--- title: "Captain Blood: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/captain-blood/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/captain-blood" critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Captain Blood (1935): what the critics said Critics' score 78 from 7 reviews: 6 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics like Captain Blood, and the praise clusters around Errol Flynn. Six of the seven reviews call the film a success, and nearly all of them credit Flynn’s first leading role for it: his swagger, his physicality, his ease with a joke. The notices from 1935 predict it will make stars of Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, and the later ones, writing with hindsight, agree that it did and single out the heat between the two of them. Michael Curtiz’s direction and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s symphonic score come up repeatedly as the other reasons the film still plays. The reservations are about pace and padding. Several critics find it talky, with too much exposition and supporting characters sketched rather than drawn, and one recent review admits it feels long and creaky now. The spread is narrow apart from a single outlier: The New Yorker, reviewing on release, finds it overdressed and thinks Flynn too gentle for the Caribbean brutalities. ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 December 1935. The review praises the visual beauty and fine, swaggering arrogance of the film version, noting that it recaptures the air of high romantic adventure essential to the tale, with Errol Flynn playing the genteel buccaneer to the hilt. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1935/12/27/archives/a-newcomer-named-errol-flynn-in-a-handsome-film-version-of-captain.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1934. The critic calls it a big, lavish swashbuckling spectacle that will establish Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland as stars. Director Michael Curtiz is praised for not sparing the horses in this saga of the Spanish main. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1934/film/reviews/captain-blood-1200411083/) ## Radio Times — Tony Sloman Rating 4/5. The critic calls it a marvellous swashbuckling adventure starring Errol Flynn as the doctor-turned-pirate Peter Blood under Michael Curtiz's direction. Flynn's devil-may-care screen presence makes the film important as his first leading role, even if it feels a little long and creaky today. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-zvcs74/captain-blood/) ## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 14 January 2026. The critic finds the swashbuckler enjoyable thanks to Errol Flynn's star-making turn as the witty pirate Peter Blood, though it suffers from excessive exposition and underdeveloped supporting characters. The review singles out Flynn's buoyant physicality and charm for particular praise while noting the film's playful critique of British monarchy. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/captain-blood-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-michael-curtiz/) ## The New Yorker — John C. Mosher Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 21 December 1935. The critic finds the film talky and rather overdressed, noting that it will not take the honors from Mutiny on the Bounty. Errol Flynn seems too gentle for the Caribbean brutalities. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1935/12/28/1935-12-28-057-tny-cards-000017536) ## Paste Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 September 2024. The critic calls Captain Blood a quintessential swashbuckler that hits all the high points of the pirate genre. They single out the palpable vitality and heat between Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, along with the majestic Oscar-nominated score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/pirates/best-pirate-movies) ## Den of Geek — Tony Sokol Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 27 September 2023. The critic praises Captain Blood as the definitive pirate movie and the film that made Errol Flynn a star. It highlights the first Flynn-de Havilland pairing, Basil Rathbone's role, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's pioneering symphonic score. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/michael-curtiz-best-movies-ranked/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/captain-blood.md