The Errol Flynn Blog

 

With the arrival of the auteur theory, filmmakers like Michael Curtiz no longer get as much sway among the current generation of directors. Curtiz (born Kertész Kaminer Manó in Hungary in 1886), was a journeyman, a man who flourished in the studio system after being picked out by Jack Warner for his Austrian Biblical epic “Moon of Israel” in 1924. He stayed at the studio for nearly 20 years, taking on whatever he was assigned at a terrifyingly prolific rate — he made over 100 Hollywood movies up to “The Comancheros” in 1961. And some of them are terrible, as you might expect.

But Curtiz was also responsible for some of the greatest films of the era, and those who diminish his abilities (including the director himself, who once said “Who cares about character? I make it go so fast nobody notices”) are ignoring his enormous skill behind the camera, and his undeniable capacity for getting great performances out of some of the biggest stars in history. And slowly, his reputation has been restored over time – Steven Soderbergh (who, coincidentally, joins Curtiz as one of only two filmmakers to pick up two Best Director Oscar nominations in the same year; Curtiz for “Angels With Dirty Faces” and “Four Daughters,” Soderbergh for “Traffic” and “Erin Brockovich“)  has praised his work, and the younger filmmaker’s “The Good German” is in many ways a tribute to his forerunner.

Curtiz died fifty years ago today, on April 10th 1962, and to commemorate the anniversary, we’ve picked out five of the director’s finest works as a starting point for those who want to dig into his wider career. There’s plenty more gems where these came from — the filmmaker was incredibly versatile, ranging from action-adventure to musicals, comedies to melodrama — but these are the five highlights of a colossal output.

“The Adventures of Robin Hood” (1938)
In 1935, Curtiz had helped popularize and legitimize the cinematic swashbuckler with “Captain Blood,” a thrilling pirate tale that picked up a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and saw Curtiz come second in the director category, despite not having been nominated (write-in votes still held some power back then…) Three years later, Curtiz returned to the big screen, along with his ‘Blood’ stars Errol Flynn (who would become a favorite of the filmmaker: this was their second of twelve collaborations) and Olivia De Haviland, having refined and perfected the formula, with “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” In fact, Flynn wasn’t the first choice: Jimmy Cagney had originally been targeted for the part, but left Warners, causing a huge delay until Flynn eventually took over. And it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the part: Flynn’s roguish charm and sheer pleasure in his adventures (a far cry from the joyless takes by Kevin Costner or Russell Crowe) has defined Robin Hood for generations to come. And his supporting cast are absolutely his match — de Havilland is sweet as Marion, and having Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains as the pair of sniveling villains is pretty much an unmatchable combination (it’s like having Gary Oldman and Alan Rickman playing a duo of evildoers today). Despite the attempts of Costner and Ridley Scott over the years, this is still the definitive cinematic take on the British outlaw who robs from the rich to give to the poor, with genuinely glorious Technicolor (the film was only the studio’s second experiment with color at the time), and action sequences as thrilling as anything that’s ever been seen on screen — principally because so much is done for real, right down to the famous scene of the arrow being split in two (albeit aided by bamboo arrows and wires). It’s perhaps too sincere and irony-free for contemporary audiences, but it remains one of best action-adventure movies in cinematic history.

“Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938)
The dawning of the Production Code era meant that, however popular the gangster picture was, it would always end the same way: the antihero would meet his demise, normally through a hail of bullets, to demonstrate to the audience that crime didn’t pay. But that ending’s rarely been pulled off with as much a sense of genuine tragedy as Curtiz managed with “Angels With Dirty Faces.” It’s a familiar tale by now, following two kids from the wrong side of the tracks who take divergent paths. After Rocky (James Cagney) takes the fall for a streetcar robbery pulled with his pal Jerry (the actor’s great friend Pat O’Brien, who would co-star in nine films across nearly forty-five years, up to 1981′s “Ragtime“), the former would grow up to be a powerful mobster, the latter a priest, trying to keep kids — played by the young actors who would go on to be the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys – on the straight-and-narrow. But Jerry’s drawn back in when Rocky comes up against a pair of sinister businessmen, Frazier (Humphrey Bogart) and Keefer (George Bancroft); Rocky kills them when they target Jerry, who’s about to expose their corruption, and is sentenced to death. To stop his death becoming a martyrdom to the kids, Jerry persuades Rocky to go the electric chair as a coward, and he dies screaming. It’s undoubtedly moralistic, but the relationship between Cagney and O’Brien feels so etched in truth that it carries a weight and heft that’s rare for even the golden era of gangster movies. Curtiz is in fine, noirish form, particular in the climactic shootout, and the rat-a-tat script (thanks in part to a polish from Ben Hecht andCharles MacArthur) remains eminently quotable.

