The Sea Hawk

The Sea Hawk; adventure drama, USA, 1940; D: Michael Curtiz, S: Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Henry Daniell, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson

1585. King Philip II wants to spread his Spanish Empire over the entire world, and sees England as his only opposition in this plan. He is thus secretly building an armada that will attack England. During a trip, a Spanish ship is attacked by the "Sea Hawks", a group of British pirates led by Thorpe, who aim to plunder the Spanish in order to contain their expansion. Spanish ambassador Alvarez is captured, together with his niece, Dona Maria, but are released upon being brought to Queen Elizabeth I who publicly scorns Thorpe for attacking the ambassador. However, in private, Elizabeth is in good relations with Thorpe, who persuades her to allow him to steal the Spanish gold in Panama. However, Alvarez and Lord Wolfingham, an English minister who is a Spanish collaborator, find out about the plan and set up an ambush. Thorpe and his men are captured and become slaves in a ship. However, they manage to free themselves and obtain a secret plan that confirms that the armada is being used for a planned war. With the help of Maria, he returns to England and warns Queen Elizabeth just in time, who in turn orders England to build their own fleet.

The 10th cooperation between director Michael Curtiz and actor Errol Flynn, "The Sea Hawk" is arguably their apex, a thoroughbred adventure flick that also serves as a neat history lesson about the circumstances leading to the Anglo-Spanish war of 1585. Unlike their previous "swashbuckling" films, which were aimed more towards fun, kitschy adventures taken just at "face value", "The Sea Hawk" is a much darker, complex and realistic film, a one which tries to build up interest of other audience groups, for whom dashing beaus fighting the bad guys with swords is usually not their cup of tea. Already the opening scene, filmed in a wide-angle lens, where Spanish King Philip II looks at the world map in his throne room and proclaims his irredentist plan ("...we shall sit here and gaze at this map upon the wall. It will have ceased to be a map of the world. It will be—Spain!"), the viewers immediately detest his selfishness and lean towards Englishman Thorpe who is fighting to contain the Spanish expansionism. Upon attacking a Spanish ship, Thorpe frees the convicted slaves on it, proclaiming that the Spanish Inquisition is not valid in law, thereby boosting his sympathy. There are several great situations stemming from the story—Alvarez and Lord Wolfingham enter the office of a chart maker and discover the map for Thorpe's ship Albatross, showing a snippet of an isthmus and the constellation of Orion over it at its Zenith. Using this info, a geographer concludes for them that it must be somewhere between the Equator and the 10th parallel north, picking Panama as the only isthmus along this line. Another exciting moment has Thorpe and his men peddling on a boat after an ambush on land, but as they approach their ship on the sea, they notice it is suspiciously empty, and fear approaching it. Using aesthetic shot compositions, Curtiz crafts a fluent story that offers enough suspense and flair to work even today.

Grade:+++