
Swashbuckling, Adventure and Derring Do!
9 videos
Updated 3 days ago
A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, and guile, and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, and idealistic: he rescues damsels in distress, protects the downtrodden, and uses duels to defend his honor or that of a lady or to avenge a comrade.
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Captain Blood - 1935
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsCaptain Blood is a 1935 American black-and-white swashbuckling pirate film from First National Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, produced by Harry Joe Brown and Gordon Hollingshead (with Hal B. Wallis as executive producer), directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, and Ross Alexander. With a screenplay by Casey Robinson, the film is based on the 1922 novel Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini and concerns an imprisoned doctor and his fellow prisoners who escape their cruel island captivity to become West Indies pirates.29 views -
Wuthering Heights - 1939
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsWuthering Heights is a 1939 American gothic romantic period drama film directed by William Wyler, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven, and based on the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only 16 of the novel's 34 chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston (uncredited). The supporting cast features Flora Robson and Geraldine Fitzgerald.47 views -
The Thief of Bagdad - 1940
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsThe Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British Technicolor historical fantasy film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan, with additional contributions by William Cameron Menzies (who had designed sets for the original 1924 version starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr) and Korda brothers Vincent and Zoltán. The film stars Indian-born teen actor Sabu, Conrad Veidt, John Justin, and June Duprez. It was released in the US and the UK by United Artists. Although produced by Alexander Korda's company London Films in London, the film was completed in California due to the outbreak of World War II.22 views -
Ivanhoe - 1952
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsIvanhoe is a 1952 epic historical adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was shot in Technicolor, with a cast featuring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie, Felix Aylmer, and Sebastian Cabot. The screenplay is written by Aeneas MacKenzie, Marguerite Roberts, and Noel Langley, based on the 1819 historical novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.51 views -
The Sea Hawk - 1940
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsThe Sea Hawk is a 1940 American adventure film from Warner Bros. that stars Errol Flynn as an English privateer who defends his nation's interests on the eve of the launch of the Spanish Armada. The film was the tenth collaboration between Flynn and director Michael Curtiz. Its screenplay was written by Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller. The rousing musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold is recognized as a high point in his career.137 views -
Moonfleet - 1955
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsMoonfleet is a 1955 Eastman Color swashbuckler film shot in CinemaScope directed by Fritz Lang. It was inspired by the 1898 novel Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner, although significant alterations were made in the characters and plot. A gothic melodrama set in England during the 18th century, the film is about John Mohune, a young orphan (Jon Whiteley), who is sent to the Dorset village of Moonfleet to stay with his mother's former lover, Jeremy Fox. Fox (Stewart Granger), is a morally ambiguous character, an elegant gentleman intimately involved with smugglers. On the run from the law, Mohune and Fox must decipher a coded message in their pursuit of a fabulous diamond hidden long ago.58 views -
Captain Kidd - 1945
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsCaptain Kidd is a 1945 American adventure film starring Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott and Barbara Britton It was directed by Rowland V. Lee, his last before he retired, and produced by Benedict Bogeaus and James Nasser. The music was conducted by Werner Janssen. In 1699, pirate William Kidd loots and destroys the English galleon The Twelve Apostles near Madagascar. He and his confederates bury the stolen treasure on a remote island.75 views -
King Solomon's Mines - 1937
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsKing Solomon's Mines is a 1937 British adventure film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Anna Lee, John Loder and Roland Young. A film adaptation of the 1885 novel of the same name by Henry Rider Haggard, the film was produced by the Gaumont British Picture Corporation at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush. Sets were designed by art director Alfred Junge. Of all the novel's adaptations, this film is considered to be the most faithful to the book.84 views -
The Adventures of Robin Hood - 1938
CCult Classics Cinema &TV ClassicsThe Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 American epic swashbuckler film from Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis and Henry Blanke, directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, and written by Norman Reilly Raine and Seton I. Miller. It stars Errol Flynn as the legendary Saxon knight Robin Hood, who in Richard I's absence in the Holy Land during the Crusades, fights back as the outlaw leader of a rebel guerrilla band against Prince John and the Norman lords oppressing the Saxon commoners. The cast also includes Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Patric Knowles, Eugene Pallette, and Alan Hale.109 views