“The Sea Wolf” (1941)
Never released on DVD in the U.S., and mostly forgotten by this point, surviving principally through rare TV airings, Curtiz’s adaptation of Jack London‘s sea-set adventure is probably the best candidate for the hidden gem of the director’s filmography. The story follows a writer (Alexander Knox) and an escaped convict (Ida Lupino, excellent as a character invented for the screen by writer Robert Rossen of “All The King’s Men” and “The Hustler” fame), who are caught in a shipwreck, and retrieved by the tyrannical Captain Wolf Larsen (Edward G. Robinson), who faces mutiny from his cabin boy, George Leach (John Garfield). Rossen’s script is a model of great adaptation, departing from London’s text to make it more cinematic while still capturing its spirit and its characters, and given it was released as the Second World War was underway, Larsen’s near-fascistic figurehead has a resonance that still rings today. It’s one of Curtiz’s most complex works — a world away from another Flynn vehicle, swashbuckler “The Sea Hawk,” which landed the year before — with a psychological realism that would pave the way towards the likes of “Mildred Pierce.” And once more, there’s a titanic star performance at its center. Edward G. Robinson was best known for gangster movies like his star turn in “Little Caesar,” but he gives arguably his finest performance here as Larsen, a complex monster who isn’t without his moments of sympathy; his final scene, blind and raging, going down with the boat, is staggeringly brilliant work. The film suffers a little from a rather bland protagonist in Alexander Knox, but for the most part it’s a forgotten classic that we hope turns up on the Warner Archive sooner rather than later.

“Casablanca” (1942)
Based on a play that was, by all accounts, pretty terrible, and made under a frantic production that had a well-documented casting back-and-forth, few expected “Casablanca” to be anything but a forgettable programmer, a cash-in on the now-overshadowed 1938 box office hit “Algiers.” That it became a Best Picture winner (and responsible for Curtiz’s only directing Oscar), and one of the greatest American movies ever made, is a case of how, every so often, the stars align just in the right way. Because “Casablanca” is perfect across the board: a rich, gripping story, told through a script that never puts a foot wrong forward (thanks to the Epstein Brothers,Howard Koch and an uncredited Casey Robinson), helmed with uncanny sense of pace and tone by Curtiz and performed by a colorful, charismatic cast that once more showed the director’s capacity for picking the right face for a part (has any supporting cast ever matched the likes of Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre here?). And the film is a tricky balancing act, because it has everything that you could want in a movie — comedy, thrills, a great love story — but it takes a craftsman in the best sense of the word to make the elements work in harmony, and one can only wonder what would have happened if original choice, William Wyler, had helmed the film instead. Technically, it’s superb too: DoPArthur Edeson, who was also behind “The Maltese Falcon” and “Frankenstein,” was perhaps the finest cinematographer working at the time, and he lights Ingrid Bergman perhaps better than anyone’s ever lit a star, while giving the North African setting an unforgettable noirish tinge. If you’ve somehow never seen it, drop whatever you’re doing and fix that.

“Mildred Pierce” (1945)
By 1945, Joan Crawford had been a star for twenty years, but wasn’t exactly at the peak of her career: she’d been labeled as box office poison in 1937, and was bought out of her contract by MGM for $100,000. She went across town to Warner Bros in 1943, wanting to star in a movie version of “Ethan Frome,” but when that film didn’t happen, she stepped in for nemesis Bette Davis on an adaptation of James M. Cain‘s “Mildred Pierce,” despite the initial objections of Curtiz, who had to be convinced by a screen test. But the gamble paid off in a big way in the film that sees Crawford play a self-made woman, the owner of a chain of restaurants, tormented by her horrible little shit of a social-climbing daughter. It proved to be a major hit, and Crawford won a Best Actress Academy Award, putting her right back on top again. And even in light of Todd Haynes‘ five-hour HBOminiseries last year, an excellent, religiously faithful take on the same material that dumps the noirish murder subplot, Curtiz’s film holds up today in a big way. The director’s expressionistic experiments in light and shadow reach their apex here, with a flashback structure that feels like a knowing nod at “Citizen Kane,” and as ever, the cast is immaculate, and the pacing moves along at a neat clip. But ultimately, it’s Crawford’s show, and she’s phenomenal in the film. Her hunger to get back on top is almost palpable, but there’s little ego to the performance, with a maternal love that had rarely been seen from the actress before, and a true heartbreak when she sees how little gratitude her little monster Veda (Ann Blyth) has for her. As superb as Kate Winslet was in Haynes’ version, it’s always going to be Crawford that’s associated with the role.

