Flynnfest Winner - The Sun Also Rises

The Happiest Street in America!

As seen in Iowa City, Iowa

Not Enough Time Reading List - The Irish War

Flynnfest #55 - Green Light

Flynnfest #54 - Don't Bet On Blondes

Flynnfest #53 - The Cruise of the Zaca

Filmed in 1946-1947, but not released until 1952, The Cruise of the Zaca is acutally two cruises Flynn took at two different times (the color of the Zaca changes from white to black). It starts with Errol catching a helicopter to The Scripps Institute of Oceanography to meet with a group of scientists, and then agreeing to sponsor a research trip to collect rare fish and other sea animals. Along the way he picks up his father, a marine biologist, and his wife Nora Eddington, who by 1952 was in the middle of divorce proceedings from him.

There is some awesome footage of grey whales and other ocean activity, and great shots of the Zaca. Most of the rest of this short film, poorly narrated by Flynn himself, is pretty forgettable.

Flynnfest #52 - Deep Sea Fishing

Errol made this short, amateurish home movie in 1952 with close friend Howard Hill while fishing of the coast of Acapulco. It's silent, with a silly voice-over narration by another Flynn friend, Bob Edge. Errol had met Hill during the making of Robin Hood, when Hill was hired as his archery instructor. They remained drinking buddies for the rest of Flynn's life. The real star of this 10-minute short, however, are shots of Flynn's yatch, the Zaca, one of the greatest yatchs of the day, and still so to this day.

As for Deep Sea Fishing. OK. I saw it. Next!

Flynnfest #51 - Dive Bomber

Flynnfest #50 - Objective Burma

Flynnfest #49 - Northern Pursuit

So, not the best of the genre. But certainly not the worst, and respectable enough. Errol is in top dashing form, and at the height of his career, though this movie was running at the time of his rape trial.

A good addition to the Flynnfest mix. Well, I liked it, at least.

Flynnfest #48 - Assault of the Cuban Rebel Girls

What can you say about what is universally regarded as one of the worst movies ever made? More to come later. But for now, I'll just reprint another reviewer's pretty spot on comments -

CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, the wretched last film of legendary star Errol Flynn, is a tragic epitaph. It's only 'value' is the morbid opportunity to see the actor's physical deterioration in the last few months of his life, coupled with his inability to give an even cursory performance.

While the rationale behind the production was the obvious tax write-off that a failed film could provide, there are mysteries and legends surrounding it, as with many of the significant events in Flynn's life.

One legend involves the financial backing of the film. Flynn was nearly broke, despite maintaining an outwardly affluent appearance ("I believe you should always dress in your best suit, and present your best 'front', when you're borrowing money," he would tell his biographer, Earl Conrad). The actor had already taken (and spent) an advance from Putnam to write his autobiography (which would be published posthumously as 'My Wicked, Wicked Ways'), and the publishing firm, fearing the actor would not fulfill his obligation, assigned veteran journalist Conrad (with two court stenographers) to follow the actor, and interview him daily. Legend has it that Flynn also went to a variety of sources, some less 'savory' than others, to borrow 'front' money for a film he said he was making. As time passed, and the film hadn't appeared, Flynn found himself in an awkward and potentially dangerous situation with his backers...so he took what little he had left of the borrowed cash to assemble a crew, write a script, and shoot a 'quickie' in Cuba.

The other legend involved his girlfriend, sixteen-year old Beverly Aadland. Flynn had been the defendant in a number of statutory rape trials, dating back to 1943, and had been acquitted, usually because the teens in question could 'pass' as older, and, in some cases, even had faked IDs. With his well-publicized sexual appetites, Flynn was an easy 'target' for publicity-hungry young women of easy virtue. Aadland, who had already been involved with the actor for several years, seemed to vindicate his critics' charges that Flynn was not the 'innocent' that his lawyers claimed him to be, but truly had a 'thing' for young girls (making him the Roman Polanski of his time). But the voluptuous teen was, according to friends of Flynn, genuinely in love with the aging star, nursing him through his bouts of malaria, keeping him supplied with vodka, and tenaciously guarding what little privacy he could maintain. Her one dream was to become an actress, and Flynn, according to legend, wrote CUBAN REBEL GIRLS to give her the opportunity no studio ever would, with her notoriety.

Sadly, whether CUBAN REBEL GIRLS was created as a tax write-off, a product of a last-minute attempt to appease backers, or as a 'Valentine' to a controversial love, Errol Flynn's swansong was simply awful.

For technology buffs, the real stars of the film are the as-of-yet unidentified 1950s commercial helicopter and the rare Lockheed Electra L-188 "jet assist" turbo-prop airliner, one of the least successful commercial airplanes ever built.

Flynnfest #47 - The Warriors/The Dark Avenger

1955. Errol was still in his European respite. Made in between the doubly horrible King's Rhapsody and Let's Make Up, The Dark Avenger, also released at The Warriors, isn't that bad a movie. It's actually a pretty decent film, for a Class B Saturday matinee type movie from the mid-50s. The plot is pretty good, if not even remotely historically accurate (the relationship, and the age difference, between Prince Edward and Joan of Kent was distinctly different). But at least the history was closer to reality than Robin Hood or They Died With Their Boots On. {Plus, there are some surprising costars in this movie, including Peter Finch as an evil Frenchman (aren't they all), Christopher Lee in a minor part, as well as Patrick McGoohan in an equally bit part in his first movie role. The female lead, Joanne Dru, it has been said my some reviewers, looked "bored". Perhaps so. But this was a woman who started her career in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Red River, and All The King's Men. Unfortunately, by 1955, her career was already on a slow, second-rate auto-pilot. Ah, Hollywood.

Errol looks a bit bloated for his 46 years, but does very well in the action sequences and his horesemanship. Overall, not a bad movie. Of his bad European movies, this was perhaps the best of the lot.

Flynnfest #46 - The Adventures of Captain Fabian

La Taverne de N.O. is the French title of this French-American production filmed in Europe in 1951, during Errol's escape-to-Europe phase. It's considered by many to be one of Flynn's worst films (Cuban Rebel Girls notwithstanding). It is pretty bad. More than bad, it's just incredibly weird. Filled with incredibly unsympathetic main characters (leading lady Micheline Prelle plays, well, a psychopath), including Errol's soulless Captain Fabian, a properly despicable bad guy in Vincent Price (who turns out to be not so bad, considering how immoral the rest of the main characters are, and a truly nuts Agnes Moorehead in quasi-blackface - this movie had it all, accented by a truly horrible soundtrack with weird instrumental noise more akin to horror flicks. The credit list Errol as the story writer - I can only hope that was an affectation and not reality. It's not an unwatchable movie, as it is just weird enough to be strangely compelling.

Errol, by the way, looks a bit worn around the edges, but not too bad. Perhaps the air in the south of France was agreeing with him. Micheline Presle only made a few English-language movies, none of much note (American Guerrillas in the Philippines?), before divorcing Flynn's business partner, director, and producer on Captain Fabian William Marshall in 1954. After that, she moved back to Paris and has been a feature in French cinema for over 50 years.

