— Tim
“Errol Flynn, the Face of Adventure”
23
Dec
If you’re in, near, or plannin’ on tourin’ Turin, you can join in to see Errol Flynn, il volto dell’avventura” celebrating (Italian Style) collaborations of Flynn and Curtiz, commencing in January with Captain Blood.
Monday, January 8, 2018
“The first review of the year in the bibliomediateca offers four films with Errol Flynn, led by the genius director Michael Curtiz: on the bill some of the best action and adventure films made in Hollywood between the thirties and forties. The review “Errol Flynn, the face of adventure” will be inaugurated by the screening of “Captain Blood” by Michael Curtiz, the film that marks the beginning of the artistic association between the actor and the director.”
— Tim
Looking for Lakshmi
23
Dec
What became of Lakshmi?
She was a wealthy, upper-class,
Balinese beauty, with brown skin and enormous mocha eyes. Her mother was a princess from Sumatra. Sean wanted to marry her, but her parents wouldn’t allow it.
If Sean had married Lakshmi, he would have likely lived much longer.
So, whatever happened to Lakshmi?
She was named after the elegantly-gorgeous Hindu Mother-Goddess, Lakshmi, bestower of fortune, beauty, and fertility.
— Tim
Mail Bag! Adventures of Robin Hood Mistakes!
21
Dec
The Mail Bag brings us this interesting list of mistakes in Errol’s classic The Adventures of Robin Hood from our fellow Flynnmeister Jan Vander vliet:
Enjoy!
Revealing mistake: When Will Scarlet finds the injured Much in Sherwood Forest about three quarters of the way through the movie, a white vehicle can be seen travelling from right to left in the background.
Revealing mistake: When Robin jumps off the scaffold after being saved from hanging, you can see one of the soldiers spear tips bend under his weight.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Robin is rescued from hanging, watch the shadows on the church in the background. It keeps going in and out of shadow.
Continuity mistake: After winning his fight with Guy of Gisbourne, Robin races to Marian’s door with his badly bent sword in hand. The moment he enters Marian’s chamber, the sword is perfectly straight again.
Continuity mistake: When Robin is competing in the golden arrow archery contest, Marion’s veil alters between being behind her right shoulder to in front of her shoulder, depending on which camera is shooting her.
Continuity mistake: The horse Robin is on when he is exhorting his men to return to Sherwood and the one he is on when he rides over to the right to slash the portcullis rope could be two different horses as their saddle cloths are different colours.
Continuity mistake: In the final swordfight, Basil Rathbone lunges past Errol Flynn, who dodges him and leaps to the floor below. Rathbone continues on dropping his sword at the base of the steps. In the next cut, however, the sword lies between Rathbone and Flynn – a good eight feet away – allowing Robin Hood to pick it up gallantly and offer it back.
Continuity mistake: The scene where Robin is being chased through Sherwood Forest, early on in the film, is supposed to be taking place at night. But, at several times, blue sky can be seen overhead. This was corrected on the DVD.
Continuity mistake: After escaping from hanging, Robin heads for the castle gate. The first time we see it, the portcullis rope Robin later cuts is hanging away from the castle in a nice loop. In the next shot it is hanging vertically, but reverts to being a loop again for the rest of the scene.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie when Errol Flynn is escaping from within the castle he starts with five arrows in his quiver. He shoots ten, and when he’s finished he still has five left.
Continuity mistake: Robin, in his escape from the scaffold, pauses on his horse before the portcullis and exhorts his men to return to Sherwood. He then rides over to the right, draws a sword from behind him and slashes through the rope which activates the portcullis and rides the rope to the top of the wall. No sword is seen on the horse when he is exhorting his men.
Continuity mistake: When the soldiers have the man tied to some wine barrels, they begin filling a metal jug, but then they throw a wooden mug over his head.
Continuity mistake: In the scene near the beginning when Robin is in the “great hall” — a spear is thrown at his chair. He arises in time to avoid injury, but the spear goes through the back of the chair. However, the next time you see the chair, there is no hole in it.
Continuity mistake: When Robin escapes from hanging, he jumps from the scaffold onto his horse and rides off, all with his hands tied behind his back. When he jumps, just briefly before the shot changes, you can see his hands break the breakaway bindings and grab the horse’s saddle.
Continuity mistake: In the feast in the forest scene which occurs after Robin Hood and his men capture Sir Guy’s entourage, Robin sits next to Marian and offers her a roasted bird. She refuses the bird, but when the camera cuts back to Robin he has a mutton leg. Next the camera goes back to Marian who looks at Robin who now has the bird agaain.