Honorable Mentions: Most of his pictures with Flynn, including the aforementioned “Captain Blood,” “Charge of the Light Brigade,” “Dodge City,” “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” and “Sante Fe Trail,” are worth checking out, while his Oscar nominated work on musical “Four Daughters” is pleasant entertainment (as are “White Christmas” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” the latter of which has dated a little, but features a brilliant performance from James Cagney). He also virtually invented the sitcom, in big-screen form, with William Powell in “Life With Father” and helmed one of Elvis Presley‘s best films, “King Creole.”

— tassie devil

It was on a Sunday in February 2007 that the first post to this blog was put up. I thought it might be fun to repost it in February on the same date but got hung up, and missed the date and forgot all about it. I just remembered:

Published: Sun 04 Feb 2007 03:41 PM PS

Remembering Errol…
Excerpt:     None
Body:   

Who was Errol Flynn?

He it was who fought the evil-doers up there on the big screen when I was a kid growing up along the banks of the Snohomish River circa 1959.

I was ten years old when the great swashbuckler died, and clearly remember the day he died because I distinctly recall saying aloud… Oh, I liked him! when I saw his picture in my father’s newspaper and read that he had died in Vancouver, B.C. the day before. Vancouver was in British Columbia, Canada–less than two hours drive north from where we lived in a little logging community that surrounded a tiny lumber mill resting on the edge of the Snohomish River, near Everett, Washington. Not far to the south was the big city of Seattle–farther south, somewhere, was Hollywood where Flynn lived, I thought then…

All Movie Stars lived in Hollywood, I thought.

Where else would they live?

As a ten year old kid, my friends and I would play Robin Hood in the marsh between our houses. This area was about an acre of tall grass with a layer of mud and water under it. In the center of it was a tall tree with willowy branches. Nearby this tree was a cement block that was part of the foundation of a house or building long vanished from sight.

This cement block was a perfect place to swing on a rope from the tree, and land Flynn-like on the cement block, saying loudly “…Welcome to Sherwood, Milady!” as the other kids stood watching.

We created bows and arrows from tree branches (long bows) and shot at cardboard targets in a Tournament–and went about robbing the rich to give to the poor…

There were terrific battles between the Normans and the Saxons–in cardboard armor. We had long stick swords with handles that consisted of a short block of wood nailed across the end of the stick where are hands took up these sharply pointed “swords”. It is amazing that nobody lost an eye or was impaled when we whacked each other's cardboard armor to pieces but we all survived major injury.

It was disconcerting, however, to see the pointed end of a stick come tearing through your head armor (a small cardboard box with eye slits cut in it) and see the sharp tip whiz past your face… We were the Merry Men of Sherwood until dark and our Mothers called out our names to come home for dinner.

The day I read of Errol Flynn's death in my Dad's evening newspaper was a sad one for me and for the Men of Sherwood. But soon, I forgot all about him–and moved on to other childhood adventures. We built a two-by-four wide bridge across the swamp from the cement block to the edge of the sawdust pile–a distance of about a half block, for example. It was rickety, held up by posts driven into the soft swamp ground. We
scavenged everything we needed from the sawmill nearby. It had tons of discarded stuff to use for our scientific and engineering feats.

The days moved by quickly during those hot summer days of 1959–we climbed the Willow tree, and jumped off–catching branches to break our fall into the swamp's knee high muck. We sent expeditions into the surrounding swamp of green scrub, sticker bushes, and  thick-limbed trees to bring back scientific samples of flora and fauna. This was Stink Weed and Dandelions, and all manner of growing weeds. We boiled this up in

Terry Sullivan's mother's pressure cooker in their kitchen and went out to play on the rooftop of the Sullivan's garage. When we heard the explosion, it was nearly dark and Terry's parents weren't home, yet…

The mess was all over the kitchen walls, and their kitchen stank for a week. We got a real hiding for that one!

Other days were spent riding our bicycles round the two roads that came down into the Mill area–my brother never could stop that heavy framed bike with its oversized tires, so he just crashed into the grass or alongside Dad's car–or time was spent making tree houses. We had crew cuts in summer, collected bubble gum cards and seven up bottle caps (to go to the movies when you turned them in) and wore blue jeans all the time with a t-shirt. You could put a playing card held with a wooden clothesline clip onto the wheel of your bike to make it sound like a motorcycle as the card fanned against the spokes!

