88% (2) The Sea Hawk 127 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, History, Romance] [Michael Curtiz] [31 Aug 1940]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Actors: Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Errol Flynn
Writer: Howard Koch (screen play), Seton I. Miller (screen play)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Geoffrey Thorpe is an adventurous and dashing pirate, who feels that he should pirate the Spanish ships for the good of England. In one such battle, he overtakes a Spanish ship and when he comes aboard he finds Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal. He is overwhelmed by her beauty, but she will have nothing to do with him because of his pirating ways (which include taking her prized jewels). To show his noble side, he suprises her by returning the jewels, and she begins to fall for him. When the ship reaches England, Queen Elizabeth is outraged at the actions of Thorpe and demands that he quit pirating. Because he cannot do this, Thorpe is sent on a mission and in the process becomes a prisoner of the Spaniards. Meanwhile, Dona Maria pines for Thorpe and when he escapes he returns to England to uncover some deadly secrets. Exciting duels follow as Thorpe must expose the evil and win Dona Maria's heart.
Rotten Tomatoes: In the 1580s, the Sea Hawks -- the name given to the bold privateers who prowl the oceans taking ships and treasure on behalf the British crown -- are the most dedicated defenders of British interests in the face of the expanding power of Philip of Spain. And Captain Geoffrey Thorpe (Errol Flynn) is the boldest of the Sea Hawks, responsible for capturing and destroying more than 50 Spanish ships and ten Spanish cities. His capture of a Spanish galleon, however, leads to more than he bargained for, in a romance with the ambassador's niece (Brenda Marshall) and the first whiff of a plan to put Spanish spies into the court of Elizabeth I (Flora Robson). Thorpe's boldness leads him to a daring raid on a treasure caravan in Panama which, thanks to treachery within Elizabeth's court, gets him captured and, with his crew, sentenced to the life of a slave aboard a Spanish ship. Meanwhile, Philip of Spain decides to wipe the threat posed by Elizabeth's independence from the sea by conquering the island nation with his armada. Thorpe, though chained to an oar, knows who the traitor at court is and plans to expose him and Philip's plans, but can he and his men break their bonds and get back to England alive in time to thwart the plans for conquest? The Sea Hawk was the last and most mature of Flynn's swashbuckling adventure films, played with brilliant stylistic flourishes by the star at his most charismatic, and most serious and studied when working with Flora Robson, whom he apparently genuinely respected. Boasting the handsomest, most opulent production values of a Warner Bros. period film to date, The Sea Hawk was made possible in part by a huge new floodable soundstage. Another highlight was the best adventure film score ever written by Erich Wolfgang Korngold; and the script's seriousness was nailed down by various not-so-veiled references not to 16th century Spain but 20th century Nazi Germany. The movie was cut by over 20 minutes for a reissue with The Sea Wolf, and the complete version was lost until a preservation-quality source was found at the British Film Institute. Since then, that 128-minute version -- which actually contains a one-minute patriotic speech by Robson as Elizabeth that was originally left out of U.S. prints, as well as amber tinting in all of the Panamanian sequences -- has become standard.
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69% (1) The Constant Nymph 112 min, Not Rated, [Drama, Music, Romance] [Edmund Goulding] [10 Jul 1943]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine
Writer: Kathryn Scola (screenplay), Margaret Kennedy (novel), Basil Dean (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Fourteen-year-old Tessa is hopelessly in love with handsome composer Lewis Dodd, a family friend. Lewis adores Tessa, but has never shown any romantic feelings toward her. When Tessa's father dies, Lewis contacts her late mother's wealthy family so they'll take care of Tessa and her sisters. Lewis becomes taken with Tessa's haughty cousin Florence and the two soon marry and head off for Florence's estate in England. Meanwhile, Florence sends Tessa and her sister Paula off to finishing school. The girls run away from school and Tessa moves in with Florence and Louis. Florence soon becomes consumed with jealousy over the bond between her husband and Tessa.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this filmization of Margaret Dean's novel, a self-centered European musician is idolized by a young Belgian girl with a serious heart condition. Though he is fond of the girl, the composer opts for a wealthy marriage to her socialite cousin -- and lives to regret the move.
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67% (1) Whispering Smith 88 min, PASSED, [Western] [Leslie Fenton] [09 Dec 1948]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 nomination.
Actors: Alan Ladd, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp, Robert Preston
Writer: Frank Butler (screenplay), Karl Kamb (screenplay), Frank H. Spearman (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Smith as an iron-willed railroad detective. When his friend Murray is fired from the railroad and begins helping Rebstock wreck trains, Smith must go after him. He also seems to have an interest in Murray's wife (and vice versa).
Rotten Tomatoes: This fact -based western follows a soft-spoken railroad detective (Alan Ladd) as he brings a murderous ring of robbers to justice and rekindles an old flame.
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65% (1) Captains of the Clouds 114 min, APPROVED, [Action, Drama, War] [Michael Curtiz] [21 Feb 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 65%, External Reviews
Actors: Alan Hale, Brenda Marshall, Dennis Morgan, James Cagney
Writer: Arthur T. Horman (story), Roland Gillett (story), Arthur T. Horman (screenplay), Richard Macaulay (screenplay), Norman Reilly Raine (screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Brian McLean is a ruthless bush-pilot in Canada. He offers some other pilots an opportunity of earning a lot of money, but he marries the girl-friend of one of them. After listening to Churchill's famous "Blood, Sweat and tears" radio address he and some other pilots decide to join the RCAF - and his superior is always the pilot who's girlfriend he has married. Due to this and the fact, that McLean doesn't like to obey he gets troubles.
Rotten Tomatoes: James Cagney plays an independent Canadian bush pilot who attempts service in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW II but cannot bend to military ways. Soon, however, he proves his ability as a civilian.
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64% (1) Background to Danger 80 min, APPROVED, [Drama, Thriller, War] [Raoul Walsh] [03 Jul 1943]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 64%, External Reviews
Actors: Brenda Marshall, George Raft, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet
Writer: W.R. Burnett (screenplay), Eric Ambler (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, German, Turkish, French Country: USA
Plot: Ankara in neutral Turkey : World War Two. A town of intrigue and of provocateurs. The Germans are planning to leak maps apparently proving that the Russians are about to invade the country. American Joe Barton is in the know and in the middle, along with Zaloshoff and his sister who may or may not be Russians. What is clear though is that odious Colonel Robinson is a full-blown Nazi.
Rotten Tomatoes: Eric Ambler's intriguing novel Uncommon Danger is brought down to a Republic serial level in Warner Bros.' Background to Danger. George Raft, who always seems miscast, plays an American undercover intelligence agent operating in Turkey. Sultry Osa Massen passes on some valuable secret papers to Raft just before she is killed. Our Hero then finds himself at the mercy of enemy agent Sidney Greenstreet, who knows that the papers contain Nazi plans to invade Turkey. Despite several brutal beatings, Raft and his cohorts Peter Lorre (a good guy for a change) and Brenda Marshall turn the tables on Greenstreet. Background to Danger was the first of many Warner Bros. follow-ups to the studio's megahit Casablanca; it's also the film wherein the prankish Peter Lorre stole George Raft's hat between takes--an affront that rankled the touchy Raft to his dying day. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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