Thanks, Jan!
— David DeWitt
Trunyon Bali Aga
21
Dec
“I first heard about Trunyan in the 1970s when I was a Time correspondent in Saigon. According to local lore, the village was “discovered” by war photographer Sean Flynn, whose swashbuckling reputation equaled that of his Hollywood father, Errol. Flynn heard rumors of a mysterious people, unwelcoming of outsiders, residing in the shadow of an active volcano on the far side of Lake Batur, a water filled caldera created by a volcanic eruption 25,000 years ago. What he found after crossing the lake was a settlement of primitive Bali Aga who called themselves ‘the original Balinese’.”
— Tim
The Good Doctor
16
Dec
“Many years ago, he met a man whose last name was Flynn. My Dad immediately said “Ah I know that name.” The man sighed and said, ‘you probably have heard of my son Errol Flynn, the film actor.’ My Dad replied, “No. But I do know an illustrious biochemist of that name.” The man put his arm around him and said, “That is the first time anyone recognised my name rather than that of my son.” The pair remained friends for many years.”
— Tim
Mail Bag! Crossed Swords Remembered!
14
Dec
Vincenzo Castaldo writes us about his new book on the filming of Errol Flynn’s Crossed Swords circa 1954. You may remember him from a previous post last year. His book is finished and was the center of attention in the village of Lauro at the Lancellotti Castle where the movie was filmed when Vincenzo (who lives in Lauro) held a public showing of the film, and discussion of his book. It was a grand affair attended by all the dignataries of the town. Vincenzo speaks no English but does well with Google Translate:
Crossed Swords – Stories and anecdotes about the Holy Grail by Errol Flynn (Il Papavero).
(Il Papavero is the book’s Italian Publisher. It may also be purchased online, he says.)
The book, the result of a three-year research conducted by the author mainly between Naples and Rome, unveils the gestation and elaboration of “Crossed Swords” (M. Krims, 1954), a compelling and unknown film from ’52 and ’53 made in Cinecittà , at Real Bosco di Capodimonte in Naples and in the Irpinia villages of Lauro and Marzano with the main interpreters Errol Flynn and Gina Lollobrigida.
The book is divided into four parts. The first offers a historical synthesis of swashbuckling, which found fertile ground first in America and then in Italy since the Thirties, and pays tribute to stars such as Burt Lancaster, Sean Connery, Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp who, in the wake of the mythical Errol Flynn, have made the caste of the hood famous. The second focuses exclusively on the cinematographic work of Milton Krims, revealing the artistic and technical cast, the plot, the places and the various assumptions about how the troupe has landed in Lower Irpinia.
The third part includes a series of stories, stories and very funny anecdotes retrieved by the author, who interviewed the exclusive diva Gina Lollobrigida, Prince Pietro Lancellotti with his sisters Ginevra and Maria Cristina, who met the main interpreters during the realization of the film in the family castle, and several citizens of the time of Lauro who have lived the period of filming or have participated in the film with more or less important roles.
The fourth and last part includes news and various curiosities about the vicissitudes of the company during the period of the film, the journalistic reviews of the major newspapers of the time and those “found” by four great critics of Italian cinema, including the late father of David Gian Luigi Rondi.
Everything is accompanied by scene photos and amateur shots found by the author.
The book uses the preface by Valerio Caprara (well known film historian and journalist) and the afterword by Alessandro Cecchi Paone. A well respected journalist).
Thanks, Vincenzo!
— David DeWitt
Blimey, to Shelley Flynn smelled limey
12
Dec
Dear fellow Flynn fans,
those of us who read Academy Award winress Shelley Winter`s autobiography “Shelley, also known as Shirley” are well aware that she and Flynn had a fling going on. It dated back when our Hollywood hero was inbetween marriages two and three. She remembered him warmly and smelley…again that`s Shelley!
Enjoy,
— shangheinz
¿Quien era él?
10
Dec
Who was He?
He was an adventurer.
He was a Hollywood star.
He often wore a thin mustache.
The ladies liked him, and vice versa.
Studio big wigs considered him difficult to direct and control.
He was in Spain to record events during the Spanish Civil War.
He was in the mountains with Castro to record events of the Cuban Revolution.
He sailed a yacht in California, the Carribean, and elsewhere.
He had a prominent Hollywood wife.
He was well known for his role portaying a renowned heroic figure who courageously protected the poor and downtrodden against the rich, greedy and evil.
His first and last name had a total of three-syllables. One ended with an ‘l’, the other with an ‘n’.
— Tim
