This was Australia’s first full-length feature film with sound. It told the story of modern descendants of the Bounty crew on Pitcairn Island as well as the oft-told story of the mutiny. The tiny, 2-square mile uninhabited island became the home of the mutineers in 1790 and their colony was unknown until 1808. Errol did a great job as Fletcher Christian in his very first acting job. Ironically, MGM bought this film, threw out all of Flynn’s scenes and used the documentary parts of it to publicize their movie “Mutiny on the Bounty” with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton in 1935. Note: The exteriors of this film were excellently photographed but the use of interiors mixed with them made the movie uneven. Flynn went back to New Guinea directly after filming wrapped but the idea of being an actor had already taken root.
This was Errol’s first swashbuckler but it put him out in front as Hollywood’s biggest adventure hero since silent screen actor Douglas Fairbanks. It was also his first meeting with director Michael Curtiz and there was no love lost between the two even though they would be together for 11 more films. The story was based on Rafael Sabatini’s novel about an Irish physician Peter Blood, unjustly accused of conspiracy against the throne. He escapes his jailers and becomes a pirate, rampaging through the Caribbean. Oh, and of course, he falls in love with Olivia de Havilland again (they will do this for another 7 pictures). The cast also included Basil Rathbone (Errol would meet him again, too), Lionel Atwill and Guy Kibbee. Note: During one of the more rugged scenes, Errol had to swing from one boat to another and fight a duel. As he was finishing the scene, his knees buckled and he fell to the deck shivering and shaking. The malaria had struck again. Afraid that he may lose the role, he grabbed for his usual antidote….a bottle of cognac. The next scene was a blur. Jack Warner called him in to his office and delivered a scathing sermon. His final words to Errol created a new word in the lexicon…”No more Flynnanigans”!
“Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of death Rode the six hundred.” Based on these immortal words of Alfred Tennyson’s poem about the battle of Balakava between the British 27 th Lancers and the Russian cavalry, it was a stirring saga. The British Board of Censors warned the studio not to take “extravagant and contemptible liberties” with their history but the studio ignored them. The scriptwriters , as usual, twisted history to fit the movie. And, in one scene, the Union Jack was inadvertently flown upside down! Recklessly, Errol did most of his own stunts including taking his horse on a jump over a cannon. But he blamed the accidents that occurred during filming to Curtiz’ relentless desire for realism. One man was killed during the shoot and many of the horses were so badly hurt they had to be destroyed. Errol himself called the SPCA about the inhumane treatment of the horses.
Filming on this lavish color picture began on September 27 th, 1937 shortly after Errol returned from Spain. Two months later, and behind schedule by more than 2 weeks, Jack Warner replaced director William Keighley with Errol’s nemesis Michael Curtiz. Curtiz drove the cast for long hours but finally finished the picture on schedule. But it was Warner’s most expensive film to date at a whopping $2,033,000. Errol still did most of his own stunts but the studio and his own common sense dissuaded him from attempting some of them. For example, he wisely allowed a stunt double to leap from the gallows, hands tied behind his back, onto the back of a horse! However, Errol took both archery and fencing lessons to be able to do the others. He was the quintessential Robin Hood in feathered cap and green tights winning the hand of sweet maid Marian, once again played by his favorite leading lady Olivia De Havilland. And Basil Rathbone was again at the other end of the duels! Note: While in Spain. Errol met up with a pal from his New Guinea days, Dr. Hermann Erben. Erben was one friend Errol could have done without since Erben proved to be a known Nazi sympathizer and later spy for Hitler’s regime. It caused totally untrue rumors to arise in the press about Errol.s patriotism. Errol wrote “Beam’s End”, the fictionalized account of his 10-month, 3,000 mile voyage on the first “Sirocco” in 1930.
The billing for this picture must have been hard for Bette Davis to swallow. She was already an Oscar winner (for “Dangerous” in 1935) and actually had the leading role in this picture. But Errol had top billing and got more money than Bette because, after two big hits, he was Warner’s hottest property! The story followed the lives of three sisters for the four years between presidential elections in Silver Bow, Montana. Bette played the oldest, Louise who runs off and marries a handsome newspaper reporter (Errol, of course) who finds it hard to handle commitment. He leaves her alone and pregnant in San Francisco where she loses the baby after an earthquake. But they get together later during a family reunion in Montana. Errol proves he can do drama with nary a sword or ship in sight. This was a “chick flick”, ladies, long before that term was coined!
