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Region Free - plays on all DVD players worldwide. English Dolby Digital audio with optional English, French, Spanish and Korean subtitles. Case (as pictured) displays English and Korean text, with film synopsis in both languages. English DVD menu.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The Sea Hawk is the only picture to give The Adventures of Robin Hood a run for its money in the greatest adventure film of all time stakes. Sharing only the title with Warners enjoyable silent film and reusing the sets and costumes from The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, it's a great example of the genius of the studio system in the days before packaging became a dirty word. Errol Flynn is at his very best here, whether he's capturing Spanish galleons in the English Channel, wooing Brenda Marshall or fighting off a quartet of palace guards to warn Queen Elizabeth of the impending Armada - he's the kind of guy every man wants to be and every woman just wants. And he's backed up by a strong array of talent - villainous Claude Rains and eternally snide and condescending Henry Daniell, sidekick Alan Hale, Flora Robson's haughty but playful Elizabeth, reliably decent Donald Crisp and a slew of other familiar faces all the way down to J.M. Kerrigan's shifty spy. Even the eternally irritating Una O'Connor is on her best behavior here.
And there's real talent behind the cameras too - Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller's unashamedly stirring screenplay, Sol Polito's great black and white photography, where every swordfight casts giant shadows, Anton Grot's far from grotty art direction, Michael Curtiz's vivid direction and, of course, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's greatest score (not to mention that song!). Warner's recent DVD release is a fine package, boasting the fully restored version (the obvious anti-Nazi parallels were removed for post-war reissues, reducing Donald Crisp's role to a mere extra) and the sepia tint to the Panama sequences.
Extras are good, although it is a shame that the terrific - and very different - silent version was not included as well.
And there's real talent behind the cameras too - Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller's unashamedly stirring screenplay, Sol Polito's great black and white photography, where every swordfight casts giant shadows, Anton Grot's far from grotty art direction, Michael Curtiz's vivid direction and, of course, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's greatest score (not to mention that song!). Warner's recent DVD release is a fine package, boasting the fully restored version (the obvious anti-Nazi parallels were removed for post-war reissues, reducing Donald Crisp's role to a mere extra) and the sepia tint to the Panama sequences.
Extras are good, although it is a shame that the terrific - and very different - silent version was not included as well.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Tony R
Format:VHS Tape
Filmed in black and white, Michael Curtiz shows his true genius in his exquisite use of this medium. From the framing of the scene with Brenda Marshall in the 'Lady of the Flowers' garden, to the all time classic duel between Captain Thorpe and Lord Wolfingham, shot by candelit shadow. All this, and Wilfrid Korngold's Oscar winning score. This is the greatest film of the 'swashbuckling' genre ever made.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By R. Carter
Format:DVD
I agree with Trevor Willsmer: this is quite superb, a terrific film for all the reasons he lists. The only thing to add is a reference to the impossibly lovely Olivia de Havilland: she doesn't have much to do but stand there appearing darkly beautiful, but my, how well she does it! Now I can't wait to see her, opposite Errol Flynn again, in Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood.
And Trevor mentions in passing the sepia sequence in the film: my immediate thought was that this was in homage to the colour sequence at the end of Ivan the Terrible Part II, but that wasn't made until 1944 so maybe it was the other way round?
One more point: the music (by Korngold) is wonderful, especially the trumpet led action theme that Indiana Jones' tune has an uncanny (and presumably not accidental) resemblance to.
And Trevor mentions in passing the sepia sequence in the film: my immediate thought was that this was in homage to the colour sequence at the end of Ivan the Terrible Part II, but that wasn't made until 1944 so maybe it was the other way round?
One more point: the music (by Korngold) is wonderful, especially the trumpet led action theme that Indiana Jones' tune has an uncanny (and presumably not accidental) resemblance to.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
warner brothers missed its chance to make a great movie even greater...
if ever a black and white motion picture deserves to be colorized this is it,some years ago on region 1 vhs video there was a colorized version and it would have looked magnificent... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Wayne Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Geoffrey Thorpe, scourge of Spain.
The Sea Hawk is directed by Michael Curtiz and written by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller. It's loosely based on The Sea Hawk (1915) written by Rafael Sabatini. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Spike Owen
5.0 out of 5 stars
"By now you know the purpose of the Sea Hawks... in our own way to...
Warner Bros. Pictures presents "THE SEA HAWK" (1940) (127 min/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) -- Starring Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp... Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2011 by J. Lovins
5.0 out of 5 stars
The sea hawk
I really enjoyed watching this classic again as it brings back great memories of a lazy sunday afternoon after lunch watching an film with my parents, picturing myself in some of... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2010 by tigerlilly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Greatest Swashbuckler
"The Sea Hawk" is a perfect foil for the best of all swashbucklers : Errol Flynn. The time is ideal - just prior to the Armada in 1588. Read more
Published on 9 Sep 2010 by Hank
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great swashbuckler
This classic swashbuckling adventure cost around 2 million dollars to make and the effects are great for it's year,including the sea battle. Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2010 by Mrs. Marilyn A. Rice
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flynn's Best Adventure
I consider this to be Errol Flynn's best adventure movie-better than Robin Hood & Captain Blood-he plays Captain Thorpe who commandeers a galleon in Elizabethan times,is captured &... Read more
Published on 2 May 2010 by Simon Bugler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Swashbuckled!
Was thrilled to find this DVD available as a gift for my father. Delivery was prompt and condition was brand new as expected.
Published on 14 Mar 2010 by R. Crook
4.0 out of 5 stars
Errol Flynn skewers his enemies and saves England in this rouser of an...
"With England conquered, nothing can stand in our way. Northern Africa... Europe as far east as the Urals... then the New World: to the north, to the south, west to the Pacific... Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2007 by C. O. DeRiemer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sea Hawk
Just a comment about the synopsis, which states that Capt Thorpe is"popular with the ladies". One of the running jokes of the early part ofthe film was how shy our hero was with... Read more
Published on 21 April 2004 by L. Arrowsmith
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