Warm up your TiVos, ladies and gents. Today Turner Classic Movies kicks off its annual 31 Days of Oscar. They’re showing nothing but Academy Award winning or nominated films for the next 31 days. I’ve looked through the schedule, and, wow, they’re showing a ton of great films this year. It’s going to be hard to pick just one a week.

But seeing as I must, my pick this week is Captain Blood (1935). Nominated for Best Picture, this film probably the best swashbuckler ever made. If you’re one of these people who doesn’t like classic films, I dare you to watch Captain Blood and not enjoy it.

Captain Blood (1935) – Thursday, February 4 at 7:15am EST
After being unjustly sentenced to prison, a doctor escapes and becomes a notorious pirate.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone Dir: Michael Curtiz BW-119 mins, TV-G

The film stars Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in what would be the first of eight films they would do together. Flynn plays a doctor who, through an unfortunate series of events, becomes a slave only to escape and begin a life of piracy. It’s one of my favorites.

Interesting fact: The director, Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), wasn’t nominated for Best Director but narrowly missed out on winning based solely on write-in votes from Academy members.