Production
Originally planned as an adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's 1915 novel The Sea Hawk, the film utilized an entirely different story inspired by the exploits of Sir Francis Drake, unlike the 1924 silent film adaptation, which was fairly faithful to Sabatini's plot.
Adaptations of the novel were written by Richard Neville and Delmer Daves before Seton I Miller wrote a basically new story called Beggars of the Sea based on Sir Francis Drake. Sabatini's name was still used in promotional materials however as it was felt it had commercial value. Howard Koch then reworked Miller's script while still keeping the basic structure and story.
The speech the Queen gives at the close of the film was, sub silentio, meant to inspire the viewing British audience, which was already mired in the grip of the Second World War. Suggestions that it was the duty of all free men to defend liberty, and that the world did not belong to any one man (an obvious insinuation of Hitler's wish to conquer Europe) were rousing.
Read more about this topic: The Sea Hawk (1940 film)
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)