TV was a little black-and-white set with an arial on the roof of the house. There may have been seven channels including the Canadian channels. Sundays, it seems to me, there were sci-fi movies like the BLOB with Steve McQueen in a starring role. And there were Errol Flynn movies like Robin Hood, The Charge of the Light Brigade, and Dodge City. Red Skeleton was on, and Milton Berle…

I remember seeing Errol on The Red Skeleton Show. He played a bum and held up the remains of his yacht–a porthole!

Errol had a huge effect on young boys of my generation. He was the swashbuckling hero we all wanted to be! He sailed the Seas, he found Adventure and Treasure, and love–that part we could do without. He was always kissing GIRLS!

But he sure could swordfight! He could shoot arrow-after-arrow like you'd pull the trigger on a gun! And every one found its mark!

As the years passed I forgot about Errol Flynn.

I was in my twenties before he became interesting to me again. I had been reading some biographies of various people–adventurous people like Jack London, Frank Buck, Robb White, and Martin & Osa Johnson. Hemingway fascinated me. It was while reading about Hemingway that Errol's name came up. Errol Flynn! There was a reference to something Flynn said in a book called “My Wicked, Wicked Ways”. I wonder if I could find that
book anywhere, I thought.

It turned out that it was still very much in print and there was a paperback copy of it at my local bookstore. Then began some of best reading

I have ever come across in an autobiography. This story had it all… intrigue, mystery, adventure, laughs, tears… and it was all true!

Wasn't it?

Well… What wasn't true made a hellova story, and what was true was not always just a colorful story. You might read “My Wicked, Wicked Ways” as  a terrific novel–or a tall tale, yet, here is a legendary character that captures the spirit of adventure in the hearts of all young people who share the feelings of a young man who takes on more than he can chew at times but has his fill nonetheless of what life has to offer… he drank his fill both literally and figuratively of everything most others only dreamed of or read about in glossy magazines. He was kind, cruel–generous, mean, unpredictable, tormented, creative, foolish, brave, gullible, and had a genious for living larger than life. He
was intelligent, self-educated–a businessman, an internationally recognized actor, a writer, an explorer, a raconteur, a drunk, an addict. His life was a Shakespearean drama…

He was a lot of things to many people and he was less to himself than should have been. He was and is the quintessential bad boy–but he wasn't nearly as wicked as he was thought to be by those who didn't understand him, or those who envied him. He was dangerous. He was cultured, he was a joker, he was… curious.

He was a scientist, of sorts… that is, he knew the real world and wanted to understand it.

To experience it. All of it.

And for nearly fifty years, he did.
____________________________________

On that Sunday, February 4, 2007 we had 1 article.

Today’s blog has:

1250       Articles
2980       Comments

20       Photo Albums
443       Photos

Not bad…

— David DeWitt

If there ever was a second Errol Flynn this is the Man – 100%!
He maybe is a reincarnation of Errol who knows? Do you believe in reincarnation? I do!
I think he has it all and he is also 6'2″ on top of it!  See my Reply to Kevin in “Hello Friends” by John, with all the pictures I posted to compare the two in looks!  But Clive has it in more ways than one!  Look up Clive in Wikipedia, he is a trained swashbuckler – by golly!
Watch it – very worth while – to see what I mean! All I can say is  – WOW!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZD5ycc6990

— Tina

Since Wednesday I am deep in bed with

influenza and last night, awakening
from a sort of marathon sleep, switching on the TV and with in seconds I
was Bright Eyes and what scene do you think is right     in front of my
very eyes at this very minute? 

The very scene John describes in
his Titchfield article, Errol going accidentally into the ladies'
bathroom    I couldn't believe my eyes or my ears – I was stunt and
again I laughed my head off!  They actually used Errol's incident in a
movie.  There you see, the poor man couldn't even go to bathroom without
a movie being made of it! Ha – ha – ha!

Maybe this is old news
to some of  you, sorry, but maybe not to all of you, it
is news to me! Let's Enjoy!

At the time I saw the movie TCM's
schedule was different “The Ruling Class” also with Peter O'Toole, but
as per my research the movie playing was “My Favorite Year” 1982 starring Peter O'Toole in a divine
comedy and parody of Errol Flynn.  My research about this movie took me
to You Tube, I thought due to missing the beginning I could maybe see
it there, but what I found instead is an actual presentation of the
passage. What would the British say that?  I say, I say old

chap on you tube, you don't say?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7z-M92N4L8

It
is a most delightful movie “A Must Watch It” for an Errol fan, in
addition containing a very profound precious scene when Benjy
Stone is mad at Allan Swann (Errol) for having fears and being in
self-denial. Priceless!
Alan Swann:
Stone… I'm afraid. I'm afraid. That's why I couldn't get out of the
car to see my Tess, my child.

