The Sea Hawk (1924 movie)

1924 film by Frank Lloyd

The Sea Hawk is a 1924 silent drama movie that was produced and directed by Frank Lloyd. It was released on June 14, 1924 in North America. The movie is based on the book The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini.

Sea Hawk lobby card

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The movie is based on The Sea Hawk, a novel by Rafael Sabatini. It premiered on June 2, 1924, in New York City. Its theatrical debut occurred twelve days later. A movie with the same title (but an entirely different story) was made in 1940. It stars Errol Flynn. The studio spliced some key battle scenes from the 1924 movie into the remake. The life-sized replicas were considered so well recreated, that Warner Bros repeatedly used them in later nautical films. The full-sized ship replicas cost the studio $200,000. The ocean scenes were shot off the coast of California's Catalina Island, with 150 tents set up on the island for housing and support of the movie's 1,000 extras, 21 technicians, 14 actors, and 64 sailors.

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At the instigation of his half brother Lionel (Lloyd Hughes), Oliver Tressilian (Milton Sills), a rich baronet, is shanghaied and blamed for the death of Peter Godolphin (Wallace MacDonald), brother of Oliver's fiancée, whom Lionel actually has slain. At sea Oliver is captured by Spaniards and made a galley slave, but when he escapes to the Moors he becomes Sakr-el-Bahr, the scourge of Christendom. Learning of Rosamund's (Enid Bennett) impending marriage to his half brother, he kidnaps both of them, but to avoid the risk of giving her to Asad-ed-Din (Frank Currier), the Basha of Algiers, he surrenders to a British ship. Rosamund intercedes to save his life, and following the death of Lionel they are married.

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