Captain Blood (1935)

The king of swashbuckler film, Mr. Errol Flynn. A man known just as much for his off camera adventures as on. A man charged with statutory rape three times, hence the term "In Like Flynn," he lead a very colorful lifestyle. Known best for his film The Adventures of Robin Hood, which was made three years after this one, but his role as Peter Blood really launched his career. This film was even nominated for 5 Oscars. I watched it because of its inclusion in the Action 101 book, but it is on numerous other lists I working on as well.

The film is about a doctor who is falsely accused of treason after caring for some rebel troops. He is sold into slavery in the West Indies and manages to become the doctor for the governor on the island thanks to a lack of competent doctors on the island. When the French attack he leads a group of slaves to take one of their ships and leads his crew to a life of pirating, since they have no place to call their home.

The bad guys are a little over the top, but that is my only real criticism of the film. It is pretty good, not too long, and a good classic. I'm not sure I can give an exact reason for not rating it any other than 7/10, but I did like it.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026174/

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