Editing Captain Blood (1935 film) (section)

==Production==
Warner Bros. was inspired to remake the film, which it had first produced as a silent picture in 1923,<ref name="films">Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer * Clifford McCarty, ''The Films of Errol Flynn'', Citadel Press, 1969 p 31</ref> after the popularity of ''[[Treasure Island (1934 film)|Treasure Island]]'' (1934) and ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film)|The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' (1934) revived the Hollywood swashbuckler genre.

Some of the film's sea-battle footage was taken from the silent film ''[[The Sea Hawk (1924 film)|The Sea Hawk]]'' (1924).

===Music score===
''Captain Blood'' features a stirring and romantic musical score, the first of its type for a sound film, by Austrian composer [[Erich Wolfgang Korngold]]. In 1935, Warner Bros. asked Korngold to score the film, but he declined, feeling that a story about pirates was outside his range of interest. However, Korngold changed his mind after watching the filming.

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = Cornsilk|quote="Korngold not only had the background but also had the gift of melody, an innate sense of theater, and the skills to manipulate sentiment, emotion, humor, and excitement. In short, if [[Jack L. Warner]] had been praying for such a composer, then his prayers had been answered". --Film historian, [[Tony Thomas (film historian)|Tony Thomas]]<ref name=Thomas>Thomas, Tony. ''Korngold: Vienna to Hollywood'', Turner Entertainment (1996)</ref>{{rp|10}}}}

Korngold was required to compose more than an hour of symphonic music in only three weeks. The short time frame forced him to borrow portions of symphonic poems by [[Franz Liszt]], which constituted approximately ten percent of the score. As such, Korngold was unwilling to take credit for the entire film score, insisting instead that his credit be for "musical arrangement" only.<ref name=Thomas/>{{rp|8}}<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwCEqrD4Z7I 'Captain Blood'' trailer segment]</ref>

''Captain Blood'' became an immediate hit, with an Oscar nomination for the score.<ref>[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1936 Oscar nominees for 1936]</ref> As Korngold's first fully symphonic film score, it marked a milestone in his career, as he became the first composer of international stature to sign a contract with a film studio.<ref name=Thomas/>{{rp|10}}<ref name=Woodstra>Woodstra, Chris, Brennan, Gerald, Schrott, Allen, editors. ''All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music'', Hal Leonard Corp. (2005) p. 701</ref> It also launched Flynn's film career and gave a major boost to that of de Havilland, who would appear in another seven [[feature films|features]] with Flynn. Korngold would score six more starring Flynn.<ref name=Thomas/>{{rp|21}} The film also opened the way for other costumed, romantic film adventures, which had not been seen since the silent era.<ref name=Thomas/>{{rp|9}}

===Budget===
The film's production budget was {{USD|1242000|year=1935}}.<ref name="tcm"/>

===Casting===
The lead role was originally offered to [[Robert Donat]], who had starred in the successful 1934 film ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film)|The Count of Monte Cristo]]''.<ref name="slant"/> The asthmatic Donat turned down the role, concerned that the action sequences would be too strenuous for him.<ref name="thomas-67">Thomas 1983, p. 67.</ref> A series of screen tests with various actors led to Flynn, an unknown Australian actor. In January 1935, Warner Bros. signed Flynn and brought him to Hollywood after seeing him in the British B picture ''[[Murder at Monte Carlo]]''.<ref name="thomas-67"/> For the female lead role, [[Jean Muir (actress)|Jean Muir]] was originally chosen to play opposite Donat, but after Muir declined the role, the studio focused on the 19-year-old de Havilland, who had starred in three previous films that same year, including ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' for director [[Max Reinhardt]].<ref name="thomas-67"/>

===Filming locations===
Most of the film was shot on a sound stage in the summer of 1935. Some exterior scenes, such as the sword fight between Rathbone and Flynn on a Caribbean shore, were shot at [[Laguna Beach, California]]. The final battle sequence between Blood's pirate crew and the French ships employed one of the largest technical crews assembled for a film, requiring 2,500 extras.<ref name="tcm"/>

During filming, Flynn collapsed from a bout of [[malaria]] that he had contracted in [[New Guinea]].