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.

Flynnfest #24 - The Roots of Heaven

Truth be told, I had planned to watch a different Errol Flynn movie. On the two movie disk I ordered online that contained the truly horrible King's Rhapsody, it also has Lilacs In The Spring, yet another Herbert Wilcox/Anna Neagle disaster from Errol's lowest period. Frankly, I couldn't stomache watching two Wilcox movies back-to-back. King's Rhapsody was so bad, I was afraid that watching another immediately after would put me off the entire Errol film quest thingee.

Fortunately, I discovered that some kind soul had posted Errol's last good movie - and to some purists the last work to really be considered part of his filmography - on YouTube - 1958's The Roots of Heaven. Filmed over six months in Chad, the backstory of the movie is legendary. Director John Huston hated the end product, and considered it one of his least successful films. Filming it was a nightmare, with every member of the cast and crew falling ill in the 130 degree temperatures and poor sanitary conditions. Flynn was reportedly hospitalized several times with reoccurances of malaria that he originally picked up as a young man in New Guinea, but was one of the few members of the cast who did not come down with dysentery, largely due to the large cache of alcohol he carried with him (more on that below).

The Roots of Heaven was originally supposed to star William Holden, with Errol as second bill. Flynn took the role because he never done a film with Holden, and admired his work as an actor. Unfortunately, Holden's studio forced a contractual issue on him, and he was forced to drop out of the project. Lacking a leading man, Darryl F. Zanuck, the producer, found Trevor Howard -a fine actor, but not a leading man with pull like Holden. So Howard, the actual leading man in the film, was dropped to third or fourth in billing, and Errol, who has a decent supporting role in the film, got top billing (which he didn't seek or request). But Errol did give a solid performance. Despite the harsh filming environment, he looked much healthier than many of his earlier 1950s movies. Perhaps the harsh isolation of Chad did him some good. As with most of his later movies, he plays an alcoholic. OK, typecast. But a really solid acting job, and an indication of what might have been if he had lived longer, and developed into a really solid character actor with solid roles to play. Trevor Howard does a fine job playing, well, Trevor Howard (think Von Ryan's Express with elephants) and Juliette Greco is, well, gorgeous.

Whomever posted The Roots of Heaven on YouTube did a great job. Broken into 12 ten minute segements, they can be teed up to run sequentially. Picture quality is excellent. And, frankly, saved me some bucks from having to order the DVD online.

Oh, the dysentery/alcohol thing. Many think that's a myth. It's not. When I was in Nepal (another unsanitary Third World craphole) doing some work at the US Embassy there, I was advised upon arrival by the Marine Guards that they had a standing practice to, every morning, drink a shot of whiskey. They did the same in the evening. Why? Because the hard liquor killed whatever bugs might be in their digestive systems, and warded off the runs. To pass a day without such a regimen, I was told, was to invite a few days of living within sprinting distance of a commode. Since I has a full bottle of Cipro, I didn't feel I needed the whiskey treatment (but I can't imagine taking Cipro for an entire year - that crap would kill you). Anyway, a shot a day keeps the runs away? Apparently it did for Errol in 1958.

Ugggh - Kings Rhapsody

What. The. @%$&?

Oh, where to start? I guess I can't. There are so many things wrong with this movie, on so many levels, you can't even put them into a coherent dialogue. Perhaps just my random comments will suffice:

What the frig was Errol Flynn doing in an operetta? With two lightweight sopranos as leading ladies (OK, one was his wife)? With horrible lighting. Horrible staging. Laughable ensemble/chorus pieces. With ZERO chemistry with leading actress Neagle, but lots with Patrice Wymore - though the plot of the movie called for the opposite.

Errol - 49 years old. Bloated, and looking older. And then they film flashBACK sequences. He still holds true in many ways. He looks great in a tux, or uniform (ridiculous as the faux uniforms are). Truthfully, his best acting is where he, as a character, is supposed to be totally blotto drunk. Those are the only convinving scenes. Probably because he actually was blotto during filming. Anyway, he's believable.

I read one reviewer who said writer Ivor Novello based the character on the Duke of Windsor. Wrong. Michael Romanov perhaps. Either way, nothing could have justified this ridiculous, (where every song sucks), laughable (sudden political reform at the end) musical, poorly directed (staging? sound? music? lighting?) film. Not just a pointless plot. Practically no plot. OMG. Pricelessly horrible. The whole movie is a train wreck. I'm fairly certain that the only reason the Flynn swashbuckler /operetta/dancing/musical/drama/faux period piece has not made most reviewers "10 Worst Movies of All Time" list is that so few people saw it that it escaped such critical scrutiny. Oh, and don't miss the - well, how to put it - horrible, ridiculous, downright scary - dream ballet sequences.

The director - Herbert Wilcox. Horrible director, who took wife Anna Neagle (a major British office draw) down with him with his horrible perspective, use of color, staging, and cinematography. Cheaply, and obviously cheaply made. By this point in his undistinguished career had devoted his career to making movies solely for wife Anna Neagle. For Flynn, Neagle, and Wilcox, this was near the sad end of the road.

Many consider Cuban Rebel Girls as Flynn's worst movie. Frankly, this one gives it a good run for its money. At least with Cuban Rebel Girls, Flynn knew he was making a cheap piece o' crap to earn a few sheckels. This film, conversely, was unplanned and inexplicably horrible. To date, I consider it Errol's worst. Uggghh.

And, no surprise. A huge box office bomb. At a point where Errol needed at least a few bucks rolling in. Bottom line -after this, he was screwed. Sad. Sad. Sad.

Flynnfest Partial Credit - The Lady from Shanghai

Orson Welles' 1948 strange but classic film noir The Lady From Shanghai is ordinarily not listed in Flynn's filmography, but more often as a an obscure trivia item. Flynn lent his yatch, the Zaca, to Welles for the film. In fact, the yatch gets a lot of screen time.It's also said that Flynn helped captain the yatch (off screen) during filming, and shot much of the aerial footage of the cruising vessel from an airplane. That may or may not be true. It certainly sounds more like legend.

It's also said that Flynn has an incognito scene in the background as a cantina customer in Acapulco. That may well be true. However, I slo-mo'd over all the possible cantina scenes in the movie. There are four possible male figures in the background of various scenes with cantina backgrounds, but they are so far away and out of focus it would be impossible, even with the most advanced digital imaging, to definitively say which one of them, if any, might be Errol. But one of them probably is, as Flynn liked a good joke, and Welles was well known for adding those types of touches to his films.

If nothing else, Errol's pet dachschund gets some time on the screen.

The yatch Zaca was one of the big loves of Flynn's life. Broke and at the end of his tether, he was in Canada to try to sell it when he died. It's said the yatch fell into disrepair, was overhauled to it's original beauty, and is now on the seas in southern Europe somewhere.

Oh, I picked up this DVD for only a couple of bucks at a Blockbuster in Des Moines having a 'Going Out of Business" Sale. Bad news for Blockbuster. Good news for me. And Hulu.com, I guess. Well, better for me, I suppose. I've discovered that Des Moines cable companies don't run TCM. I'm a dead man. They have some crappy, 10th rate poser channel called This.TV, but no classic movie channel. Tonight the only decent movie on is Dirty Harry - in Spanish on Univision. It's gonna be a long tour in Des Moines.