Korngold was required to compose more than an hour of symphonic music in only three weeks. The short time frame forced him to borrow portions of symphonic poems by Franz Liszt, which constituted approximately ten percent of the score. As such, Korngold was unwilling to take credit for the entire film score, insisting instead that his credit be for "musical arrangement" only.

Captain Blood became an immediate hit, with an Oscar nomination for the score. As Korngold's first fully symphonic film score, it marked a milestone in his career, as he became the first composer of international stature to sign a contract with a film studio. It also launched Flynn's film career and gave a major boost to that of de Havilland, who would appear in another seven features with Flynn. Korngold would score six more starring Flynn. and was released in the United States on December 28, 1935.

Home media

Long available on VHS and DVD, The Criterion Collection is set to release the film in Ultra HD Blu-ray and the high-definition Blu-ray for the first time on January 20, 2026.

Reception

Box office

The film was a box-office success, According to Warner Bros., it earned $1,357,000 domestically and $1,733,000 overseas. However, Variety's review cited weaknesses in the storyline:

Despite also finding flaws in the "scripting" of Captain Blood and in the presentation of some battle sequences, Variety called Flynn's performance "impressive" and predicted that his work in the film would provide him with "future big marquee values."

FilmInk magazine later wrote: "Flynn was lucky – not just in being at the right place at the right time with the right lack of competition, but with his collaborators on Captain Blood."

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and, despite not being nominated, Michael Curtiz received the second-highest number of votes for Best Director as a write-in candidate. Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Casey Robinson, also unnominated, received substantially more write-in votes than did most of the official nominees. The film was also write-in nominated in the categories Music (Scoring), Sound Recording, and Writing (Screenplay).

Captain Blood has been recognized by the American Film Institute in these lists:

  • 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated
  • 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
  • Peter Blood – Nominated Hero
  • 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated

Radio adaptation

Captain Blood was adapted as a radio play on the February 22, 1937 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Flynn, de Havilland and Rathbone reprising their film parts. The radio version is included among the special features of the 2005 DVD version.

Cultural references

A clip of the film was used in the 1985 film The Goonies.

References

Bibliography

  • Captain Blood on Lux Radio Theater: February 22, 1937
  • Captain Blood at Virtual History