Captain Blood

press release:

SUN., 12/18, 2 p.m. CAPTAIN BLOOD: USA | 1935 | 35mm | 119 min.

Director: Michael Curtiz; Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone

In his first swashbuckling adventure, Flynn is 17th century Irish Doctor Peter Flood, who is sentenced to death by King James II’s court for tending to an injured rebel. He escapes and becomes captain of a pirate ship, only to come to England’s aid against the French navy. The action highlight is the dazzling swordfight between Flynn and Rathbone. This was the first of de Havilland’s many pairings with Flynn and the rousing score is by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: Kirk Douglas and Olivia de Havilland at 100!

For our Fall 2016 Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art, we will salute two legendary actors who turn 100 years-old in 2016. A force in Hollywood for over four decades, Olivia de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) distinguished herself as a contract player at Warner Bros. during the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing as leading lady to Errol Flynn in several action spectaculars like Captain Blood. Later on at Paramount Studios, she won two Oscars for The Heiress and To Each His Own. A supporting player in a handful of late '40s features, Kirk Douglas quickly rose to the ranks of leading man and practically invented the notion of the anti-hero in such Hollywood features as Champion and Ace in the Hole. Later, Douglas formed his own powerful production company, Bryna, and appeared in some of the best-remembered films of the '50s and '60s, like Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, The Vikings and Lonely are the Brave. Douglas 100th birthday will be observed in our regular venue, 4070 Vilas Hall, on December 11 with a newly restored version of the Douglas/Kubrick classic Spartacus.