Scott, October 24, 2003, 08:42:22 PM

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Scott

CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) - This is a great film starring Erol Flynn neat sea battles using models. TCM showed this one. Did I mention that there was a few whippings in this one? Great film from 1935. Sword play isn't as good as in THE MARK OF ZORRO(1940)


Deej

Good call, Scott, this is an awesome flick, Flynn's first major film. I just bought the DVD special addition of The Adventures of Robin Hood, fantastic, great color, cool action, wicked sword fights and Flynn at his best.

Everyone has potentially fatal flaws, but yours involve a love of soldiers' wives, an insatiable thirst for whiskey, and the seven weak points in your left ventricle.

DJ

Dunners

Sword fights would be better if Flynn knew how to use them. Basil Rathbone hated to do sword fights with Flynn because Rathbone was an experienced fencer and flynn just swing and spun like a madman.

save the world, kill a politician or two.

raj

Didn't know that Basil hated doing sword scenes with Errol.  They did such a good job in Robin Hood.  Captain Blood is another favorite of mine.

Deej

In the "making of" special feature on the Robin Hood dvd, they talk about Flynn's fencing style, and they do mention his favorite move of twirling the sword before a thrust, but they credit him with actually being a pretty good swordsman, at least a good movie swordsman, I had heard that Rathbone was the better fencer though.

Everyone has potentially fatal flaws, but yours involve a love of soldiers' wives, an insatiable thirst for whiskey, and the seven weak points in your left ventricle.

DJ

Newt

Ummm....Deej?  The term 'swordsman' was used at one time to refer to a man's prowess at , well, getting, uh, laid.

I think that is the most likely application of the term in Flynn's case.

Is it hot in here?

"May I offer you a Peek Frean?" - Walter Bishop
"Thank you for appreciating my descent into deviant behavior, Mr. Reese." - Harold Finch

BoyScoutKevin

And Errol Flynn, good with one sword, not necessarily good with the other, was not even suppose to be in the film. Robert Donat was suppose to star in the film, but, when he couldn't do it, Flynn stepped in, and the rest is history, as they say.

I, too, have heard that Rathbone was not fond of crossing swords with Flynn, as Rathbone considered Flynn dangerous, when Flynn got a sword in his hand.

And some people considered Rathbone the 2nd greatest fencer to come out of Hollywood. Only Cornel Wilde is considered to have been a better fencer then Rathbone. Of course, Rathbone might have put Danny Kaye ahead of himself, as he thought highly of Kaye's skills with a sword, when they fenced together in "The Court Jester."

For the 2nd best fencer in Hollywood, Rathbone lost alot of swordfights in the films in which he appeared. Not only to Flynn and Kaye, but also to Leslie Howard in "Romeo and Juliet" and Tyrone Power in "The Mark of Zorro" and to Flynn again in "The Adventures of Robin Hood." The only opponent Rathbone seems to have defeated in a swordfight is John Barrymore in "Romeo and Juliet."


Scott

The sword fights in THE MARK OF ZORRO are better than CAPTAIN BLOOD.