Sea Hawk, The (DVD)

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The central section of the movie involves Captain Thorpe's plan to rob the Spanish of their gold before it ever leaves the Americas, a surprise attack on the Spaniards in the jungles of Panama, a plan to which the Queen gives her tacit assent. But Don Jose learns of Thorpe's plan and designs countermeasures of his own.

Perhaps the only sticking points in the film are its rather too many and too long scenes in court, which tend to slow down the action a bit. But the rest of it, even its limited love interest, radiants a high energy. The opening sea battle, for instance, may not carry the sonic weight of something like "Master and Commander," but it more than compensates with its heroics and derring-do.

The film climaxes with a splendid sword fight reminiscent of the one in "Robin Hood," this time with magnificent shadows on the walls, followed by a stirring speech from Queen Elizabeth on the significance of freedom and democracy. "The Sea Hawk" has romance, adventure, and intrigue; lavish costumes and sets; heroes, rogues, and scoundrels aplenty; and that most-dashing, most-gallant soldier-of-fortune of them all, Errol Flynn, swinging from ship to ship. What more could you ask for?

Incidentally, about that Korngold musical score that I praised so highly at the beginning: It is well worth listening to on its own, and I strongly recommend the celebrated 1972 version of the extended suite by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra, available on an RCA compact disc. It is spectacularly well recorded in wide-ranging stereo and a far cry from the original soundtrack's mono. Moreover, the album comes with a number of other Korngold film compositions including music from "Of Human Bondage," "The Sea Wolf," "Anthony Adverse," and others.

Video:
The video transfer on the DVD is excellent, although it does not appear to be a literal frame-by-frame restoration. I suspect WB used a very good print that was cleaned as well as possible under the circumstances. It is quite clear, with almost no grain and very few age spots, flecks, or scratches. There was a vertical line appearing at the fifty-six-minute mark that was a minor nuisance, but it only stayed on screen for a moment and disappeared. The black-and-white contrasts show up well in many but not all cases, a few scenes looking darker or lighter than others. Also be aware that the episode in the Central American jungles was purposely tinted in sepia tones to give it, I presume, a more humid effect. It works.

Audio:
The audio is a fairly ordinary monaural of the day, reproduced here through Dolby Digital 1.0, with really good noise-reduction processing. Backgrounds are almost dead quiet, and overall the balance is quite smooth. Needless to say, the highs are not too extended, nor is the bass too deep, but the midrange is easy on the ears. I have to admit, though, that when I finished watching the movie and played the stereo CD on my big living-room system, holy moly, it almost blew me off the couch! Did I mention this is wonderful music.

Extras:
For a disc that is not labeled a special edition, this one has a number of useful bonus features. First, Leonard Maltin hosts a Warner Night at the Movies. This includes a four-minute introduction by the critic and historian, followed by a two-minute vintage newsreel; a twenty-one-minute short subject, "Alice in Movieland," with Joan Leslie in a tale about a would-be starlet new to Tinseltown; a six-minute, black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon, "Porky's Poor Fish," with Porky Pig; and the movie itself. Plus, there's a seventeen-minute featurette on the making of the movie, "The Sea Hawk: Flynn in Action," with commentary from WB's usual gang of film experts--Rudy Behlmer, Robert Osborne, Dr. Lincoln Hurst, etc. Finally, there are thirty-four scene selections (but no booklet insert); a theatrical trailer; English as the only spoken language; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

In addition, if you buy "The Sea Hawk" in the boxed set, the "Errol Flynn Signature Collection," you also get the bonus disc, "The Adventures of Errol Flynn." Made in 2005, this eighty-six minute documentary covers everything about Flynn's life from his first screen test in Australia to his death by heart attack in 1959 at the age of fifty. The documentary is narrated by actor Ian Holm and contains numerous film clips as well as interviews with several of Flynn's ex wives; his daughter Deirdre Flynn; director Vincent Sherman; film historians Rudy Behlmer and Robert Osborne; producer Hal B. Wallis (archival); actors Richard Dreyfuss, Olivia de Havilland, Burt Reynolds, Joanne Woodward, Paul Picerni (archival), and David Niven (archival); writer Delmer Daves (archival); and many others. It hurries past the more lurid aspects of the actor's private life and rightly concentrates on his film legacy.

Parting Thoughts:
If you're into rousing action and the romance of the high sea, "The Sea Hawk" is just your ticket. It holds up as well as any older film I can think of and bears repeated watching. It was Errol Flynn in his prime, and nobody has matched him since for pure heroics and pluck.

"The Sea Hawk" is available individually or in the six-disc boxed set mentioned above that also includes, chronologically, "Captain Blood" (1935), "Dodge City" (1939), "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" (1939), "The Died With Their Boots On" (1941), and the documentary "The Adventures of Errol Flynn."

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