Flynnfest #45 - That Forsyte Woman

Someone else wrote this, but it pretty much sums it up:

By the end of the 1940s, the WB had relegated one-time box office king Errol Flynn to 'B' movies, and offered him little studio support. While most of the stars under contract to the studio were still protected from unflattering publicity, Flynn's rape trial and subsequent revelations revealed a public far more tolerant of the star than the studio was, so Flynn was left 'to his own devices', and found himself the constant subject of scandalous headlines, a situation that became so intolerable that he would eventually sue 'Confidential' magazine, the most virulent of the 'scandal sheets'.

Therefore, when, negotiating a new contract in 1947, Flynn asked to be allowed to do one film a year away from the WB, the studio agreed, happily, more than pleased to let another studio pay the actor's salary and deal with his unsavory reputation. While the result of this new 'freedom' did not produce any Flynn 'classics' (KIM would be the best received of his work away from the WB), it did give him a seat at the table with Gable, Tracy, Hepburn, Garland, Taylor, and MGM's other legendary stars, when the studio celebrated their 'Golden Anniversary', in 1949.

THAT FORSYTHE WOMAN, Flynn's first film away from the WB, was a heavy-handed, ultimately unsuccessful adaptation of the first of John Galsworthy's trilogy of the rise and fall of a British aristocratic family, a popular series of works that would become the basis of the classic BBC series, 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. Offered his choice of the male 'leads' in the film, Flynn lobbied for, and got, the 'villain' of the story, the coldly ruthless Soames Forsythe, who marries MGM 'queen' Greer Garson, and proceeds to make her life a living hell. It was a major departure for Flynn, who had watched his roles at the WB deteriorate into a collection of jaded roués with a 'taste' for married women. While he acknowledged that he wasn't the easiest person to work with, he wanted to demonstrate, once and for all, that he was an actor capable of far more than leaping horses over cannons and swinging a sword. With Soames, Flynn proved he 'could deliver', even as a character you would be hard-pressed to feel sympathetic about.

As the men Garson would find comfort with, Robert Young (who had his own 'typecasting' problems, again playing a near juvenile when, in fact, he was older than Flynn!), and Walter Pidgeon (also playing a role younger than his actual age, but, as usual, winning Garson's heart), had to contend with poorly written, nearly cardboard roles (that Pidgeon 'comes off' so well is a testament to his often-overlooked acting talent...he was FAR more than just 'Garson's Leading Man').

Greer Garson, long 'typed' as the most aristocratic of MGM leading ladies, had to deliver some truly 'ripe' dialog, and her manipulation by 'class conscious' Soames seemed unrealistic and out of character, but she managed to survive the stodgy production with her reputation unblemished.

Filming was smooth and untroubled, and Garson was impressed by Flynn's professionalism (he was on his best behavior, for a change). He did, however, pull one memorable practical joke; in a very dramatic scene, as she packed to leave Soames, she opened a wooden wardrobe to discover Flynn, standing inside, naked, grinning from ear to ear! One NEVER pulled a stunt like that on a Major Star (Bette Davis would have had a tantrum), but Garson simply burst out laughing, appreciating Flynn's irreverence.

Flynnfest #44 - Never Say Goodbye

This is one of the few Errol Flynn movies that made me laugh out loud. It is a truly charming movie, in every positive sense of the word "charming". It reminded me a lot of Miracle on 34th Street. Yes, it is that good.

There is an irony about Errol. Despite his wicked reputation as a ladies man, lecher, on-set drunk and all-together ne'er do well, he was a great actor with children. In al of his on-screen roles, his various roles in which he interacts with children are certainly among his best, and - surprisingly - his most comfortable. That's part of the enigma. He was a great actor with children. In Never Say Goodbye, the chemistry is fantastic. Why isn't the movie better known now? Probably because the main story revolved around divorce, which was still pretty "off topic" in the mid-1940s. Pretty touchy stuff.

Eleanor Parker. What can you say? One of Errol's best costars. And, well, she's great. The chemistry between the two in this movie is palpable - mainly because Errol and Eleanor were actually so good together in front of the camera. Irony - one of Eleanor Parker's first big roles was in They Died With Their Boots On, but all of her scenes were axed and ended up on the cutting room floor. Hmmmm.

Before I digress - Forrest Tucker as the US Marine. Great. And greta with Errol. I can only imagine that they got along very well during filming.

Long story short. An overlooked classic of the era. A truly nice, nice, nice movie. Great stuff.

Flynnfest #43 - Uncertain Glory

What can I say? I liked this movie. Even at the time, it was completely off the normal track for Errol. There is a Casablanca aspect to this movie that I like. Probably Paul Lukas. Made the same year as his greatest - and Academy Award winning Watch on the Rhine - this was a great year for Paul Lukas. He later starred with Errol in the 1958 movie The Roots of Heaven, one of Errol's best later movies, made good no doubt to Lukas' presence. He was also with Errol in Kim - yet to be reviewed.

The story is unconventional, but in a very Errol sort of way. He plays an unrepentent scoundrel, a role he played in real life, but he certainly wasn't the unreformed murderer he plays in this role.

Heck, I might add more later. But I've got to move on with Flynnfest. This is a really good film, particularly for those who understand the films of the WWII era and the propaganda genre of the time (I like to think I understand it fairly well). And Errol is really friggin' good in this movie. 'Nuff said. Thumbs up.

Flynnfest #42 - Edge of Darkness

This is one of my favorite Errol films. Right up there with Objective Burma and Rocky Mountain. This movie is awesome.

Made at the height of his artistic career as an actor, Edge of Darkness was made at what ultimately became the turning point - and not in a good way - of his personal life and professional downward spiral that lasted until his death in 1959. In the middle of making Edge of Darkness, Flynn was indicted for statutory rape, with a resulting trial that scarred and changed him. At the same time, co-star Ann Sheridan had a very public and messy separation and ultimate divorce from Flynn, in no small part due to an affair she had had with Flynn after making Dodge City together. movie.

The movie was filmed in the Monterey area, with the cannery scenes filmed on Monterey Row. Unfortunately, the very Central Coast weather delayed filming for weeks due to fog. It was all so much easier in LA, I suppose. But LA doesn't look like Norway.

But it was a movie of it's time. That is, a great World War II propaganda movie, intended to educate and inspire the home front about the evils of Nazi Germany and the heroic suffering of the Norwegian people. However, rare for WWII propaganda films, it didn't shy away from fully portraying the quislings (a term unfortunately a product of Norway) and cowardice that also accompanies war. In that regard, it's a pretty rare war movie. And I like it. So there.

Flynnfest #41 - Istanbul

Istanbul (1957) is perhaps Errol's best movie from his European exile, and played a huge role in his return to Hollywood a year later. A remake of the 1947 film Singapore, it's thought by most watchers to be a superior film than the 1947 original. It is sometimes compared to Casablanca - but not nearly as good as that classic. Errol certainly shows his age, but he looks pretty healthy nonetheless. His female co-star, Cornell Borchers, was touted as the new Ingrid Bergman. Similar look, similar accent, but not the same screen presence. Born in Lithuania, she made three more movies in Germany, and then retired from movies in 1959 and moved to Bavaria.

So, not a bad film. Decent story, pretty good supporting cast. Errol seems up to task. And you have Nat King Cole singing two songs and playing piano. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Flynnfest #40 - Cry Wolf

How can you not like a movie with Barbara Stanwyck? Serouisly. Is it possible?
This was Errol's one full dive into film noir. OK - it's no Night of the Hunter, but it's still a pretty decent film for both the genre and period. I will telll y'all (you all being the no one on earth that reads this post) that I had figured out the "insanity runs in the family" plot twist about half-way through the movie. Doesn't matter. Errol plays a very strong character, but against his popular image at the time. He rarely played stick-in-the-mud anal-retentive snobs (his best being much later in That Forsyte Woman) later That Forsyte Woman, but when he did, he did it well.

