History Film / CaptainBlood

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CaptainBlood.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Blood! '''Blood! BLOOD!''']]

** The second part of the story, where Peter Blood becomes a pirate, was based on Captain Henry Morgan, a pirate who wound up as (lieutenant) governor of Jamaica, like Peter Blood.[[note]]The book implies Morgan's biography was partially plagiarized from Blood's, so Morgan got credit for Blood's deed.[[note]]

* WelcomeToTheCaribbeanMon: Not that it seems all that welcoming to Peter Blood, at least at first.

Sabatini's wildly popular novel had already been filmed as a silent in 1924. The 1935 film was originally intended as a vehicle for English actor Creator/RobertDonat, who had had a great success as Edmond Dantes in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' the previous year, but had to bow out of ''Blood'' due to health problems. Flynn, whose most important part to date had been in a wordless flashback in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' mystery, ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', was tapped by Jack Warner himself to replace Donat; the devil-may-care Tasmanian of Irish extraction had exactly the quality he desired for the adventurous [[{{Oireland}} Irishman]], [[TheCaptain Captain Peter Blood]]. Olivia de Havilland, having enjoyed a notable success as the feisty Hermia in the Warners' film of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream,'' was assigned the part of the equally spirited [[TheChick Arabella Bishop]]. The fine dramatic actor Creator/LionelAtwill played TheHeavy part of Arabella's uncle, and Creator/BasilRathbone displayed a fine talent for fencing and sneering villainy (if rather less at imitating a French accent) as the evil pirate Levasseur. Henry Stephenson played the [[CoolOldGuy kindly Lord Willoughby]], and Ross Alexander made a striking impression as Blood's trusted companion and the ship's navigator, Jeremy Pitt.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Sure he's the hero, but "Doctor Blood" does not inspire confidence.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Rafael Sabatini, who wrote the novel Captain Blood, based his tale on historical fact; a surgeon named Henry Pitman, who tended wounded rebels and was sentenced to death by Judge Jeffreys. Pitman's sentence was commuted to penal transportation to Barbados where he escaped and was captured by pirates. Pitman did not turn pirate, preferring to make his way back to England where he wrote about his ordeal. The second part of the story, where Peter Blood becomes a pirate, was based on Captain Henry Morgan, who, like Peter Blood, was a pirate who wound up as (lieutenant) governor of Jamaica.

Sabatini's wildly popular novel had already been filmed as a silent in 1924. The 1935 film was originally intended as a vehicle for English actor Creator/RobertDonat, who had had a great success as Edmond Dantes in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' the previous year, but had to bow out of ''Blood'' due to health problems. Flynn, whose most important part to date had been in a wordless flashback in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' mystery, ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', was tapped by Jack Warner himself to replace Donat; the devil-may-care Tasmanian of Irish extraction had exactly the quality he desired for the adventurous [[{{Oireland}} Irishman]], [[TheCaptain Captain]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Peter Blood]]. Olivia de Havilland, having enjoyed a notable success as the feisty Hermia in the Warners' film of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream,'' was assigned the part of the equally spirited [[TheChick Arabella Bishop]]. The fine dramatic actor Creator/LionelAtwill played TheHeavy part of Arabella's uncle, and Creator/BasilRathbone displayed a fine talent for fencing and sneering villainy (if rather less at imitating a French accent) as the evil pirate Levasseur. Henry Stephenson played the [[CoolOldGuy kindly Lord Willoughby]], and Ross Alexander made a striking impression as Blood's trusted companion and the ship's navigator, Jeremy Pitt.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Captain Peter Blood''.

Not to be confused with the Wiki/TVTropes contributor Tropers/CaptainBlood. Or the [[http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/captain-blood-series video game series]].

Sabatini's wildly popular novel had already been filmed as a silent in 1924. The 1935 film was originally intended as a vehicle for English actor Creator/RobertDonat, who had had a great success as Edmond Dantes in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' the previous year, but had to bow out of ''Blood'' due to health problems. Flynn, whose most important part to date had been in a wordless flashback in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' mystery, ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', was tapped by Jack Warner himself to replace Donat; the devil-may-care Tasmanian of Irish extraction had exactly the quality he desired for the adventurous [[{{Oireland}} Irishman]], [[TheCaptain Captain]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Peter Blood]]. Olivia de Havilland, having enjoyed a notable success as the feisty Hermia in the Warners' film of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream,'' was assigned the part of the equally spirited [[TheChick Arabella Bishop]]. The fine dramatic actor Creator/LionelAtwill played TheHeavy part of Arabella's uncle, and Creator/BasilRathbone displayed a fine talent for fencing and sneering villainy (if rather less at imitating a French accent) as the evil pirate Levasseur. Henry Stephenson played the [[CoolOldGuy kindly Lord Willoughby]], and Ross Alexander made a striking impression as the ship's navigator, Jeremy Pitt.

