My interest this past week in period movie sword fights–we didn’t venture any further than 1940– was triggered (yes, I said triggered) by TCM’s showing of “Captain Blood” last weekend. So it’s only befitting that we end with he sword fight that kicked off this madness to begin with. Once again its Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, this time on the sandy beaches of Malibu, with  the Warner Brothers Orchestra (otherwise known as ‘Erich Wolfgang Korngold and His Swashbuckling SugarDaddies’) cheering them on. I highly recommend a viewing of ‘Captain Blood’–it’s not just ridiculously entertaining but also a window on what was state-of-the-art filmmaking in mid-thirties Hollywood. The film uses every piece of then-available technology–mattes, rear porjection, large scale minature ships (up to 18 feet apparently), a sound stage that could be flooded, stunt doubles, even some stock footage from the silent version of ‘The Sea Hawk’, as well as very expensive and elaborate score–to weave together the beautiful script by Casey Robinson. It’s admirably fast-paced as all Warner Brothers films of the period were. And it made stars out of its two leads–Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland. Apparently Curtiz was ordered to re-take their early scenes as neither was yet comfortable with their characters and a certain stiffness pervaded the atmosphere. This is almost unimaginable given the magnetic vibe between the two stars in this and subsequent films and shows the canniness of the studio system in knowing how to create and refine star’s images. Meanwhile, the producer Hal Wallis badgered director Michael Curtiz throughout the filming, complaining that he shot too much film, moved the camera too much and disregarded instructions to have Flynn dressed in less dandy-ish more raggedy costumes. Of course Curtiz ignored him and every one of those things helped give the picture its pace, dash and quality. Some things never change, at least in filmmaking…