Other notes - There is zero comic relief in this film, or any of Errol's normal comic second bananas, like Alan Hale or Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. It was played true to form for the genre.

Bottom line - very solid basic story. The film dragged a bit. However - Barbara Stanwyck. Errol at his peak! How could the studio have messed this up? In the end, a weak plt, to my thinking? But still a very solid Errol film. It's a shame he didn;t make morewith Barbara Stanwyck. Jeez, she's good.

Flynnfest #39 - Too Much Too Soon

In 1958, less than two years before his own death, Errol returned to Warner Brothers to play his idol and role-model John Barrymore (who died in 1942 of alcoholism) in this adaptation of daughter Diana Barrymore's miserable tale of growing up as a child of two famous celebrities, John and seriously repressed poet Michael Strange.

I'll keep this short. Errol's portrayal of John Barrymore was closer to the heart than perhaps he ever imagined. Typecast doesn't even start to describe it. Dorothy Malone struggled hard to portray the complexity of Diana Barrymore - even harder to do within the limits of 1950s film norms. Sad on a couple of levels. Like Diana Barrymore,an actress. Even more sadly, and perhaps prophetically, the happy ending of Too Much Too Soon (Diana, out of rehab, clean and sober) was premature. Unfortunately, she died of an overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills in 1960, two years after the film was released. Sad.

Flynnfest #38 - The Perfect Specimen

Hey, I like this movie. Many contemporary critics don't "get it" - but that's because they don't understand the appeal of the "screwball comedy" genre to the film audience of the 1930s. There are contemporary equivalents to screwball comedy (many Adam Sandler movies fall into this group), but screwball itself is truly a product of its Depression-era time.And, as a result, true screwball comedy from the 30s doesn't always translate well to a different era. True, Marx Brothers are perhaps the masters of the genre, but it is equally true that many Marx Brothers bits fall flat when seen today. Still, many Marx Brothers officianados and film snobs would never admit that anything in Duck Soup or A Night At The Opera might be anything less than comic genius. Heck, they were gags, and not all of those gags were quite as funny the second, third, or 100th time seen.

OK, The Perfect Specimen wasn't the best attempt, or even the most serious attempt made during the era. It was a quick attempt to cash in on the fad. Overall, it was a pretty good film, though. Errol is genuinely likeable. And Joan Blondell has an energy and great sense of comedic timing that carries the day. The Perfect Specimen is considered one of Joan Blondell's better movies from the 1930s. Here's the original 1937 New York Times movie review:

The Perfect Specimen (1937)

THE SCREEN; With Errol Flynn as Exhibit A, the Warners Present 'The Perfect Specimen' at the Strand Theatre

By FRANK S. NUGENT
Published: October 28, 1937
Although, strictly speaking, the Strand's "A Perfect Specimen" is somewhat less than that, it has most of the attributes of light and unaffected romantic comedy. A refreshing awareness of its own unimportance is a major asset; so are the cheery performances of Errol Flynn, Joan Blondell and such Warner inveterates as Allen Jenkins, Hugh Herbert and Edward Everett Horton. Under Michael Curtiz's agile direction and the tickling touch of a five-man script, it has become a reasonably diverting little show, juvenile and school-girlish to be sure, yet deft enough and daft enough to slip beneath the critical guard.

Stemming from a Samuel Hopkins Adams novel, it considers the case of Gerald Beresford Wicks, who some day must assume control of Wicks Utilities ($30,000,000 and 10,000 employes) and who has been dedicated from babyhood by his eccentric grandmother to a program of mental, moral and physical perfection. Gerald, we quickly discover, has never been beyond the gates of Wickstead, is engaged—to their mutual dissatisfaction—to a girl named Alicia, studies Newton while swinging from a tree and is equally gifted at taking a motor apart or settling a problem in international law. It should be vaguely upsetting to hear that Gerald adds up to Errol Flynn.

Into this masculine convent, into this posted temple of perfection comes Miss Blondell—a blonde serpent—to whisper about the great world outside, to suggest a Don Quixotic campaign of windmill-tilting and to accompany the truant upon a fairly eventful tour of the Pennsylvania hinterland. Among the windmills the new Quixote tilts at are, in approximate order, a pugnacious truck driver, a prize fighter, the G-men, Grandma Wicks and Miss Blondell herself. The fatality rate of the windmills is terrific; the Wicks perfection is irresistible.

Admitting that this is the sort of romantic balderdash dear to the hearts of misses in their 'teens, full of giggling situations (as when Hugh Herbert mistakes the errant couple for man and wife and lodges them in a bedroom), still the treatment has been genial and we prefer to regard it charitably. Two of the minor players deserving of special praise are Dennie Moore, for a pricelesly funny impersonation of Allen Jenkins's girl-friend, Clarabelle, and Harry Davenport, for his perfect portrayal of the absentminded professor.

THE PERFECT SPECIMEN, based on the novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams; screen play by Norman Reilly Raine, Lawrence Riley, Brewster Morse and Fritz Falkenstein; directed by Michael Curtiz; a Warner Brothers production. At the Strand.
Gerald Beresford Wicks . . . . . Errol Flynn
Mona Carter . . . . . Joan Blondell
Killigrew Shawe . . . . . Hugh Herbert
Mr. Grattan . . . . . Edward Everett Horton
Jink Carter . . . . . Dick Foran
Alicia . . . . . Beverly Roberts
Mrs. Leona Wicks . . . . . May Robson
Pinky . . . . . Allen Jenkins
Clarabelle . . . . . Dennie Moore
Hotel Clerk . . . . . Hugh O'Connell
Snodgrass . . . . . James Burke
Hooker . . . . . Granville Bates
Carl Carter . . . . . Harry Davenport
Briggs . . . . . Tim Henning

Final note - the reviewer for the 1937 NYT article is Frank Nugent. A Columbia University journalism graduate, he was the NYT film critic from 1936 to 1940. His highly positive review of The Wizard of Oz was seen as key to its success. He was eventually hired by Darryl F Zanuck as a screenwriter, which led to his eventual fame as the writer for John Ford and some of the best westerns ever made, including John Wayne classics The Searchers, Fort Apache, and 3 Godfathers, as well as The Quiet Man and Mr Roberts.Hey, the guy knew his stuff.

Flynnfest #37 - Escape Me Never

Escape Me Never was an unusual bomb for Errol. It seems that everyone in it was miscast. Many Flynnfans have theorized about the whys and why nots of Escape Me Never (mostly along the lines of "What was Jack Warner thinking?"), and, other than agreeing that Errol was unfortunately typecast as a cad and womanizer (and a thoroughly unsympathetic one, at that), very little else is commonly agreed upon, except that this isn't a particularly good film. In the end, the original 1947 New York Times review wasn't far off:

Escape Me Never (1947)

By BOSLEY CROWTHERT.M.P.
Published: November 8, 1947

Out of simple respect for Elisabeth Bergner, who appeared here a dozen years back in a little film called "Escape Me Never," we are loathe to record that the new film of that same title which put in an appearance at the Strand yesterday is based thereon. For Miss Bergner is a subtle little actress—and we'd hate to have anyone, seeing Ida Lupino in the new picture get false and misguided ideas. Any resemblance between the two performers is purely coincidental, you may be sure.