The script, by Casey Robinson, was a skillful adaptation of Sabatini's picaresque novel. Much of Sabatini's own prose was included, but several events and characters were omitted or conflated, notably Lord Willoughby and a rival for Arabella's hand, Lord Julian Wade. It is perhaps notable that the script [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory toned down]] [[HollywoodHistory to some extent]] the religious and national rivalries that are emphasized in Sabatini's more historically grounded novel. Moreover, the script somewhat changed Blood's character, in an effort to increase his level of badass at the expense of the more complex, touchy-feely aspects of his personality. Thus, fans of the book may see it as inferior, despite the film's undisputed status as a classic.

In order to curb Blood's activity, King James makes Colonel Bishop the new Governor of Jamaica; meanwhile, Arabella sails to England on a visit. On her return, she and Lord Willoughby, who has been sent by the King to deal with Blood, are captured by the evil French pirate Levasseur, with whom Peter has unwillingly gone into partnership on the condition that Levasseur will abide by his humane rules. When Peter discovers Arabella's capture, he "purchases" her; the furious Levasseur refuses to give her up, and they DuelToTheDeath--Levasseur's. His love rejected by Arabella, Peter decides in a fury to take her and Willoughby on to Jamaica, though he knows that Governor Bishop has sworn to hang him.\\\

* AwesomeMcCoolname: ''Captain Blood''.

* MOHSScaleOfViolenceHardness: It scores a 3.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The character of Captain Peter Blood is almost certainly based partly on Colonel ''Thomas'' Blood, a 17th century Irish rogue who nearly succeeded in stealing the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London and ''did'' succeed in gaining the favor of Charles II, and also on Captain Henry Morgan, who, like Peter Blood, was a pirate who wound up as (lieutenant) governor of Jamaica.

King James (Vernon Steele), however, prompted by the [[DeadlyDecadentCourt venal Lord Sunderland]], [[MadeASlave sells them into slavery]] in Jamaica instead, where brutal Colonel William Bishop (Lionel Atwill) buys most of the men and his sprightly niece, Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), purchases the humiliated Blood. Arabella suggests Blood as a replacement for the gouty governor's bumbling doctors. Blood takes advantage of this to plot escape for himself and his fellow slaves. Bishop, suspecting, whips Jeremy for information, then prepares to whip Blood for interfering, when the town is attacked by Spanish pirates. In the confusion, Blood and the slaves escape and seize the Spanish ship (with the ransom taken from the colonists), and set forth on a career of {{pira|te}}cy.\\\

* InformedAbility: Blood's reputation as a notorious pirate, considering we never see him actually doing any pirating on-screen.

* NotableOriginalMusic: Korngold's first original Hollywood score is a beautiful evocation of the sea, and helped launch his career as one of the dominant figures of film music.

* PirateBooty: Peter shows Annabella all his booty in an effort to impress her. It doesn't work.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Blood is the greatest pirate in the world, but the only people he ever kills on screen are members of foreign armies and one perverted French captain. He's also never shown stealing or sinking other ships unless it's against enemies of England (which would make sense if they'd said that he was a privateer sailing under a British letter of marque rather than a genuine pirate), and the other members of his crew are all rough, roguish, and jovial rather than a bunch of cutthroats. Even when the main villain, who abused them as slaves, is in their grasp, they happily just comically throw him overboard rather than kill him. The movie only barely glosses over his life as a pirate and thief, and it comes off as rather jarring when the love interest refuses to be with him because he's committed crimes we've never seen.

* OffstageVillainy: Blood and his crew are never shown attacking a ship or stealing anything. In fact, their entire piratical career in the movie is one scene in which they are dividing booty from an unseen attack, and a later scene where Peter shows Arabella some of his booty. When she straight-out asks him how many people he's killed to get all that treasure, Peter says, "No more than was necessary," indirectly admitting that yes, he and his crew have killed people. Presumably this was done so the audience would continue to view Captain Blood and his fellow pirates as the good guys.

