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Title:
Captain Blood
Region:
One
Genre:
Swashbuckling Adventure Drama
Stars:
Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander,
Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson, Robert Barrat, and Hobart Cavanaugh
Director:
Michael Curtiz
Feature
length: 119 minutes
Extras:
Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night At The Movies 1935 With Newsreel, Musical
Short – Johnny Green And His Orchestra, Comedy Short – All-American
Drawback, Cartoon – Billboard Frolics, Theatrical Trailers, New Featurette –
Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born, Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Production With
The Film’s Stars
Languages:
English and French Language Dubbed Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and English, French, and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1935/DVD Release: 2005
Theatrical
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Errol
Flynn is the quintessential Hollywood swashbuckling action hero. When I think of
“Robin Hood” the first image that comes to mind is Errol Flynn. With his
signature good looks and charisma, Flynn had carved himself a place in the
culture of the twentieth century as the archetype for heroism, action, and
romance in a leading male actor. Warner Home Video has released a six disc DVD
box set entitled “Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection,” which contains the
DVD debuts of “Captain Blood,” “Dodge City,” “The Private Lives Of
Elizabeth And Essex,” “The Sea Hawk,” “They Died With Their Boots On,”
and exclusive to the set alone, the Turner Classic Movies documentary “The
Adventures Of Errol Flynn.” Since the movies are also available individually
and because in the past, I have found that individual reviews for sets like this
work better than one large group covering everything, I am posting this DVD
review of “Captain Blood” as the first part of a six-part review that
collectively represents the box set as a whole while still providing consumers
the chance to read individual reviews of the films that interest them.
“Captain
Blood” is a terrific film that made Flynn’s feature film career in America.
It is the first of several films he would appear in with Co-Star Olivia de
Havilland and even features Basil Rathbone in a villainous performance. Perhaps
the most famous pairing of Flynn and Rathbone would be “The Adventures Of
Robin Hood,” which was released on DVD-Video and is available now separately
as a two-disc set from Warner Home Video. One almost wishes that the film was
reissued as a part of this box set since it is arguably Flynn’s most popular
work, but in some ways “The Adventures Of Robin Hood” is too big for this
set considering it’s place in this history of motion pictures in general.
Errol
Flynn stars as Peter Blood, a 17th century physician who becomes a pirate after
escaping an unjust imprisonment as a slave in the Caribbean. The film features
just about everything one can expect from an Errol Flynn film. There’s action,
romance, humor, and a great sense of epic scope. While a film like this can be
imitated to such a degree that it almost captures the magic inherent to the era
in which these movies were produced, they just don’t make films quite like
this anymore and they shouldn’t either. It is a different time so we must have
our own classics to pass on to the generations to come, but in doing so, we must
never forget the heritage that these early genre films represent since they
continue to resonate in our culture today and will do so tomorrow.
Presented
in the original aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which the film was
exhibited theatrically in 1935, which in this case is approximately (1.33:1),
“Captain Blood” is brought to DVD with clarity never before seen on previous
commercial home video releases. However although more detail can be enjoyed than
ever before and the grayscale is beautifully rendered, there are many scratches
and other imperfections from the source materials used that is bound to
disappoint some. The English Monaural Soundtrack is free of any background
crackling or hissing. A French Language Dubbed Monaural Soundtrack as well as
English Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and English, French, and
Spanish Language Subtitles is encoded onto the DVD as options too.
Bonus
features include a recreation of what audiences would have seen on the big
screen when they went to see “Captain Blood” back in 1935 that is hosted by
Leonard Maltin (3:11). These featurettes can be viewed individually or
collectively and are made up of a newsreel (2:44), a musical short featuring
“Johnny Green and His Orchestra” (10:34), the Charlie McCarthy comedy short
“All-American Drawback” (11:08), the cartoon “Billboard Frolics” (6:35),
and a trailer for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (2:12). The trailer for
“Captain Blood” (3:32) as well as an audio only recording of the 1937 radio
dramatization starring Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn (58:33) as well as a
new documentary chronicling the impact “Captain Blood” had on the cinematic
career of Errol Flynn entitled “Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born”
(23:06) are included as extra value materials too.
The
menus are all standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate.
“Captain Blood” is now available on DVD-Video individually or as a part of
“Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection” at retailers on and offline courtesy
of Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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