Agreed that "Escape Me Never" was no great shakes the first time around, being a trifling bit of flimflam about a small lady's loyalty to a cad. As now performed by Miss Lupino as the lady and by Errol Flynn as the cad, it becomes something harsh and unbelievable, like a terrible faux-pas in a grade-school play.

Miss Lupino is downright embarrassing, the way she bounces and kitty-cats around, alternately clutching an infant and Mr. Flynn to her heaving breast. And Mr. Flynn, as a chap named Sebastian who writes music, plays a concertina and loves to flirt, throws himself into his performance with the enthusiasm of a singing-waiter in a Hoboken café.

They're not to blame entirely. The script is a frightful thing, starting out in a musical-comedy humor and ending up in a bath of tragic tears. And Peter Godfrey's so-called direction is cause for a damage suit against the whole retinue of Warner Brothers by the exploited members of the cast—among whom, incidentally, Eleanor Parker has our deepest sympathy.

But Mr. Flynn and Miss Lupino—or the other way around, if you please—could have countered with passive resistance and saved us all from a pitiable ordeal.

On the stage at the Strand are Frankie Carle and his orchestra, plus Jack E. Leonard and Olsen and Joy.

ESCAPE ME NEVER, screen play by Thames Williamson: based on the novel and play by Margaret Kennedy; directed by Peter Godfrey; produced by Henry Blanke for Warner Bros. Pictures. Inc. At the Strand.
Sebastian . . . . . Errol Flynn
Gemma . . . . . Ida Lupino
Fenella . . . . . Eleanor Parker
Caryl . . . . . Gig Young
Ivor MacLean . . . . . Reginald Denny
Mrs. MacLean . . . . . Isobel Elsom
Heinrich . . . . . Albert Basserman
Steinach . . . . . Ludwig Stossel
Landlady . . . . . Helene Thimig
Guide . . . . . Frank Puglia
Minister . . . . . Frank Reicher
Ballet Specialty . . . . . Milada Mladova
George Zoritch

The Not Enough Time Reading List - "Aaronsohn's Maps"

"Aaronsohn's Maps: The Untold Story of the Man Who Might Have Created Peace in the Middle East" by Patricia Goldstone.

This might take a while. And a few entries.

OK - I'll cut to the chase. Aaron Aaronsohn died in a plane crash from Britain en route to the to the post-WWI Paris talks in 1919. Goldstone does a lot more than hint - in fact, she pretty much slaps you in the face - with the outrageous theory that Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and the British Government conspired to assassinate Aaronsohn by having a airborne British military assassination team kill Aaronsohn and his British military pilot (a known hero for having recently beat the London-Paris speed record with T.E Lawrence in tow). By somehow shooting the pilot mid-flight, from another 1918-era biplane, without a machine gun (which might have attracted attention, since the whole drama played out directly over a an English coastal sea town).

Goldstone's theory apparently, is that Chaim Weizmann convinced the British government to assassinate Aaronsohn (her proof - Felix Frankfurter's comment years later that there was "blood" on Aaronsohn's death somehow). So they arranged to have Aaronsohn go up in a plane. With a well known British military hero as his pilot. And convinced other British military pilots to kill him. By shooting him not with a machine gun. No, but by somehow shooting him with a pistol or rifle shot from a second 1918s-era biplane flying at 75 MPH over the coast of England. Puuuhhhllease! Why not just kill Aaronsohn in a car crash? Or even yet, don't let him fly to Paris by saying the weather is bad or there are no pilots available. And don't even get me started on Goldstone's "cover-up" of the pilot's death. I could go on and on. And on. And on. And on.

Before I go for today. Early on, a great resource for the early history of Zionism and the nascent Israeli state. Fairly good factually, though many Jews and Israelis have pointed out that Goldstone is pretty flippant with her history and understanding of historical Judaism.

Oh, by the way. Everything in the Middle East between Israel and the Arabs could have been cured by Aaronsohn's ideas on shared water rights and river usage. That Arabs hate Jews, and Jews in the Middle East haven't historically make politics any easier for themselves - not a factor. Yeah.

OK. To be continued later. I'm all verklumppt. Talk amongst yourselves.

Flynnfest On Overdrive - The Big Boodle

It took me four hours to watch this 83 minute movie. Sorry, but it really is that bad. Errol looks bloated and tired. Released in 1957, he had less than two years to live. There can only be two reasons why Errol agreed to make this film. First, he needed the cash. Second, it was an excuse for him to hang out in his beloved Cuba.

Cuba, it turns out, is the actual star of the movie. The B&W footage of 1957, pre-revolution Havana is better stuff than any documentary footage you'd run across - especially the extensive scenes filmed at El Morro fortress. Irony indeed. One of the lines in The Big Boodle, related to Errol's character, Ned Sherwood, relying on the police for protection from criminals,is "We have a good government now." That "good government", of course, being the Batista regime that Errol, at the time, loved more for it's casinos and nightlife than for it's social programs. Two years later, in The Truth About The Fidel Castro Revolution, Errol was unapologetic when Castro's revolutionaries lined up Batista loyalists against the walls at El Morro and executed them by firing squad. Not much of a Velvet Revolution there, eh?

OK, back to the movie. Pretty bad. A meandering, and frankly pretty uninteresting, story line about an innocent schmo croupier (Errol) in a Havana casino who innocently get wrapped up in a counterfeiting scam. Ok, should I go into a further explanation? Well, no. This movie isn't worth it. One of Errol's last films, this movie was just so emblematic of his decline. On the road to a sad end.

How silly was this movie? There are two female leads, both playing Cuban/Latin beauties. Problem - the two actresses are Gia Scala and Rossana Rory, who were both Italian. For some reason, Rosanna Rory got top billing over Errol, though he's obviously the lead and has 95% of the screen time. Could have been worse, though. At least Rory decided to retire from movies in 1962, five years after The Big Boodle (after a few minor roles in mainly Italian movies). Gia Scala, on the other hand, didn't end her career quite so nicely. After her breakout role in The Guns of Navarone a few years later, her career collapsed when a series of personal problems led her to a life of chronic alcoholism, resulting in her being fired from the studio, a bitter divorce, a series of nasty, public legal problems. She hadn't had any acting roles in over three years (and even then, bit parts in TV shows) when her life ended in suicide by pills and alcohol in 1972. Very sad.

Co-star Pedro Armendariz also killed himself in 1963 after being diagnosed with cancer. He was one of the 91 people thought to have been exposed to nuclear radiation while making the movie The Conquerer with John Wayne.

You could say that Errol killed himself as well. In a Dylan Thomas sort of way. The end was near.

Flynnfest #35 - Mara Maru

Raymond Burr was gay? Who knew?

While working with Errol Flynn in their only film together, Flynn told Raymond Burr that if he died with ten dollars in his pocket he hadn't done a good job. This inspired Burr to always share his wealth, and he spent the rest of giving away vast amounts of money to charity.

Mara Maru also starred Ruth Roman, a pretty actress whose career never really took off. Too bad. The movie actually isn't too bad, all things considered. This was Flynn's last Hollywood movie for Warner Brothers before heading off to do films in Europe and Cuba for the next six years. At this point in his career, Flynn's relationship with Jack Warner was so caustic that it seemed as if Warner was practically going out of his way to give Flynn lousy roles in second-rate pictures. In Mara Maru, the story actually isn't too bad, though it's typical of the cheaper, "second movie of the twin bill" of the early 1950s (Mara Maru was released in 1952).