%%* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent:

Sabatini's wildly popular novel had already been filmed as a silent in 1924. The 1935 film was originally intended as a vehicle for English actor Creator/RobertDonat, who had had a great success as Edmond Dantes in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' the previous year, but had to bow out of ''Blood'' due to health problems. Flynn, whose most important part to date had been in a wordless flashback in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' mystery, ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', was tapped by Jack Warner himself to replace Donat; the devil-may-care Tasmanian of Irish extraction had exactly the quality he desired for the adventurous [[{{Oireland}} Irishman]], [[TheCaptain Captain]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Peter Blood]]. Olivia de Havilland, having enjoyed a notable success as the feisty Hermia in the Warners' film of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream,'' was assigned the part of the equally spirited [[TheChick Arabella Bishop]]. The fine dramatic actor Creator/LionelAtwill played TheHeavy part of Arabella's uncle, and Creator/BasilRathbone displayed a fine talent for fencing and sneering villainy (if rather less at imitating a French accent) as the evil {{pirate}} Levasseur. Henry Stephenson played the [[CoolOldGuy kindly Lord Willoughby]], and Ross Alexander made a striking impression as the ship's navigator, Jeremy Pitt.

In the reign of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart King James II]] of [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} England]] a rebellion to place the Duke of Monmouth on the throne breaks out. Rebel [[TheWoobie Jeremy Pitt]] (Ross Alexander) comes to seek the aid of Irish physician and retired soldier, Dr. Peter Blood (Creator/ErrolFlynn), to tend on his friend, Lord Gildoy, wounded in battle against the King's Men. While Blood is tending to his patient, he is arrested; brought before HangingJudge [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Lord Jeffreys]] (a creepily memorable performance by Leonard Mudie). Blood and all the rebels are condemned to death.

King James (Vernon Steele), however, prompted by the [[DeadlyDecadentCourt venal Lord Sunderland]], [[MadeASlave sells them into slavery]] in Jamaica instead, where brutal Colonel William Bishop (Lionel Atwill) buys most of the men and his sprightly niece, Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), purchases the humiliated Blood. Arabella suggests Blood as a replacement for the gouty governor's bumbling doctors. Blood takes advantage of this to plot escape for himself and his fellow slaves. Bishop, suspecting, whips Jeremy for information, then prepares to whip Blood for interfering, when the town is attacked by Spanish pirates. In the confusion, Blood and the slaves escape and seize the Spanish ship (with the ransom taken from the colonists), and set forth on a career of {{pira|te}}cy.

In order to curb Blood's activity, King James makes Colonel Bishop Governor; meanwhile, Arabella sails to England on a visit. On her return, she and Lord Willoughby, who has been sent by the King to deal with Blood, are captured by the evil French pirate Levasseur, with whom Peter has unwillingly gone into partnership on the condition that Levasseur will abide by his humane rules. When Peter discovers Arabella's capture, he "purchases" her; the furious Levasseur refuses to give her up, and they DuelToTheDeath -- Levasseur's. His love rejected by Arabella, Peter decides in a fury to take her and Willoughby on to Jamaica, though he knows that Governor Bishop has sworn to hang him.

When he gets there, the capital is under attack by the French, and the protecting English fleet is out pirate-hunting under the command of the Governor; Lord Willoughby entreats Peter to save the town, saying he has been sent by the King to offer him a pardon and a commission. Blood and his crew reject the offer with scorn -- until they realize that the king in question is not the hated James, but William of Orange, who has seized the throne. They battle the French and win.

Arabella, finding Peter at the Governor's palace, begs him to escape; he forces her to admit that she loves him. Bishop meanwhile returns and is arrested; Lord Willoughby informs him that the new Governor will decide whether he is to be hanged or not. Bishop goes to find Arabella pleading for his life with that official, only to find that he is -- Peter Blood, who greets him with a "Good morning, Uncle!"

* AsTheGoodBookSays: One of the slaves/pirates talks like this, with some additions to fit the context or simply for laughs.

* BadBadActing: Arabella's acting is, how we should say, exaggerated.
* BoardingParty: An old example, with plenty of rope-swinging action.
* BreakTheHaughty: The very last scenes are this for Bishop. He is stripped of his post and is even threatened of severe punishment after leaving Port Royal unprotected in war times. To make things worse (for ''him''), Blood is the new governor.

* ChairReveal: "Uncle -- this is the governor!" Sort of, anyway. The chair doesn't swivel; instead, Flynn has his face buried in his hands when Bishop comes into the room.

* CharacterTitle
* ColdBloodedTorture: Colonel Bishop whips Jeremy Pitt for information, and leaves him hanging up without water in the broiling Jamaican sun. (See also SlaveBrand, below.)

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: A downplayed example when Willoughby offers Blood and his men a commission from the King, they spend several minutes refusing and putting the King down. When Blood snaps they don't want to follow James, a stunned Willoughby tells them that the Glorious Revolution has taken place, James deposed and it's King William offering the deal.
-->'''Blood''': Willoughby, it's the long-winded fellow, you are, why didn't you tell us this in the first place!

