MovieChat Forums > Escape Me Never (1947) Discussion > Flynn and Lupino are great!

Flynn and Lupino are great!


I'm in the camp that thinks this is a very underrated movie. It is usually panned as being among the worst of Flynn's films, and as having a melodramatic story. It's true that the story is somewhat cliched, but what movie story isn't? There are only so many story lines, as writing experts point out, and this one isn't any worse than most others. And the actors are all so good, that one doesn't really care if it's cliched or not. It may not be the super-production that Flynn's best swashbucklers were, but it isn't that kind of film. It is a small film, that focuses on human relationships. I think it's nice to see Flynn in such a film. It really gives him a chance to flex his acting muscles, and to try to make a somewhat unsympathetic character at least fairly likable. That he carries it off pretty well is a testament to his often underrated acting talents. His character here is a cad, but you still kind of like him. And he does come around in the end.

Lupino was good in just about everything, I think. She was stereotyped as the high-strung, hysterical woman, but probably because she was so good at those roles. Such as in "They Drive By Night." But she could be tender and romantic, too, as in this film. And to later morph into a first-class director- not too bad! Her film "The Hitchhiker" has been an audience favorite for years.

Flynn and Lupino have great chemistry together, and you can sense their real-life friendship in the way they act towards each other on screen. This was made at the time they were spending many hours together off-screen. With their good buddy, director Raoul Walsh, and with Lupino's mother, Connie, they did a lot of partying and hanging out. You'd love to have been a fly on the wall at those times. Lupino always spoke well of Flynn, and you wonder if she always carried a torch for him. Such a strong, sassy woman might have been a good romantic match for him. Though his wanderlust might have caused many problems.

Anyway, it's not a bad film at all. And such Old Hollywood films had so many things going for them- great stars, good supporting actors, a slew of wonderful character actors, the army of studio technicians, etc., etc. These films may have been the products of a factory system, but they were pretty good factories.

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sorry... nothing personal... just sticking with the trend here.

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