Adventure story loosely based on the life of Errol Flynn
Unfortunately the Australian lead doesn't seem that much like Flynn. May be an impossible task though.
shareI watched it 2 weeks ago before reading his book. I found it cheesy and poorly made. Now after reading his autobiography and currently reading Beam Ends, I wanted to revisit it and it's not so bad. Lol, funny how that works! Also aside from the Guy Pearce film, he's the only one with an Aussie accent in an Errol bio role.
shareTrue, though his Aussie accent was not that strong by the time he was in the movies, It seemed more like Mid-Atlantic.
Have you seen a British show called Traitors (2019)? I recently did and thought that one of the guys looked a bit like Flynn, more than anyone I've seen in a long time at any rate. He was one of the British MI5 or MI6 guys who comes in toward the very end of the series.
I found it curious that Aussies think Errol never lost nor even tried to hide his Aussie accent in any of his films, just tempered it.
I have not seen Traitors, is it good? I have seen very few Flynn films until recently because someone recommended I give him a shot since I like Stewart Granger. I noticed this actor they got has a similar cleft chin as Errol. Honestly I think they should get an Aussie to play Flynn if ever a good biopic is made, I find his character and look very Aussie.
Traitors was okay. You could do worse. The worst part of it is that it's all made up, not based on a true story. That's true of other spy shows too, notably those of John Le Carre, but with Le Carre, there is always an interesting overarching and philosophical theme. That is missing with that one.
After Flynn got out of the business, the studios tried to make Granger the new Flynn. He's good, but not quite the same. He lacks the dash and swagger, but has more humanity, more in the direction of Gregory Peck.
I've seen practically every Flynn film ever made, even very obscure ones, just because my dad was a big fan. No one has ever really quite managed to capture what he had though. Did you know his mother was one of the descendants of the Bounty mutineers? Quite a scandalous crew and I think that rascality lived on in him.
The Aussies did make a movie about his early life there. Have you seen that one?
You know, I don't mind films or shows that are very mythical or made up, like Dragon: The Burce Lee story. What matters to me is the spirit or legend of the real incident or person is preserved. And of course if done well.
Oh yes, I read both My Wicked Wicked Ways and Beams End this past week. And now I'm reading Earl Conrad's bio on him.
Idk about Peck but I love him! Ever since I saw him in The Man In Grey. Did you know he had no body double in any of his fight scenes in Scaramouche? I posted all the trivia and stories on the filmboards movie boards. I can only count in 1 hand all the films of his I didn't care for. But he elevates every film he is in!
I have seen MWWW on yt which is OK and In Like Flynn. I started watching Flynn with Guy Pearce, but heard so many bad things, I stopped and haven't gone back yet. I think the Pearce film is based off Higham book which has long been lambasted and discredited.
Ps. Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get notified you replied to me.
The thing with Traitors is that it's in a historical setting and it's kind of annoying that they start deviating from what actually happened.
Yes, I've read those. Should also read the one by his stunt man, which is pretty good, and the one by Florence Aadland, the mother of his last girlfriend. He also a chapter in the Scottie Bowers' book. If you go on the tour at Hearst Castle, they tell you that Flynn was invited up by Hearst one time. He never made it because he was caught making out with a woman on the way and sent back to LA. His good buddy David Niven spent a lot of time there though.
Yeah, Granger is good. Have you checked out the special features on the Scaramouche DVD? You know the scene where the chandelier falls within inches of his head. He refused to do it because he didn't believe they had rigged it right. They tried it without him and the thing drilled into the floor. Good thing he was so smart.
Yes, In Like Flynn is the Aussie one. I gave My Forgotten Man (the Pearce one) a 6/10. It probably is based on Higham. I read that book too. The film is kind of fun at times, even if some parts are wholly made up. Same applies to My Wicked, Wicked Ways. See your earlier comment about not minding made up things! 😉 Someone should make an IMDb list of films about Flynn!
I generally liked the Kevin Kline one about the older Flynn.
Do you have a favorite Flynn film? I'd say probably Captain Blood.
Have you seen The Sun Also Rises? Probably his strongest dramatic acting (as distinct from action/adventure).