As for Flynn's nasty relationship with the studio head, here's an anecdote:

Every day during filming Errol Flynn would drive on the Warner Bros. lot wearing a windbreaker with no shirt, slacks with no underwear and shoes with no socks. The wardrobe people would provide him with a shirt, underwear and socks, and at the end of the day's filming he would wear them home. The next day he would arrive on the lot, again with no shirt, underwear or socks, and again he would be supplied those items by wardrobe. Co-star 'Paul Picerni (I)' noticed it after several days, and asked Flynn what he did with all the shirts, socks and underwear he'd accumulated after several weeks of filming. Flynn replied that he threw them in a closet when he got home. Picerni asked, "But what do you do with them?" Flynn replied, "Nothing. It just gives me pleasure to steal from Jack Warner."

There's also an urban legend that the film bombed in Japan because the name Mara Maru translates into Japanese as "shit boat", but I doubt that's really true - although "mara" is one expression in Japanese for "penis" apparently (I joke Errol surely would have loved if he'd known it).

Errol looks a little worn around the edges in Mara Maru, showing some wrinkles and not exactly looking too fit and trim. The film is B-movie stuff, for certain. But not too bad, and certainly not deserving the bad reviews it generally received from critics. Not all that bad, but it could of been so much better.

All Hail ScorpioTV!!!

ScorpioTV, a Canadian purveyor of rare film DVDs, came through with the Errol Flynn motherload.Here's what I got in the mail yesterday:

1. The Adventures of Captain Fabian
2. Cuban Rebel Girls (perhaps thew worst movie ever made)
3. Northern Pursuit
4. Uncertain Glory
5. The Dark Avenger
6. Never Say Goodbye
7. Escape Me Never
8. Edge of Darkness (one of my favorites)
9. Too Much, Too Soon
10. Istanbul
11. The Perfect Specimen
12. Cry Wolf
13. The Big Boodle
14. That Forsythe Woman
15. Mara Maru (rare, and very hard to find)

With these 15 Errol movies to watch, and Objective Burma on hand, I will hit 50 movies knocked down in Flynnfest 2010. That will give me a good chunk of the year to knock out the rest, some of which are pretty easy to find, while others are probably impossible. The remaining Errol movies include:

1. I Adore You (thought to be a lost movie, with no prints in existence)
2. Murder at Monte Carlo (another lost movie)
3. Don't Bet on Blondes (kinda hard to find, but out there somewhere)
4. Green Light (ditto)
5. The Dawn Patrol (an easy one, seen it many times)
6. Dive Bomber (easy)
7. Kim (easy)
8. Hello God (probably lost, though it's rumored a single 35mm print exists in Europe somethere)
9. The Story of William Tell (never finished, with about 30 minutes filmed)
10. The Sun Also Rises (should be rather easy, but it's been hard to find)
11. Cruise of the Zaca (possible)
12. Deep Sea Fishing (possible)
13. Always Together (cameo role, but don't know if it's available)

Half of these are either easy to find or at least possible. The other half? Who knows?

nce

#34 - Footsteps In The Dark

Footsteps In The Dark. Kind of a mixed bag of tricks. Made in 1941, the movie was an attempt by Warners to diversify Errol in films that were less swashbuckly (Is that a word? Hmmm. No. It's not) and, apparently, cash in on the formula and success of the Thin Man series. Overall, not too bad. Errol did have a real flare for comedy, and there's a good supporting cast here, including William Bellamy, Alan Hale, William Frawley, and a en exceptionally pretty Brenda Marshall. Had the movie had better success, it's evident from the last scene in the movie that the studia planned a series of "Nick and Nora"-type movies. Unfortunately the script is pretty wooden, and the story seems forced and pretty artificial. Flynn's fine grasp of humor is lost in a lot of pretty humorless scenes. Oh well. Anyway, #34 is down and I'be got a stack of movies to watch.

Flynnfest Renewed - Crossed Swords

Released in 1954 in Italy as Il Maestro di Don Giovanni (released in the U.S. as Crossed Swords), this movie is a mixed bag of tricks. It was written and directed by Milton Klims, a talented writer who wrote the screenplays for Green Light and The Sisters. The story is a silly Adventures of Don Juan knockoff based in Italy, but done thoroughly farce-heavy and tongue-in-cheek. You get the idea that everyone involved, and mostly Flynn, had a fun time making it. Downside - the movie was filmed in a version of Pathe Color, an inferior color film method that was decades obsolete by the mid-1950s, and not used at all in the U.S. by then. For this Italian-made movie, the actors (all Italian, except Errol) spoke their lines in heavily accented English; then the entire film was then dubbbed with clearer-speaking native English speakers (all except Errol, and possibly Gina Lollobrigida, who spoke English fairly well). Overall, though, the quality of the dubbing is really quite poor, as were most other production values for the movie, with the exception of the fantastic castle and Italian countryside scenery, unfortunately squandered by the poor color film technique (what a stunning movie visually it would have been if filmed in Technicolor!).

Errol shows some age, and at times looks a bit haggard and tired - but certainly looks more spry and healthier than some of his other 50s movies. He seems to have really enjoyed making it. And the final fencing scene at the end of the movie shows Errol displaying both excellent fencing form and not-too-shabby physical prowess. And, I suppose if you're starring in a movie next to Gina Lollobrigida, what's not to enjoy?

Finally, history of the movie. This was one of three movies Errol made as part of his own Errol Flynn Productions company in Europe, the other two being the finished but not released Hello God, and the unfinished Story of William Tell. Flynn always did well in Europe, and the movie made some money there. Flynn complained that United Artists didn't release it adequately in the U.S. so it failed to make money here. I suppose you can see UA's point, though - the Pathe Color was far too outmoded for American audiences by the 1950s. Anyway, when Errol died, the rights to the movies made by Errol Flynn Productions reverted to wife Patrice Wymore. Roddy McDowell bought all the rights to William Tell, and donated the footage to Boston University upon his death, with the strange stipulation that it could never be shown commercially. The story behind Hello God is even more strange, though it's rumored that at least one 35mm print exists in Europe somewhere. As for Crossed Swords, it was considered by most devotees to be the "Holy Grail" of rare Errol Flynn movies (that reasonably still exist). No VHS copy existed, nor was there a DVD. 35mm prints are exceptionally rare. Someone found a rare, complete copy of the 35mm English version (who? who knows? who cares?) and transferred it to DVD (I don't think an Italian version has ever been located). It is available for purchase online, which is where I got it, for a very reasonably cost, no less. The quality of the original 35mm print was pretty scratchy and beat up, and it's hard to say if the heavy sepia toning of the DVD image is a result of Pathe Color, or the decaying 35mm film. You'd need a second 35mm copy to figure that out, and it's unclear if an available one (other than one possibly possessed and not distributed by Patrice Wymore) exists.

Anyway, this is #33 in my 2010 Errol Flynn Filmfest, and I've located a source online for rare DVDs, so I've got another 15 en route (all rare, and impossible to get through places like TMC or Amazon). And I'm still holding off on Objective Burma.