Benjy Stone:
Alan Swann, afraid? The Defender of the Crown? Captain from Tortuga? The
Last Knight of the Round Table?

Alan Swann:
Those are movies, damn you! Look at me! I'm flesh and blood, life-size,
no larger! I'm not that silly God-damned hero! I never was!

Benjy Stone:
To *me* you were! Whoever you were in
those movies, those silly goddamn
heroes meant a lot to *me*! What does it matter if it was an illusion?
It worked! So don't tell me this is you life-size. I can't use you
life-size. I need Alan Swanns as big as I can get them! And let me tell
you something: you couldn't have convinced me the way you did unless
somewhere in you you *had* that courage! Nobody's that good an actor!
You *are* that silly goddamn hero!

I think this is a very beautiful passage, extremely
fitting and to the point!

Movie Review – A Perfect Film
Comedy!
Have you ever watched a film and wished it wouldn't end?
Where you loved
all
the characters, adored each scene, and laughed at every joke, even after
you'd seen the film so many times that you could quote the dialog? MY
FAVORITE YEAR is that kind of movie!

Directed with gusto by
Richard Benjamin, the film is both a loving tribute
to Sid Caesar's 'Your Show of Show', and the remarkable talents that
brought
it together each week, and a sincere homage to Errol Flynn, whose antics
and
larger-than-life persona, in the waning years of his life, still had a
kind
of magic that could enthrall a shy young fan, or make a woman
swoon.

Three dynamic performances dominate the film. Mark
Linn-Baker, as Benjy
Stone, based on the young Mel Brooks, is a shy kid who hides his
insecurities behind a rapid-fire wit. The dazzling young star in a staff
of
comedy 'pros', Stone suffers from an unrequited love from fellow staffer
K.
C. Downing (Jessica Harper), and has an inspiration, inviting legendary
swashbuckler Alan Swann (Peter O'Toole) to appear on the show. As King
Kaiser, star of the hit series, Joseph Bologna captures much of Sid
Caesar's
legendary physical 'presence' and irreverence to authority. When
threatened
by gangsters over a 'too close to home' series of parodies about crime
boss
Karl Rojeck (portrayed with brute menace by veteran actor Cameron
Mitchell),
Kaiser 'thumbs his nose' at them, mimicking the gangster mercilessly.
“I'll
KEEP doing it!” he taunts. “Why? Because it's FUNNY!”

Then there
is Peter O'Toole's 'Alan Swann'. With his own career a roller
coaster ride of alcoholism, resulting in the near destruction of his
health,
no actor could have 'channeled' Errol Flynn better. Just as Flynn, by
the
1950s, O'Toole was a nearly burned-out roué, his classic good looks long
gone,
O'Toole's matinee-idol appearance, after years of self-abuse, had aged
into
a gaunt mask, making Benji Stone's film montage of 'classic' clips more
poignant. What Flynn still had, in abundance, were charm and a ready
wit,
and O'Toole's 'Swann' is so enchanting a personality that you can't help
but
love him, and root for him to succeed.

From the opening nostalgic
strains of Nat King Cole's rendition of
'Stardust', through Benjy's futile effort to attempt to keep Swann sober
(Red Skelton loved to tell how he kept Flynn sober on his program…he
emptied all of the actor's bottles of vodka, replacing it with
water…and
Flynn couldn't tell the difference!), to a riotous Swann dinner with
Benjy's
family, to the near-disastrous broadcast, with Swann developing stage
fright, and Kaiser brawling with mob enforcers…MY FAVORITE YEAR has
one
glorious scene after another, each unforgettable!

One of the
AFI's '100 Greatest Film Comedies', MY FAVORITE YEAR will bring a
tear to your eye, even as you laugh. It was a time of legends, and
heroes
who would live up to boyhood dreams.

Film comedy doesn't get any
better than this!

— Tina

G’day from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Hobart, Tasmania

This article from one of the worlds most respected film critics would have been read by people throughout the world and our society should be proud of our efforts to recognise Errol Flynn here in Hobart.

I corresponded with Mr Maltin and he requested a few more pics so with Rory's blessing I forwarded some to him especially Rory and our Lord Mayor unveiling the star and Rory at the reserve.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/archives/2010/01/14/a_swashbuckler_lived_here

Steve and Genene

— tassie devil