Errol Flynn

[moira finnie]

I'm confused about the Hurst book, our library has it available to be ordered printed in 2000, is the copy you spoke of Moira an updated version? Unfortunately they don't stock the McNulty book, it's way too expensive for me.

The Hurst book was on the market for a brief time, but was withdrawn without public explanation. I suspect that the issues involved may be complicated by the Flynn and Hurst estate claims on material in the book and/or the publisher had hoped for more interest among book sellers and, not receiving as much as needed to justify a further reprint of the book, withdrew it from circulation. Still, there appears to be many people still interested in the book, especially since Hurst was supposed to have had access to previously unreleased material on Flynn.

I wish my library had the Hurst book. I'll have to look into an interlibrary loan in the future.

[charliechaplinfan]

When I tried to reserve it they actually haven't got it but they have copies on order yet still have it listed for rental. There is a copy on Amazon Marketplace, the seller is asking an astronomical amount. We'll have to keep our eye on the publication date, I'm sure it will get published eventually.

[klondike]

Here's the trailer for my second-most-favorite Flynn role:

[youtube][/youtube]

[charliechaplinfan]

It's a very good movie, I remember it from my childhood.

[feaito]

Since there's a thread especially devoted to Errol Flynn I think that the right place to post this opinion is here:

“The Dawn Patrol” (1938). On Saturday night I saw this truly excellent War film set in 1915, about a Squadron of British Flyers stationed in France during WWI. I have to say that I haven’t seen the original 1930 Howard Hawks film starring Dick Barthelmess, so I can’t compare both films. This wonderful “buddies” film benefits from an excellent cast and especially the tremendous rapport and chemistry between Errol Flynn and David Niven as the two friends of the story. Also of note is Basil Rathbone’s performance as the Commander of the Squadron, not impersonating a villain in a Flynn film for a change, but a more human, multi-dimensional character. The combination of the excellent dramatic scenes on earth and the amazing flying sequences taken from Hawks’ film, make this movie a winner and it contains, in my opinion, one of Errol Flynn’s most heartfelt performances. A complete winner.

Included as a bonus on the DVD edition of this movie is “The King of Swing” (1938), a rather amusing short subject that stars Hal Le Roy in a satire of The Prisoner of Zenda in which he’s teamed with a very Young June Allyson (playing the Princess of the story). I almost did not recognize June in her costume.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched Cry Wolf with Errol Flynn and Barbara Stanwyck, I think it could have perhaps done with better direction or editting and it's probably stretching it a bit to imagine that Barbara had just left college but it was a fun film, it seemed there was no way to redeem Errol's character, even though I'd watched it years ago I couldn't remember the twist, it was good to watch two pros act in an enjoyable film. Errol didn't always get costars of the top rung which is what Barbara is to me and Errol is a breathe of fresh air from Barbara's usual co star, Flynn takes top billing.

It's 1947 and he's 38 Flynn was to die 12 years later, his handsome looks are still very much in evidence, no blurring of features, he looks his age, no older. Somewhere along the line his dissolute life caught up with him and I don't think he ever found what he was searching for. He'd have made a great character actor, which I'm sure I've mentioned before. Poor Errol.

[JackFavell]

I was amazed yesterday watching a bit of Don Juan, at how good Errol looked and he seemed genuinely light-hearted in this film. I didn't see much of it, but I would have thought this was the last movie he would want to have done at this point. After reading about him in that Raoul Walsh bio by Marilyn Moss, who portrays him as a big prima donna and pain in the neck, it has been refreshing to see him in movies like Uncertain Glory, Don Juan and Desperate Journey. Despite how he felt about the film industry, he seems to be having a great time in these movies and gives them his all, which is considerable. I wish the author had gone into Walsh's friendship with Flynn, but she stayed steadfastly and boringly with Walsh's film chronology, concentrating on memos from the studio in order to explain Walsh's and Flynn's behavior on set only. It seems to me that this misses the entire outside life of the men discussed, both of whom had enormously interesting lives outside the studio - if someone ever writes my bio, PLEASE, don't just talk about how I behaved at work!