* EpicShipOnShipAction: The climax involves Peter Blood and his pirate ship, having agreed to fight on behalf of the British against the French, attacking the French warship and winning.

* HangingJudge: The [[HistoricalDomainCharacter historical]] Baron Jeffreys, played chillingly by gaunt, reedy-voiced Leonard Mudie, makes it plain that anyone who defends himself in his court is indulging in "a useless effort to keep his own neck from the halter."
* HeroicTeamRevolt: Happens briefly after Peter wants to take his crew to Port Royal where the vengeful governor and the entire English fleet is waiting to string them up. He manages to talk them round.

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Blood spots that Judge Jeffreys is suffering from this.

* {{Leitmotif}}: Korngold employs several in the score, including the {{Fanfare}} mentioned above, a sweeping love theme for Arabella, and a jaunty tune to represent the Jamaican capital, Port Royal -- which he deploys to stunning effect when Peter orders the crew to sail there, presumably to their deaths.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The character of Captain Peter Blood is almost certainly based partly on Colonel ''Thomas'' Blood, a 17th century Irish rogue who nearly succeeded in stealing the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London and ''did'' succeed in gaining the favor of Charles II, and especially on Captain Henry Morgan, who, like Peter Blood, was a pirate who wound up as (lieutenant) governor of Jamaica.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent:

* OffstageVillainy: Flynn and his crew are never shown attacking a ship or stealing anything. In fact, their entire piratical career in the movie is one scene in which they are dividing booty from an unseen attack, and a later scene where Peter shows Arabella some of his booty. When she straight-out asks him how many people he's killed to get all that treasure Peter says "No more than was necessary", indirectly admitting that yes, he and his crew have killed people. Presumably this was done so the audience would continue to view Captain Blood and his fellow pirates as the good guys.

* {{Pirate}}

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Blood is the greatest pirate in the world, but the only people he ever kills on screen are members of foreign armies and one perverted French captain. He's also never shown stealing or sinking other ships unless it's against enemies of England (Which would make sense if they'd said that he was a privateer sailing under a British letter of marque rather than a genuine pirate), and the other members of his crew are all rough, roguish, and jovial rather than a bunch of cutthroats. Even when the main villain, who abused them as slaves, is in their grasp, they happily just comically throw him overboard rather than kill him. The movie only barely glosses over his life as a pirate and thief, and it comes off as rather jarring when the love interest refuses to be with him because he's committed crimes we've never seen.

* SwordFight: Notably, Peter's duel with Levasseur on the slippery rocks of Virgen Magra, ending with a very dead French pirate being splashed by the sea-foam.
* ATasteOfTheLash: Col. Bishop seems to like to whip his slaves.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Bronson and Whacker, two physicians that treated the governor's gout before Blood came along.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the climatic battle at sea when Captain Blood's ship is sinking and the crew has to board one of the enemy ships, what exactly was the elderly Lord Willoughby doing during all this?

* WoodenShipsAndIronMen: Much of the film takes place on-board ship; some aspects of this are {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when Peter reveals that he has not heard of the Glorious Revolution in England because he has "been at sea, out of touch with the world."

Sabatini's wildly popular novel had already been filmed as a silent in 1924. The 1935 film was originally intended as a vehicle for English actor Creator/RobertDonat, who had had a great success as Edmond Dantes in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' the previous year, but had to bow out of ''Blood'' due to health problems. Flynn, whose most important part to date had been in a wordless flashback in the ''Franchise/PerryMason'' mystery, ''Film/TheCaseOfTheCuriousBride'', was tapped by Jack Warner himself to replace Donat; the devil-may-care Tasmanian of Irish extraction had exactly the quality he desired for the adventurous [[{{Oireland}} Irishman]], [[TheCaptain Captain]] [[AwesomeMcCoolname Peter Blood]]. Olivia de Havilland, having enjoyed a notable success as the feisty Hermia in the Warners' film of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream,'' was assigned the part of the equally spirited [[TheChick Arabella Bishop]]. The fine dramatic actor Lionel Atwood played TheHeavy part of Arabella's uncle, and Creator/BasilRathbone displayed a fine talent for fencing and sneering villainy (if rather less at imitating a French accent) as the evil {{pirate}} Levasseur. Henry Stephenson played the [[CoolOldGuy kindly Lord Willoughby]], and Ross Alexander made a striking impression as the ship's navigator, Jeremy Pitt.

* HeroicDimples: Captain Blood with his roguish, Errol Flynn cheek dimples.