90 Days of Oscar Nominees #79 – Captain Blood (1935)

In my attempt to have a more prolific repertoire of Oscar Nominated Films, I have taken it upon myself to watch 90 new Best Picture Nominees that I’ve never seen before between 5 Dec 2017 and The 90th Annual Oscars on 4 Mar 2018.

Here is my 79th review of the 90 chosen Films…

–

“Faith, there’s a witness that you can’t deny: yourself, sir! For if I’m not a physician, how is it I know that you’re a dying man? The death to which you’re dooming hundreds of poor men daily – in a frantic effor to send their souls to perdition before your own – is a light pleasantry compared to the bleeding death in the lungs to which the great Judge has condemned you. ” – Dr. Peter Blood

Number of Times Seen – 2 (3 Jul 2001 and 19 Feb 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A British physician falsely accused of being a traitor to the King is sentenced to be a slave in a British colony in the Caribbean.

My Take on it – This is a film that tells a great story and keeps things enjoyable and entertaining the entire time.

This was one of Errol Flynn’s first lead roles and he does a superb job carrying this movie while also keeping his character likeable and charismatic despite being a pirate.

This was Flynn very first collaboration (of 12 total) with Olivia De Havilland and they have great chemistry together throughout the film.

The story itself stays thrilling  because it has great momentum and pacing.

The film also is quite poignant and says so much about the relationship between a ruler and his subjects and gives us a great sense of what was happening at that time.

This film displays a message of patriotism versus the idea sof fame and glory.

It remains one of the very best swashbuckler films ever made even after 83 years.

This film was nominated for 5 Oscars which includes Three write-in candidates (which was allowed back them).

Surprisingly, Michael Curlitz was able to get enough votes as a write-in candidate to finish second in the Director’s race which says a lot for what people thought of this movie at the time.

Bottom Line – Great story that is presented really well. Flynn is amazing in the lead and he and De Havilland have great chemistry even in their first (of 12) collaborations together. The story is thrilling and poignant at the same time and it gives us a real sense of what was happening at that time.  The message of patriotism versus fame and glory really stands out and this remains one of the best swashbuckler films of all time.  Nominated for 5 Oscars but didn’t manage to win any of them.  Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In his biography, “My Wicked, Wicked Ways” Errol Flynn (an infamous prankster) states that he played many pranks on Olivia de Havilland. One of them was leaving a dead snake in her underwear, which she found when she went to put them on. After that she lived in terror of what prank he would pull on her next.  (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z