I have ebooks on Flynn but I'm in search for Nora Eddington and Florence Aadland's pdf on Flynn. I also want to read the book on Freddie McEvoy, the author thinks he was possibly murdered!
Never heard of Hearst castle, I'm from the Philippines btw. But the story about being kicked out because he was caught with a woman is hilarious! I find myself enjoying stories about his sexual escapades and brawls, lol! Someone said he loved 2 things the most: fighting and sex, and he combined both in cock fighting! Hehe.
About Scaramouche, no I didn't see the special features but I read about it (from Granger's autobiography)! Here's all of the Scaramouche trivia I posted on the Scaramouche board:
https://www.filmboards.com/board/t/Stewart-Granger%2527s-Aurobiography-3501351/
I did like the Kevin Kline film actually.
Well my 3 favorite Flynn films are conventional and unconventional:
Elizabeth and Essex
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Escape Me Never
Watching all these swashbuckler films has given me the itch to read the books. But since I'm on a flynn bio book binge, I fear I won't get to read those novels.
I have seen The Sun Also Rises, funny, despite bloated and a bit of overweight Flynn, he still looked the best of everyone except for Ferrer who looked the youngest and healthiest but he is no handsome looker.
In terms of acting I liked him best in those 3 I mentioned above and Too Much, Too Soon.
Oh really? Seems to be quite a story from what I saw on Wikipedia.
Ah, I see. Hearst Castle, the mountain home of the wealthy William Randolph Hearst (said to be the prototype for Citizen Kane and an actual character in The Cat's Meow -- also a good film on the period) is a wonderful place I've toured many times. Almost all of the stars of the golden age visited there at some point. Must have been incredible weekends.
Yes, he also loved archery. After the Robin Hood movie he used to hang out with the guy who taught him archery, learning and practicing the fine points. Other interests were pranks, writing, very young girls, vodka, and drugs, unfortunately.
Aha, nice contribution on filmboards -- thanks!
Flynn didn't like E&E very much. Bette Davis was the real star of that, and did not like him.
The Charge is fun though the history is pretty dodgy. I feel bad for the horses being knocked over by the trip wires that were later outlawed.
Escape is definitely and aficianado's pick! Flynn was trying to get away from action-adventure roles at the time, and do some real acting, but those films didn't really succeed that well. Needed better scripts maybe. He was okay I thought.
Yes, Flynn can be hard to recognize at times in TSAR, but at the end of the film, in the morning, when he has just had enough of that woman and her antics, and bends his head down, you just feel it's real, so real.
Ah, yes, Too Much, Too Soon. Could say Flynn was born to play that one, about his old friend.
I've only heard about McEvoy from his book MWWW and a bit on the errol flynn blog. But I try to avoid reading to much in case I read the book. I know it's real life but even in real life I avoid spoilers! Lol!
Interesting trivia on Hearst castle, ty. I did watch CK but not the latter.
Do you have any trivia on how good he was at archery? A picture of him handling a bow and arrow on his sailboat was posted on reddit and he was lambasted on there for his form. Idk anything about archery so I have no idea if they were right or just troll haters.
Yes I did hear about his scuffle with Bette but I still like the film, enjoyed their chemistry and honestly I like Bette as an actress. If I had to choose between her and Joan Crawford, I choose Bette. Similar to Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, I pick Al. Between Elvis and The Beatles, Elvis. I like the hammier and more intense ones lol! Also when she rewatched E&E in the 70s with de Havilland, she realized and said he was actually very good in it. So I like that she can change her mind and opinion on things.
Yes I heard and read that TCOTLB was dodgy history but boy was it fun to watch! Idk if you've heard of the anime Attack on Titan. It featured a badass and totally spectacular cavalry charge, and watching TCOTLB reminded me of AOT. Or vice versa really since Errol's film came 80 years prior. But I wonder and I'm almost sure that the AOT spectacular charge was influenced by Errol's film. And like you said, due to 25 horses dying and Errol's friend, I cannot imagine that charge being replicated or topped today or in the future. As horrific as it was, it produced a fantastic sequence and also gave awareness to the abuse of animals on film.
Errol is a bit of a contradiction isn't he, as a child and adult, he exhibited cruelty towards animals. But also in other instances, empathy, when he attacked Curtiz and defended them.
