Captain Blood

Captain Blood (1935) is a Warner Bros. adventure directed by Michael Curtiz — watch it online on iFILM. Dr. Peter Blood treats a wounded rebel and gets sentenced to slavery on a Jamaican plantation for his trouble. He didn't choose a side. The court chose one for him.

Errol Flynn plays Blood as a man who adapts fast and holds grudges longer. On Jamaica he earns the permanent enmity of Governor Bishop (Lionel Atwill) and the quieter attention of the Governor's niece Arabella (Olivia de Havilland). When Spanish raiders hit the island, Blood and a handful of prisoners seize their chance — and a ship. The Caribbean opens up.

This was the first pairing of Flynn and de Havilland, who went on to make seven films together; the dynamic between them was evident from their first shared frame. Curtiz staged the naval battles on a scale that genuinely surprised 1935 audiences, and the film picked up a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. Adventure films got quieter and more self-aware in the decades after this one. Captain Blood did not have that problem. Stream it online on iFILM.