The first version of Rafael Sabatini's novel, memorably filmed by Errol Flynn in 1940. I've never read the book but apparently this version is a lot more faithful. The hero is still an established buccaneer/kind-of pirate, beloved by Queen Elizabeth I; he is still betrayed and winds up a galley slave on a Spanish ship, then escapes and triumphs... but this time the baddies aren't really the Spaniards. I mean they kind of are but the real baddy is the pirate's brother who has him conked on the head and shanghaied so the brother won't get blamed for a murder. He is about to be released by the shanghaiing pirate (Wallace Beery) but they're captured by Spaniards who put them to work on the galleys - then he's rescued by some Moorish pirates and the Sea Hawk rises to become the number one Moorish pirate. Then he kidnaps his old girlfriend and the brother, then they are attacked in turn by a British ship...
Anyway it gets complicated. The the brother is bad but he redeems himself swimming to warn the British ship so as to rescue the girl friend. The head Arab pirate has a half son I think he was who is a lazy lounge lizard jealous of the Sea Hawk - he's kind of bad. Bu the film is reasonably sympathetic to Muslim culture - they're shown to be brave, good fighters, and have honor. Yes they indulge in the slave trade but a point is made that so too do the Spanish.
Milton Sills played the lead role - I'd never heard of him, apparently he was a matinee idol back in the day. He's not very good - a bit blah. Lloyd Hughes makes more of an impression as Sills' wastrel brother - young and dashing, far more charismatic than he'd be in those two Aussie films he made for Ken G Hall in the 1930s.
The female lead is whatever - she's played by Enid Bennett, who is an Aussie, one of the first Aussies in Hollywood to have real success (she did it in part by marriage to Fred Niblo, who she met when the latter was acting on stage out here).
There is some silent film era over acting and impressive spectacle. It lacks the political power of the 1940 film (which could, now that I think about it, act as a prequel to this version). Some great fight scenes and production value. It runs for two hours but doesn't overly drag once Stills gets conked on the head and taken out to sea (up to then it's a slog).
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