Captain Blood (1935 film) was $1,242,000. The lead role was originally offered to Robert Donat, who had starred in the successful 1934 film "The Count of Monte Cristo". The asthmatic Donat turned down the role, concerned that the action sequences would be too strenuous for him. A series of screen tests with various actors led to an unknown Australian actor named Errol Flynn. In January 1935, Warner Bros. signed the young actor and brought him to Hollywood after seeing him in a British B picture "Murder at Monte Carlo". For the female lead role, Jean Muir was originally picked to play opposite Donat, but
Captain Blood (1935 film) captured by Blood's treacherous partner, the French buccaneer Captain Levasseur (Basil Rathbone), who plans to hold them for ransom. Blood forces Levasseur to sell them to him, while relishing the opportunity to turn the tables on Arabella. When Levasseur vehemently objects, Blood is forced to kill him in a duel. Blood offers Arabella valuable jewelry from his conquests as a sign of his love for her. Ungrateful for her "rescue", Arabella is indignant at having been purchased by Blood, and calls him thief and pirate. Although angered by her rejection, he orders his men to set sail for Port Royal