The Sea Hawk (Silent)

Galleon slaves strain against the oars... warships blast cannonades of death... and one of the great seafaring swashbucklers of the Silent Era (presented with added music) sails anew on DVD. Milton Sills, a stalwart silent-movie actor sure to be better known today if not for his untimely death, plays the gentleman pirate - The Sea Hawk - who escapes the treachery of a dastardly sea dog (Wallace Beery) and becomes the scourge of Spain's navy. Two-time Academy Award® winner* Frank Lloyd helms the excitement, hewing closer to the Sabatini novel than would the later Errol Flynn movie, using full-sized ships during filming and finding his sea legs years before guiding 1935's Oscar®-winning Best Picture Mutiny on the Bounty.

This big-budget adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's novel stars Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. Fans of the author's other work, including CAPTAIN BLOOD and SCARAMOUCHE, will find much to like in this sword-crossing, swashbuckling action film set on the 16th-century high seas. After this silent film, THE SEA HAWK appeared on screen again with Michael Curtiz's 1940 version starring Errol Flynn.