Deal Flynnstones,
the western vehicle “Carson City“ was to hit cinemas in 1953 starring Errol Flynn and John Wayne.
But the Wayne filmed Hondo instead and Errol made and did not make William Tell.
The CC gig went to Cary Grant‘s favorite player Randolph Scott and his eerie opponent from “Arsenic and Old Lace“, Raymond Massey.
From looking at the obligatory western saloon bar brawl scene, the Duke and the Baron may have dodged a bullet: m.youtube.com…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
Robert James Gilbert Anderson represented Great Britain at the Olympic games in Helsinki of 1952 and finished fifth in the team sabre event.
One year later he got a call to coach Errol in “The Master from Ballantrae“.
During a rehearsal he superficially scratched Flynn’s thigh earning him the moniker “The man who stabbed Errol Flynn“ in Hollywood.
It also sparked a career in cinema as a fight choreographer and stunt performer unmatched in the field of sword and saber movies.
His vast work includes “Highlander“, “The Princess Bride“, “The Mask of Zorro“, “The Lord of the Ring“, “Pirates of the Carribean“, “Three Musketeers“, “The Guns of Navarone“, “From Russia with Love“, “Casino Royale“, “Die another Day“ and “Barry Lyndon“, as well as an unofficial outing as Dearth Vader in „Star Wars“.
In the documentary “Reclaiming the Blade“ he reminisced on a life of crossing swords: “I never took up the sword, I think the sword took me up.”
Which makes him the man who was taken up by the sword who stabbed Errol Flynn.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
let me share this rare snapshot of Errol Flynn and Frederick Austerlitz, the Nurejew from Nebraska.
Did it spark Errol‘s interest in putting on dancing shoes for once in Lilacs in Spring?
Then again he also was a big fan of Jackie Gleason‘s soft shoe shuffle.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
I am sure this party was a blast. Matter of fact the Bing and the Baron got along so well they planned on setting up a production corporation with another famous actor and a great director.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
surely you recognize this pirate debutante in a publicity shooting prior to her role in Captain Blood?
More pics: www.theerrolflynnblog.com…
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
with the world waiting for a new pope to be elected, Rome these days again is caput mundi.
Also Errol was very much in focus, once he arrived at Stazione Termini, visiting St. Peter and doing as the Romans do…(1:20 min.)
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
shortly after Easter, Mrs. Waltraut Haas passed over at age 97.
She was to play Maria, the second female lead, in Errol‘s ill fated Will Tell.
Never ill willed and always a good sport, she told us all about it: www.theerrolflynnblog.com…
She is an Austrian actress icon and will forever be remembered as Mariandl, a role that made her famous at the tender age of 17:
She enjoyed 80 more years on screen and stage alongside stars like Curd Juergens, Heinz Ruehmann and Karlheinz Boehm.
Although Flynn missed the appleshot and she never got paid, she spoke about our Hollywood hero fondly.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
Dear Flynnstones,
an epic picture is coming your way, where Flynn is and isn`t in.
A young lad named Brady Corbet brings us “The Brutalist”. After debuting with “The Childhood of a Leader” and the much loded “Vox Lux”, his third international feature film is a brutally honest and beautifully shot movie starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones and a fierce Guy Pearce.
British born and Australian bred Pearce was playing Errol Flynn in the 1996 released “Flynn”, retitled later as “My Forgotten Man”. Quite understandably so, since it is a most forgettable film (User-submitted review of “My Forgotten Man”). Inaccurate, sensationalist and highly influenced by Charles Higham`s hoax biography, it is one of the few flicks I did not bother watching to the finish. But this was by no means Guy Pearce`s fault. Remember, that same year he did “L.A Confidential”, the until then deemed unfilmable novel from James Ellroy, excelling at the role of bespectacled cop, Ed Exley, opposite another great actor from way down under- the New Zealander Russell Crowe. The Aussie and the Kiwi got along great and do so to this date. Guy went on filming the monumental “Memento” with Christopher Nolan and earned an Emmy for the remake of Michael Curtiz` “Mildred Pierce”, courting Kate Winslet. Versatile to the hilt he can be seen in films as diverse as “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, as action heroic as “Iron Man 3” and as pop corney as “The Time Machine”. He also appeared in two more Academy Award winners, “The Hurt Locker” and “The King`s Speech”. Three may be his lucky charm, because he is nominated this year in the category of Best Supporting Actor.
Harrison Lee Van Buren, a chip of the old prick like the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Astors is the epitome of the American capitalist. He wants to do good on his deeds bestowing boons on the less fortunate fellow citizens. He envisions a community center built in honor of his late mother, high on a hill overseeing the small town of Dudleyville, PA. He commissiones the project to Lázló Tóth, an accomplished Hungarian architect well versed in the style of Bauhaus-Brutalism, who escaped the Nazi concentration camps. The artistic intellectual Lazló had to leave his wife Erzébet and niece Zsófia behind, but does everything he can to fit into society in order to be able to bring them over too. Brody picks up right where he left off at his Oscar performance in “The Pianist” and plays Tóth with a subtle, humble and weary inclination towards the American Dream. These two antagonists feed off each other`s energy, and mix very much like the planned center`s components of concrete and Carrara marble. Tóth is aware that whenever he is put on a pedestal by his benefactor Van Buren, a brutalist by nature, it can turn into a hangman`s chair at a moment`s notice. Survival is the dish of the day and his austere architecture is the symbol to go along with it.
Corbet`s film is constructed like a two part theatre play. It has an overture, an epilogue and an interval of 15 minutes like in the good old movie time days of a David Lean. Incredibly it boasts 215 minutes, was filmed in VistaVision, and wrapped up in mere 34 days at a budget of only $10 million.
Another Aussie film and music video director, John Hillcoat, who worked with him on three occasions, elaborates on Guy Pearce`s fortes in a GQ article: “Australia is a remote colony…and being a colony we have this antiauthoritarian attitude and we`re quite irreverent. It is an extreme place. We have a kind of not-giving-a-fuck to us, not playing by the rules, not doing what`s expected.”
Our man Flynn would agree.
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