Reading List - "Feeding A Yen"

I'll keep this short. Sister Katie sent me Calvin Trillin's "Feeding a Yen" I was pumped. I was even more pumped reading about about Trillin's youth in Kansas City, trekking down to the New York City and Deli at it's original downtown KC location.

Time passes. The Kansas City New York City and Deli changed location, and moved over near Hwy 71 at the Watkins/63rd Street exit near the hospital. Tragically across from the cemetery.After a long battle with old equipment, dramatically changing demographics, and KC health inspectors, the last, and oldest, authentic Jewish deli in Kansas City closed in 2009.

The nearest decent corned beef on rye? Des Moines. Really.

Pu Yi Returns!

For the first time in a long time, I've bought some art. At least I think it is.

The Correct Answer to "Hey, What Happened To My Plant"?

Nicky meets the house plant. Rabbit 1. Houseplant 0.

A Tasty Treat Gone Terribly, Terribly Wrong

I'm clearing up my backlog of "WTF Bad Marketing Ideas" entries. The source of this one - the local Korean grocery store, of course. But I've also seen this, well, stuff, at my local Hyvee as well, in some way, shape or form.

Was this really necessary? I mean, if you're that concerned about diet and such, should you even have pudding on your menu to begin with?

Why is my coffee forming a slurry?

You've got to wonder what happened to the first person to discover this jar was mislabeled.

Theresa's Cat Meets the Spirit of Christmas

Yum-yum meets Santa. Much confusion ensued.

"You'll Eat It and You'll Like It!"

Matt and I were on on our way back from the butt-crunching bike ride weekend in Cedar Rapids when I passed this restaurant in Walford, Iowa (population 1425).

Now how many times did I hear this as a child - "You'll eat it and you'll like it"? That would be me and split peas. Katie and broccoli. Mary Jane and tomatoes. I think I heard this at least five times a week growing up.

My conclusion - this is what would happen if your Mom decided to open a restaurant. I bet the menu has split peas, broccoli, tomatoes, liver, and navy bean soup.

Bad Marketing Ideas - Just the Thing For That Notre Dame Grad in Your Family

I ran across this will doing some research on a monastery in Iowa. I'm amazed.

Notre Dame Caskets and Urns

Trappist Caskets, in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, now offers an exclusive line of custom-designed caskets and urns for Notre Dame alumni and their families.

As a work of the monks of New Melleray Abbey, Trappist Caskets are built on a long tradition that combines a reverence for nature with a preference for old-world craftsmanship. available, much of it coming from the monastery’s own award-winning forest.

All caskets, urns, and register books come with an engraved seal authorized by the University of Notre Dame. Included in the purchase of a casket or urn is a complimentary Guest Register Book and four family keepsake crosses. These keepsake crosses are in addition to the removable cross that comes on the lid of each casket and urn.

Flynnfest Rarity - Errol Meets Fidel

Originally released as "The Truth About The Fidel Castro Revolution", this strange film was rereleased at "The Cuban Story" after being lost for a couple decades. It has a rare place in the world of film. It is perhaps the worst made documentary with some of the best made documentary footage ever made.

The history of it is, well, unique. Errol was in Cuba with Beverly Aadland, his 17 year old nymphet last love interest. Among his many friends in Cuba was Victor Pahlen, who owned a movie theater in Havana. Errol and Victor happened to find themselves in Cuba during the last days of the Batista regime - front row seats to the revolution. So Pahlen grabs a movie camera and starts filming. Errol's fame gives Victor front row seats.

Errol's involvement? He does an into sequence for the first four minutes of the film. There's about two minutes of Errol and Bev at a casino about 8 minutes into it. Errol does another minute of dialogue about 18 minutes into it, and there's a bit under two minutes in a conclusion monologue. Errol's dialogue parts are filmed in what appears to be a warehouse or hangar with a desk and map of Cuba slapped up against the wall. He's in pretty bad shape. Physically he looks like crap. He either is making his lines up on the fly or off a loose script, or just can't seem to recall what he was supposed to say. He seems, well, befuddled. Errol's only other presence are two still photos showing his meeting in Fidel Castro, which no doubt would have silenced any critics who later claimed the meeting never happened.

After Errol's few minutes on film in this 50 minute "documentary", Pahlen provides voiceover to what was silent footage. His worst sin - pretending to narrate the film as if he was Flynn, at one time talking about "my friend George Raft", despite the fact that Pahlen and Flynn didn't sound remotely like each other. It also didn't help that he sucked as a film editor, using one single laugh and applause track for every scene showing clapping or laughter, regardless of the fit.

What keeps this from being just the worst documentary in history? The raw footage of Fidel and his revolutionaries in the midst of history being made. There's footage of Castro before the famous beard, combat footage, the show trials of Batista regime officials, and even footage of a firing squad and execution of a Batista security official.

History can be sad in the rear-view mirror. Flynn and Pahlen idolized Castro - something that Flynn was very open about until the day he died (not too long after this was made). Perhaps fortunately for Errol, he didn't live long enough to see Castro "come out" as an oppressive Communist dictator and what then became of his beloved Cuba. They were so wrapped up in the revolution, they were strangely approving of the mass execution of Batista officials under the Castro regime, and at times seemed to revel in it.

This was Errol's second-to-last film effort, just before the disastrous "Cuban Rebel Girls" - he's billed in this documentary as a "reporter", not an actor. For Flynn addicts, there's the raw footage of Errol with Beverly Aadland. For historians, the footage of Castro's troops in the field, the fall of Havana, and the revolution in progress is fascinating. As for Victor Pahlen - well, lets just say the world of documentary film making is none the worse for this being his solo effort in the genre.

Oh, where to find it? Youtube. Another entry by the Errol Flynn Collective. The entire film is posted in 10 minute segments. Excellent posting quality. Free. Free. Free.

Flynnfest #31 - Four's A Crowd

Another YouTube victory. Some kind soul posted the extremely rarely seen Four of A Crowd, Errol Flynn's only "screwball" comedy, from 1938. Immediately following The Adventures of Robin Hood, Four's A Crowd had both Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland in very unfamiliar comedic territory. Also costarring Patric Knowles (Will Scarlet in Robin Hood) and Rosalind Russell, as well as a surprising Carole Landis in a minor role. Carole Landis, by the way, who tragically died by suicide in 1948 by OD-ing on seconol at the age of 29, after a disappointing career in mostly minor film where she was prized for being better looking than a better actress).

So, why is Four's A Crowd rarely seen today? Well, it falls well into the "it could have been a lot better" category of Errol movies. It seems as if Warner Brothers was rushing to get their two lead stars Errol and Olivia, fresh off one of the greatest movies of the era, into a movie to cash in on the 'screwball' comedy trend. Alas, it didn't work out that well. First, it script seems rushed and sloppily written. Screwball comedies didn't necessarily need to have rock-solid logical premises, but at least the story had to flow well, as so much of the humor of the movie was a result of the timing of the dialogue (Laird Doyle could of pulled it off, but he was dead). Second, I personally (as others may well disagree) lay a lot of the blame at the feet of the director, Michael Curtiz. Curtiz was the directorial architect of Flynn's rise to fame, because Curtiz was an expert at making adventure movies like Captain Blood. He was also an expert at classic drama (Casablanca), but the fast pace of comedy - not so much.

Anyway, a big thanks to that kind soul on YouTube. Picture quality is a little fuzzy, but it ran seamlessly. And it was free. Cool.

