The Errol Flynn Blog

Hey, Hey Paula! Always so great to hear from you!

It wasn’t the funeral of a Russian aristocrat, but it was the very poitically-charged, joint funerals of pro-communists. It was a major anti-Fascist event.

Several days earlier, Charles Boyer starred in La Bataille at the local cinema, located in a pro-communist commune in the suburbs of Paris. 500 or so Fascist attended the showing of the film, which stirred up a major riot and resulted in the extremely controversial killings of pro-communist protestors.

[img]http://www.benitomovieposter.com/catalog/images/movieposter/20546.jpg[/img]

The memorial service Errol and Lili attended was a result of the following:

“The riot which broke out at ______, an industrial suburb of Paris, on Tuesday night gives some indication of the passions aroused in the Paris workers by Fascism in France. The Patti Social Francais, which is the illegal Croix de Feu under another name, had taken a cinema in which to hold a meeting. This legitimate exercise of the right of free speech appears to have been taken as an act of provocation. The cinema was attacked by 5,000 anti-Fascists, who were driven back by gardes mobiles, mounted Republican guards, and Colonel de la Roque’s own supporters. In the riot five men were killed and over 200 injured, including the Mayor of ______ and M. Blume’, private secretary to M. Blum. The volume of the casualties is sufficient evidence of the violence of the riot, which shows how easily the progress of M. Blum’s government may be disturbed by spontaneous outbreaks of this kind.”

This was the extraordinary political milieu Errol entered into in 1937 Europe, the prelude to World War II.

[img[/img]