Perhaps the quintessential pirate flick, 1935’s Captain Blood opens in England circa 1685. We learn that a battle rages over a controversy related to the possessor of the throne, as King James (Vernon Steele) resides there, but rebels fight against his reign.

Although Dr. Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) sits out the war, the king’s minions arrest him when he tries to heal a rebel. Blood ends up sold into slavery in the Caribbean, where he falls in love with aristocratic Arabella (Olivia de Havilland) and eventually pursues revenge as the pirate known as “Captain Blood”.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of Blood stems from Flynn’s terrific performance as the lead. Rather than create a dull, simplistic hero, he makes Blood a surprisingly three-dimensional personality.

Flynn handles the character’s various sides with aplomb, as he demonstrates charm and lightness when necessary and also evokes Blood’s grim determination and ethics at the right times. Flynn brings out a nice honest performance that lacks the expected hamminess.

Blood also prospers during many of its action sequences. Modern audiences can find this sort of material tough to take when seen in old flicks simply because we’re accustomed to a certain level of technical slickness.

Clearly a movie from 1935 can’t compete with the fabulous effects of a film from 2026. As such, something like Blood runs the risk of looking extremely cheesy.

For the most part, the picture avoids those pitfalls. Yes, many of the boats obviously exist as miniatures, but the technical crudity doesn’t impair our enjoyment of the scenes.

The film’s climax presents a truly memorable and impressive battle. It could scarcely fare better even with the best production values available today.

Unfortunately, sequences such as that become rare in Blood, and that highlights the movie’s main problem. This turns into an extremely chatty flick, and we don’t often get to see the characters in action.

We usually encounter the participants before or after their activities. This means that Blood and his men talk about their battles and plundering but we rarely actually observe these actions.

That factor makes Blood slow-going at times. Yeah, it includes enough visceral sequences to ensure we don’t fall asleep.

However, the abundance of dialogue and the relative paucity of action causes the flick to drag. These are pirates, for God’s sake - don’t they do anything than yammer?

Even with these problems, I still like Captain Blood. When action occurs, it succeeds, and enough of the rest of the flick fares well to make it enjoyable.

Captain Blood appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though taken from a second-generation source, the image held up well over the last 90 years.

Sharpness almost always came across nicely. Some images periodically looked a bit fuzzy and soft but the majority of the flick felt pretty concise and well defined.

No real problems with jagged edges or shimmering occurred and I discerned no signs of edge haloes. Light grain appeared and the movie lacked print flaws.

Black levels consistently seemed fine. Contrast was usually clean and distinctive, and low-light shots demonstrated good definition.

Note that the sources used for the scan meant inconsistencies, as some parts of the film looked better than others. For instance, the climactic battle suffered from heavier grain and iffier definition/blacks than most of the rest.

Still, I felt pleased most of the time. While not one of the best visual presentations I’ve seen for a movie from the mid-1930s, this one nonetheless gave us an appealing rendition of the flick.

Captain Blood presented an LPCM monaural soundtrack that seemed adequate for its era. Dialogue remained intelligible but didn’t present much definition and could be a bit brittle. The lines lacked natural tones, but they seemed perfectly adequate for their era.

Effects showed a little distortion but usually sounded reasonably clean and tight. They lacked range but appeared decent across the board.

Music followed suit, as the score was bright and clear but somewhat too bright and harsh. No background noise interfered with the proceedings. Overall, the audio remained appropriate given the movie’s age.

How did the Criterion Blu-ray of Captain Blood compare to its circa 2005 DVD? Though the BD replaced the DVD’s lossy Dolby Digital audio with lossless LPCM, the primitive nature of the source meant no obvious improvements in that regard.

The Criterion Blu-ray marked the movie’s debut in that format. This came as a surprise, as I figured Warner Bros. would’ve trotted it out on BD at some point over the last two decades.

In any case, the 2026 Criterion Blu-ray boasted stronger definition, blacks and contrast than its 2005 predecessor and it also seemed cleaner. This ended up as an obvious upgrade in terms of visuals.

As we head to extras, we get a new audio commentary from film historian Alan K. Rode. He brings a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, cast and crew, various production domains, genre and era connections, and other topics related to these.

From start to finish, Rose delivers a simply terrific commentary. He digs into the various domains with gusto and brings us lots of great information along the way.

Found on the 2005 DVD, Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born fills 23 minutes, two seconds. It offers info from film historian Rudy Behlmer and Robert Osborne, UC-Davis film professor Lincoln D. Hurst, author Bob Thomas, conductor John Mauceri, and sword master/choreographer Tim Weske.

The program covers the climate in Hollywood in the Thirties and the rising prevalence of costume epics, the origins of Blood and its adaptation, casting and the careers of the actors prior to Blood.

We also find notes about director Michael Curtiz, shooting Blood and its performances, sets and locations, sword fights, the score and its composer, and reactions to the film.

Despite its brevity, “Born” packs a good assortment of details connected to the project. It goes over the production well and proves both entertaining and informative.

In addition to the movie’s theatrical trailer, we find a February 22, 1937 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast adaptation of Captain Blood. It lasts 58 minutes, 55 seconds as it features performances from movie castmembers Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone and Henry Stephenson.

To showcase the presence of de Havilland, this adaptation cuts out much of the pirate action and favors the romance between Blood and Arabella. It starts with Blood’s trial and concentrates on sequences between the two leads.

This makes sense, and not just because the producers wanted to maximize de Havilland’s airtime. In addition, the romantic elements cross over to radio better than battles. This program offers a nice addition to the set.

The package finishes with a booklet that involves photos, credits and an essay from critic Farran Smith Nehme. It tops off matters well.

Note that the Criterion Blu-ray loses “Warner Night at the Movies” from the 2005 DVD. Along with an introduction from historian Leonard Maltin, it presented period trailers, newsreels and shorts that might’ve run prior to screenings of Blood. Its absence doesn’t come as a surprise but I miss it.

Captain Blood shows its age and the movie never consistently fires on all cylinders. Nonetheless, it boasts a fine lead performance from Errol Flynn plus just enough action to make it entertaining. The Blu-ray offers pretty good picture and audio for a movie of this one’s age along with an array of bonus features. Quite possibly the most famous pirate flick of all, Blood deserves a look.