Flynnfest Milepost - The Adventures of Errol Flynn

What better way to hit the half-way milestone in the 2010 Flynnfest than to watch The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 classic, definitive Errol Flynn role against which all future Robin Hoods (Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe) would be measured? Or to put it another way, who can watch any Robin Hood movie without mentally stacking it up against the 1938 Errol Flynn classic?

Errol Flynn. Olivia DeHavilland. Basil Rathbone as Robin's nemesis, and the best sword dueling of any Flynn swashbuckling movie. Claude Rains as one truly evil Prince John. And some unintentional directing success. The original director assigned to the film was William Keighley, who was selected because of his expertise in shooting in Technicolor, which explains the outstanding color and scenery in the movie. But after looking at the dailies, the studio decided that Keighley wasn't all that great at filming action scenes, and replaced him with Michael Curtiz, with directions to recreate his Captain Blood legacy as the best action movie director in Hollywood. The result - classic stuff!

I found The Adventures of Robin Hood at the Des Moines library, but not until after I had already ordered online it off Ebay for only a couple of bucks from Hong Kong. What did I get for my Hong Kong version. good quality DVD - not a cheap bootleg copy. But even better - The Adventures of Robin Hood dubbed into Mandarin Chinese. OMG - that alone is worth the price of admission, in particular the high squeaky Chinese voice tagged on to Claude Rains. Strangely, weirdly, wonderfully hilarious.

Flynnfest Extra - The Duel

The Duel is usually not listed on Errol Flynn's official filmography, and for a good reason. It is one of the few existing copies of a 30 minute episode from his 1957 adventure in television, The Errol Flynn Theater. Apparently, 26 episodes were made between 1956 and 1957; of those, two or three are thought to be available. The Duel is one of them. Back in the late 80s, Rhino Home Video put out a series of VHS tapes of famous classic Hollywood actors in otherwise obscure television roles. Errol Flynn was one of the stars, and The Duel was a 30 minute episode of the Errol Flyn Show they somehow managed to pluck off an obscure archive somewhere and transfer to VHS. Strangely and unfortunately, the Rhino VHS copy lacks the 60 second introduction to the teleplay by Errol (a glaring oversight). Fortunately, the intro is available on YouTube, where the entire episode resides in four segments (the introduction segment is listed below).

I've actually had the VHS tape for several years, but hadn't watched it until today. Who watches VHS tapes any more. I don't think I've even owned a VHS machine for about ten years. Anyway, the hotel in Des Moines has VHS combo TVs, so this was a good oportunity to finally watch The Duel.

Overall, not too shabby. Errol was at the height of his comeback, with The Roots of Heaven and The Sun Also Rises on the horizon. He looks suprisingly fit, even more so when we now know that his health was in serious decline, and he would be dead in a couple of years. The story, by Alexander Dumas, is a good one, and Flynn plays the evil Lord Brandt convincingly. As for the plot:

"A heartless ruthless English lord, swimming in gambling debts, attempts to settle with his creditors by intimidating and blackmailing a well-to-do heiress by threatening to use his superior dueling skills against her suitor."

All in all, good stuff. It's too bad more episodes of The Errol Flynn Theater aren't available. While it's true he only did them to raise some quick cash, and he was nea rthe end of the road in the late 50s, if The Duel is any indication, they show a body of solid work by Errol as he saw his career back on the rise, if however briefly.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s27-EgBR1HA

The Not Enough Time Book List - Playing The Enemy

I ordered this book from Amazon the day after I saw the movie Invictus with Matthew. Rare enough that nowadays I'll pay full price for a book off Amazon (I couldn't find it on Ebay). But glad I did. Great book. Really, really great book.

By John Carlin, this is one of the best - and most readable - histories of South Africa and the end of apartheid. And a great intro to the novice (like me) into the world and personality of Nelson Mandela. And the story of the Springboks and the rugby World Cup - it's so inspiring, so moving, and well, if it didn't really happen, you'd swear it was a Hollywood movie script. That's probably why Invictus was such a great movie. Heck, who needed to write a script. History wrote it, better than any fiction writer could have.

Flynnfest Classic - They Died With Their Boots On

Ah, the classic - They Died With Their Boots On. One classic western, and perhaps Errol's most famous. Staple of many a Saturday afternoon matinee on Channel 9. Famous for it's classically inaccurate history, cartoonish portrayal of Native Americans, elaborate horse killing cavalry charges, and Errol's last movie with Olivia DeHavilland. One of the definitive Errol Flynn epics.

In retrospect, however, not as good a movie as some of his others, after some analysis. But quintessential Errol Flynn. Certainly not his best western - Rocky Mountain is easily a superior all-around western. The history is preposterous. Other than there was a guy named Custer, he fought in the civil war, married a woman named Elizabeth, and died at the Little Big Horn, that's pretty close to the extent of the historical accuracy of the story. As for the Indians? Well, let's start with Crazy Horse being played by Anthony Quinn. Considering Quinn was a Mexican-American, he spent a good part of his career playing Native Americans, Greeks, Hawaiians, Filipinos, Chinese, and Arabs, it's surprising that he ever got to play a Mexican (Viva Zapata, 1952). And for the big Indian war party scenes, the studio couldn't find an actual Native Americans, so they brought in 16 actual Sioux Indians from the Dakotas (used in close-ups), and used Filipino extras for the rest. Huh? "Please, white man - come sit with me a share peace pipe and lumpia."

Oh, caveat. I picked up this on DVD at the Des Moines library. Cool. And it's the original B&W version, though They Died With Their Boots On has since been colorized. Unless I can't locate the film otherwise, the Flynnfest watches B&W films in the original B&W. Not that I'm against colorization. Just not for the Quest. It's a purist thing, I guess.

Flynn was at the top of his acting game at the time. The irony - his weakest acting in the movie is when he plays Custer as a drunk after the end of the Civil War. Actually, multiple ironies. First, at the tail end of his career, Flynn made a serious comeback (The Sun Also Rises, etc), playing almost exclusively guys with alcohol problems. Second, though Flynn is thouroughly unconvincing playing a drunk Custer, he was actually pretty hammered during most of the filming, as by this point in his career we was drinking pretty heavily on the set on a daily basis. Finally, the actual Custer neither drank nor smoked.

Surprisingly good stuff in TDWTBO - makeup, for one. Flynn and DeHavilland play young teenage lovers who age together through middle age. Ordinarily, in their movies together, Errol and Olivia were made up to look as attractive (that is, young) throughout the movie. In this film, in their final scene together (as Errol is about to depart for the Little Big Horn), their makeup is such as to try to make them appear as a middle aged couple. Oh, and another Errol singing role - he sings "Garryowen" with actor GP Huntley. Double irony - GP Huntley plays a British character - though he was born in Massachusetts. Flynn, a British citizen until 1938, plays the All American hero. And in the movie, British Huntley tells American Flynn that Garryowen is a British song. Or perhaps Australian. It's actually Irish, and in reality Custer heard it from Irish soldiers serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Confused? Hooray for Hollywood.

Flynnfest #28 - The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper. Classic Saturday afternoon growing up in Chicago Channel 9 Family Classics fare. When I finished watching this DVD, I half expected Frazier Thomas to make an appearance.

1937. Flynn was at the height of his fame, and still on the way up. You can tell he enjoyed making this lighthearted film, and has a surprisingly effect screen presence with the two child actor Mauch twins.

