The classic Rafael Sabatini swashbuckling novel Captain Blood is making its way to the big screen through the hand of screenwriter John Brownlow (Sylvia). The novel has been adapted to the screen a few times over the years, most notably in the Michael Curtiz directed 1935 film, which ended up being nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture. Still, like most adventure adaptations of the time, it took quite a few liberties and veered a ways from the source material.
I picked this up last year, after being in the mood for more swashbuckling after reading the mighty fine Captain from Castile (another novel I’d love to see adapted again), and it was a fantastic romantic story of adventure. They don’t make nearly enough quality adult adventure films nowadays and I’d love to see that change.
The novel follows an Irish doctor named Peter Blood who is wrongly convicted of treason and forced to become a slave in the Caribbean. After spending time on a plantation, he finally gets the chance to escape, where he turns to a life of piracy – but a pirate unlike no other seen before, a honorable idealist and a romantic at heart.
“The love that is never to be realized will often remain a man’s guiding ideal.”
Source: Variety
