O Gavião do Mar

A brave English knight, betrayed by his brother, kidnapped by pirates, and captured by Spaniards, takes up a new identity under the Moors as 'Sakr-el-Bahr,' -the Sea Hawk - to become the scourge & terror of the Spanish navy near Gibraltar.

Although sadly neglected for years, this is a splendid swashbuckler, full of action & romance, which should please the fans of silent cinema adventure. Much more faithful to Rafael Sabatini's original novel than the Errol Flynn 1940 version, this is a film which can stand on its own worthy merits. Given excellent production values by First National, the rousing sea battle sequences are especially worthy of mention. Using full scale ships, they possess an aura of authenticity not possible with models. Indeed, some of these nautical scenes were extracted for years for use in other films.

Milton Sills gives a grand performance as the hero. Although lacking in bravura athletic skills, he becomes almost Fairbankian by the film's conclusion. (He even resembles Fairbanks in the shipboard scenes, surely no mere accident.) Appearing in movies since 1914, this was the film which made Sills a major star, and he would be given other popular, courageous roles before his career - and life - were ended by a heart attack in 1930, at the age of 48. Although he had appeared in 85 films, Milton Sills is all but forgotten today.

Beefy Wallace Beery, blustering & bullying as usual, steals all his scenes as a pirate captain who becomes Sills' toady. Enid Bennett is beautiful as the young Cornish woman beloved by the Sea Hawk. Lloyd Hughes gives a good performance as Sills' faithless half-brother. Wallace MacDonald is the very picture of a violent young bully. Lionel Belmore appears briefly as a friendly magistrate. Elderly Frank Currier & young William Collier Jr. both do well in roles that exude Moorish duplicity. Quick eyed movie mavens may spot George O'Brien as a galley slave.

Although the film has been tinted & toned, notice the nice extra touch during the 3 shots of the Basha's nighttime visit to the Sea Hawk, in which the flickering torches have been hand colored a theatric yellow.

Composer Robert Israel has given the film's restored print a very fine organ score which interpolates familiar melodies from as far afield as Gilbert & Sullivan.

Frank Lloyd was definitely the director of sea adventure films. Definitely, entirely, absolutely. And I am sure there are many other gems that are forever lost, silent gems of course. But this one was at least saved, so let's take advantage of it...It is not below nor bettter than the Michael Curtiz's remake starring Errol Flynn, in terms of production design, budget, I mean. Not at all, and the technical elements were not the same either.... Let's consider this please. For me Frank Lloyd would deserve a total research of his filmography, despite the fact that the bulk of it is lost. Back to this one, of coourse the action sequences are jaw dropping, for this period of time: the 1920's...A must see.

All right, I want to add a few things. First of all there are 2 films, not 2 film versions. The 1924 silent version adheres to the book, which I bought and read many years ago. I see that some battles scenes were lifted from this version. For a silent film it is very good. The 1940 version is very good as well. It's political sea drama between England and Spain. There is a galley and escape scene. There are sea battles with sound (which would not be hard updating the silent film.

I believe that Raphael Sabatini's version deserves to be remade. If you read Captain Blood, it reads like a film. The book The Seahawk is a great read. Check it out for yourself.

Well you don't get much chance to draw breath for the first fifteen minutes of Frank Lloyd's silent interpretation of this exciting seafaring story. "Sir Oliver" (Milton Sills) is sitting by the fireside of his manor house dreaming of his fiancée "Lady Rosamund" (Enid Bennett) when the wheels start to come off his well ordered life. He finds himself wrongly blamed for killing "Godolphin" (Wallace MacDonald) who happens to be her brother and who has actually been bumped off by "Lionel" (Lloyd Hughes) who happens to be the half brother of the poor soul who's now in a lot of trouble! Fleeing seems like the order of the day, but that is just a frying pan to fire exercise as he is captured by the Spaniards and put to the oars of a galley. He's quite a wily fellow, makes some friends amongst the shackled and manages to escape. Once free, he does his own "Count of Monte Cristo" impersonation, becoming "Sakr-el-Bahr" and scaring the wits out of the other seafarers using the high seas to trade. Meantime, a dejected "Rosamund" is facing the prospect of a marriage to the treacherous "Lionel" and when news of their impending nuptials reaches a certain Morrish stronghold, "Sir Oliver" sets off to kidnap the pair. Thing is, she is a beauty and she turns the head of the ageing but clearly still up for it Basha (Frank Currier) so now they must make other arrangements before she heads to his harem... Can they manage to reconcile, deal with their duplicitous relative and make it back to home and hearth in Blighty in one piece? It's a quickly paced and lively swashbuckler this, with some seriously impressive maritime combat scenes with life-sized ships and an astonishing degree of attention to detail amongst the costumes, action and the settings. Sills looks like he's enjoying himself - especially when he gets into his Arab garb and starts a-pirating, and Bennett and the engaging Wallace Beery contribute strongly too. It's a good adventure film, and though there is romance at times it doesn't ever bog down the plot and, indeed, "Lady Rosamund" is just as formidable a character as any of the men.

Long thought lost or incomplete the Sea Hawk survives much the way i was seen in 1924. A long costume film about pirates it was directed by the dependable Frank Lloyd and stars Milton Sills. My only complaint with the DVD is that the film has been bathed in re-tint & re-tone. The color at times can be so rich one can't see details in the film. I'd much rather have seen the movie in pure black & white. At times this movie can remind one of Ben-Hur released a year later, especially in the at-sea sequences. As far as the filmmaking, everything is top notch but it is still 1924. That camera will not move but the pictorial capture is beautiful. Lloyd is dependable and like many Hollywood directors he won't give anything more than dependability. Kind of like Harry Beaumont directing Beau Brummel that same year. Lloyd, at least at this time, won't think of panning the camera or a deep soft focus as would King Vidor or Alan Crosland. But what he gives us is exquisite & exciting. I was glad to finally see this film after so many years. dir. Frank Lloyd, First National.