Have you seen him in The Forsyte Woman? He's absolutely a revelation in it to me, I think he could have been a brilliant character actor, had there been some decent roles out there for him. Things he could sink his teeth into and get away from that image that stifled him so.

[Maricatrin]

I think he could have been a brilliant character actor, had there been some decent roles out there for him. Things he could sink his teeth into and get away from that image that stifled him so.

Couldn't agree more.

Objective Burma and Rocky Mountain both opened my eyes as to what a truly fine actor he was, something that does tend to be forgotten.


"I guess that's all we have to hang onto, a few little customs from the past... just to remind us there was a past."

[CineMaven]

...I wish the author had gone into Walsh's friendship with Flynn, but she stayed steadfastly and boringly with Walsh's film chronology, concentrating on memos from the studio in order to explain Walsh's and Flynn's behavior on set only. It seems to me that this misses the entire outside life of the men discussed, both of whom had enormously interesting lives outside the studio - if someone ever writes my bio, PLEASE, don't just talk about how I behaved at work!

"BIOGRAPHY OF A MOVIE BUFF"
by CineMaven

"It was somewhere on a dark and stormy Oklahoma night, when little Wendy, nee Wendy Favellspenskaya-Lynde was born, the second child of Jack & Maria. She was a teeny tiny little thing with fabulously curly red hair. She cried a lot, poor kid. (She wanted straight hair, but alas...heredity ruled). Her older sister was not sympathetic to her new baby sister. "WHAT'S SHE DOIN' HERE?! I WANNA GO OUT AND ROLLER SKATE!!!" Her parents threw up their hands in despair over their new bawling baby. "WHAT ARE WE TO DO. WHY CAN'T SHE BE LIKE HER SISTER. SHE NEVER CRIED." One day with little Wendy on her father's knee just crying like the little baby she was...her father changed the channel from a football game during a commercial break. Little Wendy's father turned the channel to Million Dollar Movie for a moment where a black & white movie was playing. It was not unusual to see black & white because the Favellspenskayas did not have a color tv. "The Thin Man" was aired for the tenth time that week. The sweet dulcet sounds of William Powell wafted through the tiny Tulsa farm house and quieted little Wendy down. Why, the infant positively cooed. Her young parents almost missed it, ( dads are oblivious ), but Mom noticed baby Wendy stopped crying. When Dad thought sufficient time had passed, he turned the channel back to the Packers vs. the Giants game. Bart Starr was on a holy roll!!! Baby Wendy's face turned beet-red (almost matching her hair color) and her plaintive cries began again. "CHANGE THE CHANNEL BACK!!!" yelled Mom from the kitchen. (She was making Wendy's favorite formula...Gerber's Baby Amaretto mixed with condensed Carnation Milk). Startled, Dad changed the channel back to "The Thin Man", and noticed his little daughter stopped crying. "I WILL GIVE UP FOOTBALL FOREVER," yelled Mr. Favellspenskaya while tossing his brand new daughter on his knee. She spit up on his boots.

But a movie buff was born...and it was many years later before she went to work and tried her hand at banking, acting and writing about classic films."

Have you seen him in The Forsyte Woman? He's absolutely a revelation in it to me, I think he could have been a brilliant character actor, had there been some decent roles out there for him. Things he could sink his teeth into and get away from that image that stifled him so.

I wonder if fans would have really wanted to see Flynn any other way than dashing and swashbuckling.

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, that is hilarious!

And not far from the truth, except we lived in Norman, Oklahoma, I wasn't a redhead, my dad never watched a football game in his life, and my sister was an absolute angel to me when I was growing up. Well, mostly. I was the devilish second child.

Oh, yeah! And in Oklahoma, we had almost no classic films on TV, except the Bowery Boys on Saturdays and once a year, the Thief of Baghdad. Although for years I longed to see It Happened One Night, and when I finally did see it, I suddenly flashed back on a memory of Claudette Colbert running down the church steps and across the field in her gown with the long train and veil....and realized I'd seen it when I was about four years old. It must have been a big event, showing it in Okla. at the time.

