Errol Flynn

[JackFavell]

Yes, I agree, there is no one as really handsome in that perfect way in all of film, he makes you look up and watch no matter the film, how good it is, or anything else. Perhaps that's what he wanted to obliterate, so he could get the roles and recognition he longed for, not jsut be admired. The truth is I don't think you can get any better acting in so many of his films, Robin Hood They Died With Their Boots On, Capn Blood, Too Much Too Soon, Elizabeth and Essex, The Sun Also Rises, That Forsyte Woman (which strikes me that he was the only one in the cast who read the book), The Sisters, Gentleman Jim, Dive Bomber...

Which also reminds me that in that article the author said that his movies with Olivia were great, the ones with Bette not so great. I beg to differ, I think some of his best acting was opposite Davis. Again I think some are laboring over a false perception of his skills. Have they actually watched these films, or just given a perfunctory glance at them and decided the chemistry couldn't possibly be there? Because I think both their films are absolutely great, especially on Errol's part.

[MissGoddess]

That Forsyte Woman (which strikes me that he was the only one in the cast who read the book)

Totally agree with you there. He IS Soames. And a man less like Errol Flynn you can't imagine.

[JackFavell]

Completely. Personally, I think he comes off best in the film, talk about invested in a role!

You know I hope someday the movies that weren't popular in his day are re-evaluated for their strengths. He deserves a lot of credit for that performance and so many others.

[charliechaplinfan]

He had read the book and had his pick of the male roles and picked Soames, even though Soames wasn't a nice character and what Soames actually does to Irene can't be put across on screen, you've either got to rely on the viewer having read the book or having a good imagination, a lesser actor would have picked Irene's lover. I liked That Forstye Woman, the teaming of Flynn and Garson works suprisingly well, whereas Robert Young, an actor who's work I've liked pales in comparison.

The teaming of Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland didn't challenge either of them, perhaps the exception is They Died With Their Boots On towards the end of their partnership, I do like them together but there's no growth of the partnership whereas with Bette there's more room to develop a relationship. I'm so glad that Bette reevaluated Errol's work and had the grace to say so. And naughty Olivia got her own back on Flynn's practical jokes on her, there she is in the Flynn documentary, an octagenarian telling us what she did to provoke him on the set of Robin Hood.

[JackFavell]

Robert Young had his own frustrations with his roles I think as well.

I just wish they could have opened up the scope of what roles he was suited for, after Soames, he could have done some nifty noirs, but it never really happened, did it?

[charliechaplinfan]

He'd have been fantastic in noirs. There is a film he made with Barbara Stanwyck called Cry Wolf which is good but just a bit lacking in the script, we're meant to think that Flynn's charactere is a bad througout but it's not the case, a bit of a tighter script and it could have been a top drawer noir thriller.

[JackFavell]

I just watched Cry Wolf, and I enjoyed it every bit as much as I do Suspicion, which is similarly plotted. In fact, I liked the whole idea here, it made a bit more sense with the two siblings one good one bad. I wish Flynn had done more of these types of movies.

[charliechaplinfan]

Yes he was good, he could play harsh characters like in Cry Wolf and Soames, he can be both sinister, stern, ill humoured but his looks and bearing want us to believe in him being good but he has the potential to be either equally well. Interesting casting with Barbara Stanwyck, Flynn suits the strong female stars he was matched with, it feels that at last he's met his match whereas his earlier films his looks were mostly enough to wow the women who were more girlish and usually Olivia de Havilland who grew immeasurably as an actress when she was allowed to leave Flynn's side.

[JackFavell]

Yes, I thought he walked that fine line very well. It's nice to see him stand up to Stanwyck and be every bit as good as she was, I like the movie an awful lot.

[CineMaven]

A CINEMATIC MAVENATIC SHALLOW MOMENT:

Have you ever seen a dream walking? Well I have...



The photo below is my favorite photograph of Errol Flynn:



Absolutely...Impeccable.

* * * * * * * *

I dvr'd "Cry Wolf" today even as it was playing on in my background. The usually affably charming, dashingly smiling Flynn plays it straight in this film with Stanwyck...and kind of mean & stern. Is he kind of Georgie-like but not as nuanced? I'll really have to watch the movie to see. At one point he grabs Stanwyck roughly and really looked like he yanked her ( whoa! ) All I saw was images floating across the screen as Stanwyck looked so little next to the tall leading man. I can see what you both are saying re: Flynn in noir thrillers. I guess we all travel a certain path as did Flynn and nothing could persuade him or studio suits from straying onto the path of "What if." A shame.

[JackFavell]

Yes! I think this was definitely a kind of Sanders role. I really liked it a lot, it kept you on your toes. And I liked the atmosphere of it. Give me a shadowy house movie from 1945-1949 and I'm happy.

[charliechaplinfan]

I love your favourite picture of Errol, I've never seen it before, I think it's my favourite now too.

[RedRiver]

My sister is not a classic movie fan. But she likes Robin Hood. "Errol Flynn in tights? That one I like!"

CINEMATIC MAVENATIC!

[moira finnie]

Errol Flynn, being broke and virtually homeless after losing millions on the disastrous production of William Tell and having the IRS on his trail, accepted an offer to appear in an English-made screen musical, Lilacs in the Spring (1954) from Herbert Wilcox, the producer-husband of British star Anna Neagle. For those of us who have enjoyed Flynn's capering in Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), this very rarely seen film offers us another chance to see this side of Flynn's talent.

According to Thomas McNulty's Errol Flynn: The Life and Career (McFarland, 2004):

"Lilacs in the Spring was a major feature for Flynn at a time when he needed the work. The critical reaction was typical for this type of film: they were amused and complimentary but most critics felt the film was padded with too much sentimentality. The film begins during World War II with Neagle as an entertainer who suffers a concussion and imagines herself first as Nell Gwynn, then as Queen Victoria, and finally as her own mother who is squired by a song-and-dance-man named John Beaumont (Flynn) during the First World War. In this sequence Flynn performs a song-and-dance routine with Neagle and teh sight of Flynn demonstrating another side of his talent is enjoyable."

"Although Lilacs in the Spring must be regarded as a minor Flynn feature, it nevertheless has a great deal of merit. The film did reasonably good business at the box office in England, but in the United States, where it was released as Let's Make Up, it suffered from limited bookings and disappeared quickly. Wilcox later said: 'Flynn was an outrageous personality." Adding to this he noted that Flynn's "love of living defeated his ability as an artist.'"

"Recognizing that Flynn was no longer in demand with American audiences, the advertisements attempted to sell the film by offering a revised image of the actor. The American poster promised:

A NEW ERROL FLYNN--WITH THE SAME OLD MAGIC!"

Lilacs in the Spring (1954), is currently on youtube:

[youtube][/youtube]

[JackFavell]

Awesome! I can't wait to watch it... I love that number in Thank Your Lucky Stars, he looks like he was born to be a vaudeville singer/comedian.