Cont....
I really liked Escape and imo all 3 top cast gave a phenomenal performance. Also I enjoy some of those old fashioned romantic films, usually Gothic. This wasn't a Gothic film but it was shot and looked like a Gothic romance film.
People praise Flynn in his latter years but him playing drunks always make me hesitant if we're seeing acting or just Flynn drunk and high. In TM,TS however, we get to see a more complex performance, especially the transitions from sobriety to the bottle.
I think he didn't drink more than he could tolerate while working, because that's really impossible to do, but he certainly did act from experience. He'd put a little vodka in milk a couple times a day I think, not enough to be drunk. I believe he got to the point that if he didn't have vodka he didn't feel well and couldn't be calm. He even had vodka before he testified in his rape trial, he claimed, and I think that was in the movie.
shareYou know I always see that in films, people putting or mixing alcohol in milk, juice (more understandable), coffee and etc. I can never fathom the taste., especially coffee?
Yes in Conrad's book, they tried working without his morphine or alcohol but he would shake, would not be able to concentrate, get fidgety, etc.
Apparently he started drugsto help with his writing, it didn't.
I guess because vodka doesn't have that much flavor it's a good additive if you're just addicted to alcohol.
Yes, a lot of people try that to relax their inhibitions, but it's not a solution.
I'm trying to think where I heard about the archery. I think either in the book by his stunt man or in the DVD extras for Robin Hood. Can't quite remember, or much detail though. Sometimes a photo at a bad moment can be misleading I suppose.
Really hard to choose between Joan and Bette. I guess I've seen quality from Bette in more pictures, but Joan in Mildred Pierce was extremely impressive. I'm probably opposite of you on the other two. :) Maybe I'm too intense and so prefer not so intense?
Yes, Errol was complicated and did have a softer side. Overall I'd say it was his impulsivity that would do him in. He'd just constantly give into things and people that he shouldn't have. He just didn't spend a lot of time thinking things over first.
I was at De Havilland's childhood house not too long ago, shortly after she died. Wonderful place that's not too far away. Very fine actress who kept getting put with Flynn. They liked one another, but weren't suited I think.
You know I'm a pretty intense person but also very reserved and guarded, so maybe that's the reason I like these wild intense actors? They get to release theirs.
Yes I notice he is impulsive, do things, say things, think later lol!
Funny many pair them as unrequited soul mates, your the first I've come across who disagrees. I have no opinion but I wonder if anyone is suited for him tbh. Also with all his women, strange he never found that sporty adventurous girl. He tried to make his girls into one but always failed. Maybe he was looking at the wrong basket?
It could be. Good working thesis.
Maybe Beverly was closest to a good match for him, but as she grew older he probably would have started to lose interest unless he started developing himself and achieving some emotional growth. He would need someone who wouldn't mind his affairs and maybe have some of her own, yet they would forgive, forget and come back together. But people were less open to an open marriage concept back then.
Idk, I don't think open marriages work, but I'm not a westerner. We have different cultures.
Before his first wife, he was with older women though, honestly from what I gather from Conrad and other books on him, he has no real attachment to anyone. Once the fun or engagement is over, he is off to a new one, no sentiment, no hesitancy, and it applies to all indiscriminately: friends, lovers, acquaintances, employees.
Almost always not, I agree. But I think there are a few for whom it may be the best option. Big stars tend to be a bit out of the ordinnary in the first place.
I think mainly because they were more experienced, which interested him because he could learn things, and because they knew how to corral him. Probably there were a lot of others we don't know about though.
Yes, pretty much, though he was showing a fair amount of attachment to Beverly late in his life.
I think his experience with his mother and first wife, turned him off older women tbh. Also like Conrad said, he had a natural inclination for the younger girls (especially in PNG), but the trial pushed him to rebel and flaunt it all the more. That and his bitterness towards women, especially challenging women, pushed him to younger ones.
Lol, here we are psychoanalyzing him, or maybe that's just me doing it. Attempting to understand the inexplicable.
Oh yes, 1:30am here, up watching Istanbul.
Yeah, I'm sure most of this goes back to his mother.
