Awards & Honors

The Sea Hawk was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Art Direction (Anton Grot), Special Effects (Byron Haskin, photography; Nathan Levinson, sound), Music Score (Erich Wolfgang Korngold), Sound Recording (Nathan Levinson)

The Critics' Corner: THE SEA HAWK

"The Sea Hawk retains all the bold and swashbuckling adventure and excitement of its predecessor...but the screenplay of the new version is expanded to include endless episodes of court intrigue...that tend to diminish the effect of the epic sweep of the high seas dramatics."
– Variety, July 24, 1940

"Of course, [the film] is all historically cockeyed, and the amazing exploits of Mr. Flynn, accomplished by him in the most casual and expressionless manner, are quite as incredible as the adventures of Dick Tracy. But Flora Robson makes an interesting Queen Elizabeth, Claude Rains and Henry Daniell play a couple of villainous conspirators handsomely, there is a lot of brocaded scenery and rich Elizabethan costumes and, of course, there is Brenda Marshall to shed a bit of romantic light. And, when you come right down to it, that's about all one can expect in an overdressed 'spectacle' film which derives much more from the sword than from the pen."
– Bosley Crowther, New York Times, August 10, 1940

"The Sea Hawk is 1940's lustiest assault on the double feature. It cost $1,700,000, exhibits Errol Flynn and 3,000 other cinemactors performing every imaginable feat of spectacular derring-do, and lasts two hours and seven minutes....Produced by Warner's Hal Wallis with a splendor that would set parsimonious Queen Bess's teeth on edge, constructed of the most tried-&-true cinema materials available, The Sea Hawk is a handsome, shipshape picture. To Irish [sic] Cinemactor Errol Flynn, it gives the best swashbuckling role he has had since Captain Blood [1935]. For Hungarian Director Michael Curtiz, who took Flynn from bit-player ranks to make Captain Blood and has made nine pictures with him since, it should prove a high point in their profitable relationship."
- Time, August 19, 1940

"To this day it remains one of the most completely satisfying products to emerge from the Hollywood dream factory."
– Jeffrey Richards, Swordsmen of the Screen: From Douglas Fairbanks to Michael York

"A rousing swashbuckler ... The Spanish talk peculiar slang, considering that the year is 1585, but Flora Robson's Queen Elizabeth is a vigorous shrewdie."
– Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Moviesbr>
"As good an old-time adventure as you'll find. ... [Flynn] proves he's an excellent movie actor. ... [Flora Robson's] verbal battles with Daniell, her untrustworthy minister, and Rains, a sneaky, shrewd Spanish ambassador, are as exciting as the physical warfare Flynn engages in on the high seas."
– Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic (Simon & Schuster, 1986)

"Warners lavished a then-staggering $1.7 million on The Sea Hawk, with gorgeous results. The 31-year-old Flynn, at the peak of his spectacular career, is magnificent in his swashbuckling role; Marshall was never more radiant; Rains is deliciously evil; and Robson makes a wonderfully witty and intelligent Elizabeth."
– TV Guide

"People who don't like black and white should always see The Sea Hawk."
– TCM's Robert Osborne, commentary on DVD special features

by Rob Nixon