The Son of Captain Blood (1962)
"El hijo del capitán Blood" (original title)

I cannot say that I was expecting much from this belated third sequel to the classic Warner Bros. swashbuckler CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) – which managed to recruit (pardon the pun) both the real-life offspring, Sean, of its late star Errol Flynn and screenwriter Casey Robinson; however, I was still disappointed by the dire results of this international production (distributed in the U.S. by Paramount)! Incidentally, it should be noted that all four films in the series (also comprising the two recently-viewed Louis Hayward vehicles made by Columbia i.e. FORTUNES OF CAPTAIN BLOOD {1950} and CAPTAIN PIRATE {1952}) were produced by Harry Joe Brown since, presumably, he personally owned the rights to the character created by Rafael Sabatini; that said and, in spite of having Italian journeyman director Demicheli at the helm, the film is considered to be a Spanish production, with that language being denoted as its official one on IMDb! For the record, Jean Marais had also assumed the role of the elder Blood for a 1960 French film that was simply called LE CAPITAIN...

In any case, it is inevitable yet futile to compare the son's skills here with those of his more famous (but equally short-lived) father: Sean has little of the charisma and leadership qualities Errol exuded in spades – suffice it to say that he seemed too well-mannered and youthful-looking (even if only 4 years younger than when his father essayed the character's 'old man') to pass muster as a pirate captain! When we first see him, he is already being made to live up to his name – which he obviously revels in; mother (a thoroughly wasted Ann Todd) looks on as he decides to leave his family's plantation and follow in his famous buccaneer father's footsteps in search of adventure on the high seas. He runs into both friends and foes of the original Captain Blood and, of course, romance (given that the ship he happens to board includes a quartet of schoolgirls and their not-so-stern matron).

There are few genuine highlights along the way – though a spat with the chief villain inside the obligatory tavern is quite animated, with stools being liberally thrown about(!) - yet when he gets the obligatory flogging, there is no trace of a fleshwound anywhere on his back(!) - and the unexpected earthquake climax emerges as reasonably impressive for the meager budget afforded it. Among the supporting cast, playing one of the young Blood's closest associates, is "Euro-Cult" regular Fernando Sancho – albeit saddled with an unlikely Irish brogue! In conclusion, I should say a few words about the unappetizing (beside the fact that, it goes without saying, the English dubbing left much to be desired) condition of the "You Tube"-derived copy I watched: not only was the movie divided into 13 parts (at least, I was given a "Play All" option) but it was plagued by extraneous noise running underneath it (including Alanis Morissette's 1995 hit "Head Over Feet"!) for the entire duration!! For the record, two other Sean Flynn action-oriented efforts are available in this manner, namely THE SIGN OF ZORRO (1963; nothing to do with the similarly-titled 1959 compression of the popular Walt Disney TV series) and yet another Umberto Lenzi Indian adventure, TEMPLE OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT (1964), which I would have watched had it not been exclusively a French-dubbed version!