Cannons thunder, blades clatter and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's incomparable music swirls and flourishes in The Sea Hawk. In one of his best roles, Errol Flynn plays Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, who commandeers a 40-gun galleon, endures captivity, then boldly escapes to warn England of Spain's armada. Working on his 10th of 12 movies with Flynn, Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) masterfully directs the film's blend of royal intrigue and derring-do heroics - made on a then-lavish $1.7 million scale that included construction of two full-sized ships. The film was stirringly topical in its day. When Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) exhorts her country to maintain fighting readiness against tyranny "now and forever," audiences knew forever had come: Hitler had launched his World War II air siege of England.

The heart-pounding tone of Michael Curtiz's classic swashbuckling adventure THE SEA HAWK is established moments after the opening credits, when 16th century British pirate captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) leads a thrilling raid on the galleon of a Spanish ambassador. When the roiling, chaotic clash is over, Thorpe's men have captured the ambassador and Thorpe has learned the Spanish are planning to wage war against England. He rushes home to warn Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson), only to find that certain powerful members of the Queen's court, concerned with his pirating tactics (and pursuing their own selfish agendas) have ordered Thorpe be put on trial.

THE SEA HAWK, based a novel by Raphael Sabatini, joyously punctuates the scenes involving complicated political intrigue with several cataclysmic sea battles that rank among the best ever committed to celluloid. The film, which garnered three Academy Award nominations, features a spirited performance from Flynn that ranks among his best.