This Friday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. And what better way to celebrate than reviewing Captain Blood, one of the best pirate movies ever made!
In 1685, the Duke of Monmouth has started a rebellion against King James II, and countless young men have followed Monmouth's banner. However, Dr. Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is not among them, having had enough of war and wanting nothing more than to save lives as a doctor instead of taking them. The rebellion is swiftly and brutally crushed, and Dr. Blood is summoned by young Jeremy Pitt (Ross Alexander) to save the life of a wounded rebel, who happens to be friends with Blood. Unfortunately for Blood, he finds himself arrested for aiding a rebel and convicted by a kangaroo court as part of the Bloody Assizes. Blood and Pitt, along with numerous other rebels, are given a stay of execution of a sorts when King James orders them sold into slavery instead. Shipped off to Barbados, many of Blood's fellow prisoners are bought by the brutal Colonel Bishop (Lionel Atwill). Blood himself is bought by his niece Arabella (Olivia de Havilland) to save him from being sent to a sulfur mine - which would have been a guaranteed death sentence.