MovieChat Forums > The Sea Hawk (1924) Discussion > TCM ERRORS...

TCM ERRORS...

posted 17 years ago by xerses13
4 replies | jump to latest

When shown on TCM Robert Osborne states that footage from this film was grafted on and used in both CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) and THE SEA HAWK (1940). We have seen all three (3) films and cannot detect any footage from THE SEA HAWK (1924) in either of the sound films. The full scale mock-ups and models are of rather specious design and do not resemble 16th century naval design.

Now there was footage taken from some other film and used in the two (2) sound efforts. That is a real (not reel) ship of the line. What film did it come from? We believe it was from a British effort. They were still in existance in the 1920's, such ships in Royal Navy inventory.

[–] gerrythree 15 years ago

The silent version of Captain Blood (1924) seems a likely candidate for some of the sea battle scenes in the Warner Bros. version of Captain Blood. Trouble is, most of the silent film's footage is lost. And who knows if some of the sea action scenes come in part from outtakes of the silent version that Warners somehow obtained, or from some other Hollywood silent filmed off the coast of Catalina Island.

As posted above, there is no way the battle scenes came from the silent The Sea Hawk. The Moorish war ship doesn't look anything like the ships in the later movies. The Sea Hawk's Moorish ship resembles a modified Roman-era craft left over from some prior Hollywood epic, the vessel fixed up with new sails to look the part.

[–] xerses13 15 years ago

gerrythree; Agree with you, the CAPTAIN BLOOD (1924) is the best candidate for the grafted in footage. That or some unkown British epic since they still had such ships in reserve in the 1920s'.

The Moorish ship as you pointed out is clear indication that it has nothing to do with THE SEA HAWK (1940). Osborne needs to get that corrected.

[–] Local Hero 14 years ago

Glad I spotted this thread. I watched The Sea Hawk when it was shown recently on TCM (June, 2010), and Osborne repeated those comments (I'm not sure how much they recycle his old introductions, but I've noticed he often does new ones for repeat showings). Anyway, I was thinking about the alleged re-use of the naval battle footage throughout my viewing and wondering how that could possibly be true.

[–] xerses13 14 years ago

Local Hero; Mr. Osborne just fell into a lazy rut using other peoples sources.