(PNG?)
Ah yes, Istanbul. Not sure if I've seen one. Should try to track it down some time.
Hey, fyi, I just found out that Florence Aadland's book on Flynn is available on kindle.
And I just learned that apparently Flynn has a General Aussie accent thanks to this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnioDeQNlxQ&pp=ygUOYXVzc2llIGFjY2VudHM%3D
Lastly, I just saw Uncertain Glory today and Operation Burma yesterday, love LOVE both films! I was surprised how good the film quality was for Operation Burma, you could see their pores and I even caught a skin wart, lol! It looked like a film from the 60s! And it made you care for the characters and like them, I was so frustrated that they were ordered to go north!
I also really loved Uncertain Glory, this film really showcases Flynn as an actor. It still shows his wit and charm, but also a more serious and nuanced side. He had amazing chemistry with Paul Lukas, it was like a love story, haha! A love story of two people who came to respect and somewhat become friends. I love their banter and snide remarks. I loved Flynn always trying to trick Lukas and Lukas always on his guard, particularly when Flynn bought him some meds for his flu and the confession scene. Also, is it just me or was he super HOT in this film?
I think I prefer Flynn when you see a more complex side to his character, and most especially when it's a combination of both his sly roguish charm and a more serious side. So I would like to amend my top Flynn films to top 5, they are all rated 9/10 for me:
Elizabeth and Essex
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Escape Me Never
Operation Burma
Uncertain Glory
I notice I like a lot of his underrated films.
cont.....
Finally, I finished The Young Flynn and yep, a very good book! Somewhat shatters the myths in his autobiography but only somewhat. I think I caught like 2 factual mistakes in the book or maybe it was just a typo. I also read a blog about a certain aspect of Flynn's past that the book contradicts, so I have no idea which is real or which isn't. In that way, the Flynn myth still survives! And that's what I love about his autobiography, the myth of what is and isn't real! It makes it all the more fun!
I'm currently reading Showdown, his semi-autobiography. I say semi because it's about the Sepik river and Shames (the protagonist) has 2 love interests: 1 is a Catholic nun.
Now, here is the intriguing part, back in PNG, Flynn left a trunk of his belongings in a hotel. The couple who owned the hotel, would often just put aside trunks of people who leave it with them for safe keeping. Flynn never returned for his things but, when the wife (I think her husband had died by then) was set to leave PNG for Australia, she found Flynn's trunk. She opened it and threw away everything but his journal. This was in 1935 but Captain Blood had not come out yet, so she had not realized the importance of the journal (only that he might want it back). She attempted to return the journal back to Flynn sometime in the 40s, but his people wouldn't let her see him so she kept it. On her deathbed, she feared people would get their hands on the journal and sell it to the tabloids that would reveal too many private matters. So she tore and burned some pages from it, she felt were best kept secret, she also feared for people's reputations.
Anywhoo, long story short, Flynn here mentions staying with a Lutheran mission and seeing a Lutheran girl who was a missionary. The pages concerning her were torn out but Flynn in his books tends to change the names of people and certain aspects so that a level of privacy remains. I think the Catholic nun in his book Showdown was the missionary Lutheran girl he met when he was 20 (the one mentioned in his journal). So the Flynn myth continues!
"After Flynn got out of the business, the studios tried to make Granger the new Flynn. "
Granger's film career began in the mid 1930s, and Flynn's continued until the late 1950s. Flynn was never "out of the business" while Granger was acting, until he died in 1959, by which time Granger's image had long been firmly established.
I love almost every Granger film. He too was a complicated man but more reserved and introverted than Flynn. I think he is a fantastic actor, athletically and as a dramatic one. But th earliest film of his I saw where he wasn't an extra was in The Man In Grey in 1943.
Are there 30s films of his you could recommend where he was a bit more prominent? I saw Convoy but it was a small part.
Do you have any movies about Errol to add to this list?
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls084086120/
Also here's a list of obscure, but good films from the Golden Age:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls089936531/
Well, not exactly biopics but weren't the characters in My Favorite Year and The Rocketeer (based on higham) based on him? The latter has long been discredited, but the idea was based off the false image of him.
Thanks for the 2nd list!