I've been watching BBC's The Musketeers, Cutthroat Island, and Jack of All Trades.... :D

Looks like there might be a chance for a gm or player to get inspiration from a 7th sea television show or movie (I am hoping for a Stargate model of a standalone movie that results in a series)

The old Disney version of Zorro can be watched online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVqFbWvDVjw&list=PL150C101BDB5788AE

A perfect blend of action, intrigue and romance!

Obviously not a movie, but the Starz series Black Sails is spectacular.

I'm a little surprised Treasure Planet isn't on the list, but even moreso that no versions of Treasure Island are. Too obvious?

This list should also be linked, so we don't lose track of it:

7th Sea Movie Inspirations List

http://www.alderac.com/7thsea/resources/movies.html

Our GM team makes it a point to watch Princess Bride and Cutthroat Island the week before any convention we run at.

I am also a fan of a terrible indie film called The King's Guard that featured Eric Roberts and Ron Perlman as the bad guys.

 

No list of movies for 7th Sea inspiration is complete without Dangerous Beauty (not to be confused with Dangerous Liasions).

Also not a movie: The Flashing Blade, British dub and conversion into a tv series of te French films Le Chevalier Tempête. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167561/

It's based on Franco-Spanish conflict of the early 17th century, so is quite appropriate

I recently watched The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn.  Great movie and impressive production values for 1940.  I;ve read that the movie is not exactly historically accurate, but it seems like the movie was the direct inspiration for the Elaine/Berek/Sea Dogs plotline.

You got that very right. Now go dig up a copy of "Queen Cristina" with Greta Garbo and you will have the less combative version of Fauner Posen.

Four We Missed:

Captian Blood: One of, if not the most 7th Sea movie ever made.

Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf): Astounding blend of action, horror, intrigue, and Monica Belluci (she even wears a *cough* modified version of the Fate Witch outfit). Montaigne to the core.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl: Yeah, yeah, but it's really a very good send up to the Golden Age pirate movies.

The Musketeer: Sure, Dumas might have rolled in his grave and the film is not great, but veteran Hong Kong stunt guru Hung Yan-yan makes sure the swordplay is outstanding and frenetic. 

Curse of the Black Pearl is good. It won me over and I went in thinking "I am not going to like this movie but my girlfriend loved it." By the time credits rolled I was fiending for another one. It does have moments of high "Disney predictability" but it is all very well done. They made the next two back to back; the second one is decent and the 3rd one is terrible. The most recent one is pretty good, much better than the third but it's hard to capture the magic of the first. I think the first one benefits from the "when's the last time someone made a good pirate movie?" factor; it can play to the tropes (and it does, even down to the paired character actors like the old studio contract swashbuckler movies) without seeming overwrought but by the fourth, it's competing with it's predecessors and I think we want something more or something new and it doesn't -quite- deliver completely.  

 

Bottom line: Curse of the Black Pearl is a rock solid 7th Sea film, I could take or leave the others. 

Two more, both later works of the maestro, Errol Flynn

Against All Flags: Errol Flynn, Anthony Quinn, a Pirate Princess, a regular Princess...What's not to love? Also, while one female character does little but pine over Flynn (as usual), the other (Maureen O'Hara) is a real match for Flynn (who is showing his age a little). To say the film has a 'female lead' might be a little strong but O'Hara's character is as good an indication as any (certainly as good as any from the 40s and 50s) that ladies can be bad ass pirates too. See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXWCqrvmx6Q 

 

The Adventures of Don Juan: Flynn, playing the role he was born to play and doing it only a few years too late. Sources say he was taking his work home with him as Don Juan a little too often during the filming but he still delivers a charismatic performance and the swordplay is outstanding. See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIDkuEOV3Y

 

 

The real problem with the Pirates of the Caribbean films is that after the first one, you will love Jack Sparrow or you will have seen enough of him. If you love him, he dominates more and more of the screen over the rest of the series. If you are tired of the schtick, it makes watching them increasingly harder. The last one does give you a great take from Geoffrey Rush which is it's saving grace. (But I missed the return if the minor supporting cast that I found enjoyable)

I see some French classics have been overlooked, these have incredibly witty dialog (not sure how they are in English) and are spot on for 7th Sea:

Ridicule http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117477/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (great inspiration for the vicious atmosphere at the court of Montaigne)

On Guard http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118756/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (a story of swordsmen and true heroics, personnal revenge and justice)

The Duellists, Avalible on at least British Netflix is not a swashbuckling film per se but it is a very good film on the subject of duels and honour. It is based on the story of two officers in Napoleon's army who fight a series of duels over the years. Of particular interest to the discussions on this forum is that it has a great number of duels that end without death

There is a 2011 Russian TV miniseries adaption of "The Three Musketeers" available with English subtitles on Amazon Prime and Hulu. It's surprisingly good-very faithful to the book, cast is excellent. I found this version's Aramis the closest to the book of any adaption, and the actresses who play Milady and Constance are especially good.

"Red Eagle" on Netflix is a bit odd but interesting. 17th Century schoolteacher who traveled in Asia returns home and becomes a masked katana-wielding vigilante in Spain. Believe it or not it's quite different from Zorro and the show puts a bit of extra effort into making the villains interesting (they are in love and have a son they are trying to protect, even though they are villains.)

Hi, new here! So I apologize if I speak a bit out of turn.  

I am a bit surprised that Cyrano De Bergerac has not made it onto this list. While there is something to be said about it being primarily a play, the 1950's film version is one of my personal favorite versions of the play. While primarily focused on the "romance" part of Romance, I think it could serve quite well as an example of a characters evolving story. 

 

 

 

You are never out of turn around here. And you make a very good point about Cyrano.

Welcome, @RobertNewman. It is nice to have your input to this list. We may update the original list with all the contributions that have come up since it was first posted.

Le Chevalier D'Eon

One of my all time favorites, definitely 7th sea.... now this is the tv show not the manga.