I admit, I love Errol swashing his buckle, he's really such a good actor that he actually defines the genre for the sound era. And I'll also admit that it's taken me years to be able to watch him later in his career, and playing at different types of roles.

[CineMaven]

Whew! Your sense of humor...I am soooooo lucky you have it. (I could be cruising for a bruisin'!)

As for your biographical info:

* Norman, not Tulsa
* Not a redhead
* No football
* Angelic big sister
* Not much classic film tv.

Yay!!! I AM A BIOGRAPHER!!!! I got your life all mostly wrong!!! I'm on my way to a new career!!!!

[JackFavell]

Ha! No, but the gist of what you were saying is that the first time I saw classic films (after I moved to Illinois), I was hooked! And that's true. That would be about 9 years old.

Oh and William Powell? YES.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think the early Errol was a bit of a ham, he wasn't taking it seriously but that quickly gets put to one side, when he starts taking it seriously he does get handed some scripts that don't stretch him but he gets some good ones including The Sisters and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex with Bette Davis as he aged he got better and better. I'd like to see more of his later work, I have seen some of The Forsyte Saga which makes me think that I must have seen it on youtube at one point, I was very impressed with Errol, like in Cry Wolf with Barbara Stanwyck, he treads the fine line, we don't know if he's good or bad, we could believe either, it's Barbara who's a bit stilted in this film.

Last year I caught a radio programme which was about Errol's involvement in Cuba, he'd gone and interviewed Castro and was preparing a documentary about Cuba and Castro's rebels, listening to what was left behind it was a very erudite man who made those documentaries.

David Niven always said it was Bruce Cabot that finally did for Flynn by taking him to the cleaners after William Tell failed.

[JackFavell]

What's this about Bruce Cabot? He sued him?

I read something about those interviews. Didn't he do extensive work on them? There was so much more to Errol. He had sailed around the world on his own, I believe, before he ever came to Hollywood (I think George Sanders did too) and did a hundred different things. He was supposedly quite a correspondent at one time, he loved to write.

[moira finnie]

What's this about Bruce Cabot? He sued him?

Above: Errol Flynn with Jack Cardiff (right) on the set of William Tell.

When making the ill-fated William Tell with an excited Jack Cardiff as director and cinematographer on the CinemaScope movie in Europe in the early '50s, Flynn went out of his way to hire his old friend and drinking pal, the unemployed Bruce Cabot, whose career was going through some serious doldrums at the time. Flynn put up half the money for the movie (about $450k). Flynn had even sweet-talked the Italian govt. into ponying up $145k as well as an incentive for the postwar Italian economy. When the financing fell through on William Tell due to some bookkeeping finagling from some Italian money men (led by a Count Fossatarro), a heartbroken Flynn had to abandon the project--even after he had advanced more of his own cash to keep the project afloat. In addition to all this, Al Blum, Flynn's business manager, knowing that he was dying also took the actor's remaining fortune and blew it all--reportedly mumbling "Tell Errol I'm sorry" with his last breath. Then the IRS told Flynn he owed them close to $1 million. His friend Mr. Cabot sued Flynn, seizing his car and his wife's wardrobe in the process. The cameras, film stock and other equipment were also seized. Very ill with jaundice and the emotional impact of these events, Jack Cardiff truly thought that his friend Flynn was about to die at this time, especially after he was hospitalized with liver failure.

Errol being Errol, he rebounded from this fatal illness (for the moment) and recouped $300k after this debacle. How? By going on a cockamamie game show called The Big Surprise and winning the dough! You couldn't make this up as events in a novel, but if you were Errol Flynn, it really might have happened as you can read in the well-documented Thomas McNulty's Errol Flynn: The Life and Career, or Jack Cardiff's Magic Hour, or Jeanine Basinger's The Star Machine.

I always thought that Bruce Cabot had a mean streak when seeing him in movies, but this was really telling.