Dear fellow Flynn fans,
I summon you to a quizzical sequel of yesteryear`s:
Who knows more of these announced, bounced & trounced film projects of Errol?
Dragonfly- our Hollywood hero vesting the uniform of an Air Force officer and gentleman.
The man who cried- an epic 4 hours lenghty follow up film to “Hello God” with director William Marshall about the perfect murder.
Escape from Elba- planned as his last film under the guidance of producer buddie Barry J. Mahon.
Ivanhoe- was Errol actually supposed to play the Black Knight or would he appear opposed to Robert Taylor in his second (cameo) outing as Robin Hood?
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Wow, multidimensionalheinz. We almost got to see an epic Errol helping to win the Korean War … I mean Conflict … in Blu-Ray 3D! With The Rifleman, no less.
store.olivefilms.com…
This is It!
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[img]http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/airbourne.jpg[/img]
Well, Topgun Tim, Errol should have made that one. He and his wife Pat would have been a perfect (p)air force.
Heinz; I hope you can provide more details on these projects if at all possible. The ones I had heard of were ‘The White Witch Of Rosehall’ based on the real-life Jamaican legend and ghost story. Errol Flynn even paid a top Hollywood screenwriter James Edward Grant to write a screnplay. What happened to the film project or even the screenplay? It was too late in Flynn’s life and career. The script may still turn up. Another project proposed was ‘Michael Collins’ based on the historical Irish hero, Flynn himself wrote a story treatment for a proposed film ‘White Rajah’ that he actually sold to Warner Bros. A movie book store in London was selling Flynn’s typewritten copy for 5000 Pounds Sterling in 1995. Is it still there for sale? Your guess is as good as mine. Ralph Schiller
[img]http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/white-rajah.jpg[/img]
Dear Rajah Ralph,
from what I read, it was actually Sylvia Brooke, the Ranee of the last WR that wrote a short story called “The great White Rajah” pitching it to Warners. Errol was enthousiastically tinkering with the script and the adopting the idea of becoming the film version of the souvereign of Sarawak. He went to great lenghts to convince Sylvia of his take on the WR. See:books.google.at/books?id=5AHHAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=sylvia+brooke%2Berrol+flynn&source=bl&ots=wZjk51xD1N&sig=F2xcdtifD8PMB6u4T-TKXSS9J6o&hl=de&sa=X&ei=ckfaVMeTMcfraN22gKAH&ved=0CGUQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=sylvia%20brooke%2Berrol%20flynn&f=false…
Now about that typewritten copy, I doubt that Errol even did one tip of that typing, because a certain William Ulmann Jr. was given credit for co- writing. But I remember that we had this conversation before, last year right here on the blog. However, the unmade film got an advanced crosspromotion in in another Warner Bros. film with Ronald Reagan, if I am not mistaken.
Hi Heinz;
I read in one of my Errol books or some place that Errol sold his script to Warners for $1o- or $20.000.
Now I wonder how much truth is in that?
Also, I wonder what year that was when Sylvia met Errol in his house and Lili being present?
Sarawak was invaded by the Japanese in 1941 and Errol was not with Lili anymore, so i wonder about the dates of it all?
Toronto Tina, so good to hear from you! Here is another, maybe a more accurate account of the happings on Errol`s rug: books.google.at/books?id=iXn72j1_X6AC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=errol+flynn%2Bwhite+rajah%2Bannouncement&source=bl&ots=G6vkuU6Z0h&sig=hV4tz49dC1DD_ChWL00VsL6vLGw&hl=de&sa=X&ei=wIbaVN6YJMf0UtrugIAM&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=errol%20flynn%2Bwhite%20rajah%2Bannouncement&f=false…
For clearity on the timeframe we should also take up Ralph`s hint of the Warner Bros. “Boy meets Girl” movie.
The theater marquee behind Young Mr. Reagan* in this Boy Meets Girl scene proclaims “The White Rajah”. Rumor was that Lloyd Bacon, who later directed Footsteps in the Dark, used this title as an inside joke, and that Errol was not happy about it.
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*Young meaning when he still pronounced his name with a long ‘e’, rhyming with Keegan.
Hi Heinz,
Thanks for the link and it sure is an interesting story. I think maybe it could have made a good movie.
Anyway, here is a picture of Esca Daykin’s house on 12 St. Leonard’s Crescent,Toronto a kind of middle class neighborhood. Not upper – middle class!
[img]http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-7.05.44-PM.png[/img]
Heinz; I can’t verify that Errol Flynn personally typed the screnplay of White Rajah. I was only reporting what the movie bookstore owner claimed. I never actually saw the script or even had it in my hands. My conversation was strictly a long distance telephone call and I figured for 5000 British Pounds sterling or 8000 U.S. dollars better have been written by Errol! Yes White Rajah is mentioned in some other Warner films (Boy Meets Girl)which would indicate that J.L. Warner was planning to make the film. One thing I can safely say is that Errol has absolutely no connection to the infamous Black Dahlia murder case!! Your obedient servant Ralph
Ralph, that kind of cash buys you a white tiger. The Black Dahlia case would have provided Errol with ample info for his “The man that cried” project. I wonder if the four hours running time were meant to make up for the 60something minute Marshall “Hello God” picture.
[img]http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ceasars-wife.jpg[/img]
News on the above mentioned projects just in. They were part of a picture package with British Producer Wilcox. Part of it would have been a play from W. Somerset Maugham called “Caesar`s wife” (a love triangle story) and “Escape from Elba” a histopic about Napoleon.
Errol never said anything to me about being in Ivanhoe at all. By ’51-2 his star power was sinking and perhaps he couldn’t face playing second fiddle to Taylor. I knew Taylor quite well thru my buddy Bob Middleton and it was Taylor who one day mentioned that EF had once been up for a role in Ivanhoe. I assumed that he meant Ivanhoe and the subject was never brought up again. Taylor was a good guy and certainly as handsome as Flynn, but with no verve or dash. I would think he was glad EF wasn’t in the same film since Taylor was a bit of a lump on a log in period pictures, though damned good when playing a cop or detective. He had a super voice and looked better than Flynn at that stage. Sadly, though EF looked reasonably good from a distance, up close he was a mess and had that dreadful leaden look in his once-sparkling eyes. In fact, when I bumped into him in later years at the Garden of Allah, for one moment I didn’t realize it was him–he had no impudence or verve left! Steve
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Dear Ivangoe,
Errol made up and came up a bit short with his own version of a dark knight with “The Warriors”. Still I wonder did he ever talk about a second outing as Robin Hood? Wasn`t there a sequel planned to the “The adventures of RH”? It would also have been possible to reappear at a later time in the “Rogues of Sherwood Forest” starring John Derek and Diana (!) Lynn.