Billy and Bobby Mauch both graduated from child actor roles to spending careers behind the camera in Hollywood. Both were born in Peoria. After long careers in the industry, both passed away within the past couple of years. Bobby died in California, but Billy retired back home in Illinois to Palatine, where he passed away in 2006. The Prince and the Pauper is their most famous film.

Final notes - Claude Rains as one truly nasty bad guy. And Alan Hale in a role in which he's a villian, and not second-fiddle/comic relief to Errol. In fact, he gets killed off in the film by Errol ina sword fight. Ouch.

One reason for the success of The Prince and the Pauper was was the screenplay, written by, once again, the very talented Laird Doyle. This script, like The Sisters, was one that Doyle wrote, but never got to see, having died tragically in a plane crash in 1936. Some classic Doyle lines:

Prince Edward Tudor: Your name is not familiar. What is your trade?
Miles Hendon: Soldiering, sire.
Prince Edward Tudor: In my service?
Miles Hendon: In the service of anyone who can afford enemies.
Prince Edward Tudor: Soldier of fortune. Strange profession.
Miles Hendon: Well, of the three of them for a gentleman without means I think it's the most amusing. Cheating at cards means associating with dull people. Preaching the gospel means wearing one of those funny hats.

Flynnfest #27 - The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

Great film, despite the fact that pretty much everyone involved in making it was unhappy about it. Warner Brother's made it largely because Bette Davis, their biggest female star, demanded they do so, despite misgivings over previous similar period pieces that had bombed. Bette Davis, who was powerful enough to demand such things, wanted Lawrence Olivier to play Essex. However, he was busy making Wuthering Heights, and wasn't available. Davis disliked Errol Flynn from the time of their previous movie together, The Sisters. Davis, who possessed a strict schedule on the set, considered Flynn crude and unprofessional, and disliked his habit of playing practical jokes during filming. Flynn, didn't like taking second billing to Davis, and was intimidated by both her reputation and personality. Both Davis and Flynn didn't get along with director Michael Curtiz, a strict and headstrong disciplinarian with a reputation for treating actors like cattle. Olivia DeHavilland, coming right off her critical success in Gone With The Wind, resented being relegated to an almost bit part as Penelope in Elizabeth and Essex.

One famous story about Elizabeth and Essex. Davis so disliked Flynn that during one scene in thee film that, during one sceen in which she is supposed to slap him across the face, she - rather than "stage" slapping him, hauled of and belted him as hard as she could across the face. Flynn's stunned and unrehearsed anger is evident in the film.

This is another Flynn movie available en toto on YouTube, though this one wasn't as good as the previous two. The first few minutes are without sound (there are subtitles throughout, though), and the clarity isn't as good on this one. I watched all three at 360p, as 480p tends to lock up due to memory issues. Even at 360p, The Roots of Heaven was incredibly clear. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - not so much. It would lock up at 480p, but the pixels appeared a bit grainy at 360p. But it was free, so what the heck.

And, finally. Donald Crisp. Playing Francis Bacon. Crisp Bacon. A classic bit of film trivia is born.

Flynnfest Entry - Silver River

1948's Silver River is one of Errol's best westerns, and is a largely unappreciated member of the genre from that era. I still think Rocky Mountain was his best western, but Silver River gives Rocky Mountain a run for its money.

Why is Silver River a good film? To start, it has more depth in its storyline than most studio westerns of the era, with Errol cast, against type, as an anti-hero of sorts in a retelling of the biblical tale of King David. Second, it has Ann Sheridan in it. That alone makes it worth watching. Third, Flynn's comic relief/second banana in Silver River is Tom D'Andrea, a superior actor and comic to Flynn's previous Alan Hale and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams pairing, resulting in finer, and funnier dialogue without the more cartoonish sight gags of Flynn's earlier westerns. This was also Flynn's last movie with Raoul Walsh (though he assisted Ray Enright on Montana, in 1950), and Walsh could make even the worst script look good on the screen.

It also had some good script writing, with more dry humor than you'd normally expect in a 40's studio western:

Errol: (teasing Ann Sheridan for wearing trousers) You look pretty smart in those pants.
Ann Sheridan: I'd look pretty silly without them.

Ann Sheridan: (After accidentally hitting Tom D-Andrea on the head) Are you hurt?
Tom D-Andrea: No. Just bent a little.

All in all, I was surprised at just how good this movie was. I had expected another Montana, and I got a really good story, with a deep plotline, quite good acting, and - yes - Ann Sheridan, instead. Definitely time well spent.

Also, this entire film is, like The Roots of Heaven, posted on YouTube. That I didn't have to guy the DVD was an added kick.

Flynnfest #25 Lilacs In The Spring

OK - it could of been worse. 1954's Lilacs in the Spring (also released as Let's Make Up) was the first film Errol made in England for director Herbert Wilcox, the hack responsible for King's Rhapsody. His costar was again Anna Neagle, which makes sense, as by this point in his career Wilcox was pretty exclusively in the hopeless business of making Neagle a movie legend (they had been married since 1943). He probably would have succeeded, as despite Neagle's limited onscreen talent (and overproduced voice), she was hugely popular with post-war British audiences. What killed her chances? Well, probably Wilcox, who was an absolute disaster as a director and producer.

Alas, witness Lilacs In The Spring. Not the unmitigated trainwreck that was King's Rhapsody , it could have been a fairly decent movie in the hands of even a remotely competent director. But under Wilcox's direction, it includes bizaar ballet dream sequences, strangely out of place dance numbers, and appears in the first half to start off as a musical, and then drop most of the music in the second half. Burdened by an equally confusing plot, it involves Neagle as Flynn's daughter, who is unable to choose between two men, neither of whom are much more than cut-out roles in the movie. Then it weirdly reels back in flashback mode to Errol and Neagle in 1914 as husband and wife. Yeah. Neagle plays both Errols daughter and his wife. Since she was actually five years older than Flynn at the time (Errol was 45, she was 50), trying to imagine her as his daughter is one big leap. In the photo above, for example, Neagle is supposed to be Flynn's daughter. No. Really. I can't imagine it either.

But enough about that. Flynn is surprisingly good in the movie, with confidence and moves that make him look a bit like his younger days. And he can still act - not just flashing a smile and conning a laugh out of the audience, but is truly adept and exhibiting pathos, and sadness. Big surprise - his last singing role! He does a duet of "Lily of Laguna" while dancing (yes, dancing) in a vaudeville bit with Neagle. And you can tell (because Wilcox couldn't edit himself out of a paper bag)that it's actually Flynn singing (not dubbed), and he does a pretty damned fine soft-shoe dance number. He sings a short ditty ("Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty") later in the movie as well (when he finds out he's being sent back to London while in the trenches in World War I. Also a surprise - Stephen Boyd's first movie role, with a small, speaking part as a friend of Flynn at poolside. This is also said to be Sean Connery's first movie role, as an extra, but I'm not sure I want to watch this again to try to find him in the crowd. Watching this movie once - and then adding it to the Errol list - is enough for anyone.

Ah, one intended pun-ny joke: the bartender says to Peter Graves, Neagle's love interest, who is about to deploy to Burma during World War II, "Give my love to Errol Flynn if you see him in Burma." An obvious humorous reference to Objective Burma. A bit too obvious, actually. I'm sure audiences groaned instead of chuckled.