This was a remake of the Howard Hawks 1930 film but most film critics consider it the best. It is also viewed as Flynn’s best war movie of his career. But there are no women in the cast….it is an all-male crew. The story concerns WWI British flyers fighting a German war ace (based on Richthofen) and woefully outnumbered and outclassed by their enemy. These are green pilots going up against a more seasoned foe at the command of Major Brand played very well by Basil Rathbone. Errol (as Courtney)and David Niven ( his best friend off screen) play cocky, devil-may-care fliers who have several bad names for their commanding officer. The two comrades fly a successful mission, destroying planes at one German airfield and Brand is promoted upstairs because of it. That leaves Errol to take command and he also has to send young pilots to their possible death. One of those youngsters is the kid brother of his best friend. Courtney learns how difficult it is to command in a losing battle. Note: Basil Rathbone’s son Rodion plays one of the young fliers in the opening scenes.
The war in this picture never made it to the movies. It all happened even before shooting started. Warner Bros. had purchased two properties to make the movie…Lytton Strachey’s “Elizabeth and Essex” (1928) and Maxwell Anderson’s “Elizabeth the Queen” (1930). But the studio wouldn’t pay an additional $10,000 for the use of Strachey’s title and Errol wouldn’t consent to any title that didn’t refer to Essex. So the working title was set to be “The Knight and the Lady” and Olivia De Havilland was cast as his romantic interest. Whoa! That didn’t sit well with Bette Davis who actually wanted Laurence Olivier to play Essex. She refused to do the movie unless she got top billing and a more suitable title. So the title and billing was changed. But that wasn’t the end of it. When Bette appeared on the set she discovered that Errol was getting $41,200 to her $35,000 ….and then the cad twice refused to come to her dressing room for a drink! Flynn later admitted it was because she wasn’t his type! Note: Bette decided on the heavy make-up and partially shaved head against studio advice and got costume approval, too. In one scene where an angry Queen slaps Essex in front of the Court of England, Bette, laden with heavy rings and bracelets lets one fly and catches Errol right across the ear. He thought he was permanently deaf but then he heard Curtiz yell “Do it again”! Errol, never to be outdone, waited for the scene where Essex gives the Queen a playful pat on the derriere. The smack took Bette about two feet off the ground. She never spoke to Errol again off the set!
Another great swashbuckler! It is an elaborate movie based on Rafael Sabatini’s novel and a 1924 silent film directed by Frank Lloyd for First National. The studio actually hired a crew of nearly 400 men to build a full scale British man-of-war and a Spanish galleon. The “ships” sat side by side in 12 feet of water and were rocked by hydraulic jacks. But they did save a little money by filming in black and white in order to use available footage from other pirate films. Errol played Geoffrey Thorpe ( a character loosely based on Sir Francis Drake), the pirate captain who takes his “Sea Hawks” against the Spanish fleet for England and his Queen (Elizabeth I now played by a more placid Flora Robson). Flynn’s favorite leading lady ( Olivia De Havilland) wasn’t available so a new face on the lot, Brenda Marshall, got the role of Dona Maria. Claude Rains played her uncle, Don Alvarez, a spy for Spain who planned to glean secrets at the Court of England. Alan Hale and Henry Daniell were in the supporting cast. Notes: Michael Curtiz was almost as famous as Sam Goldwyn for murdering the English language. On the “…Hawk” set, while doing a duel scene, he yelled for quiet and then “Everee-bodee lun-ge”. The extras all left the set on their lunch break.
The story deals less with dive bombing and more with the tireless work of three men to solve the problem of pilot blackout at high altitudes. Errol plays a navy medic whose goal is to get pilots to higher altitudes where they would be above and beyond their enemies without loss of consciousness. He is aided by a veteran flier (Fred MacMurray) and a flier-turned-medic (Ralph Bellamy). Alexis Smith plays Linda , Errol’s love interest with Craig Stevens and Robert Armstrong along to keep things hopping and Allan Jenkins for comic relief. The film exteriors were filmed at the San Diego Naval Base. Notes: This was Errol’s last picture with Michael Curtiz although neither knew it at the time.When Errol finished this picture, he left for a tour of 22 countries in Central and South America, a goodwill mission to promote his films and encourage anti-Nazi solidarity.
This was the last picture that Errol would make with Olivia De Havilland and he even gets to marry her before the end of the movie! The storyline takes George Custer (Flynn) from a cocky, undisciplined West Point cadet to his still cocky but heroic Civil War days and later to the western frontiers and his last battle. In the interim, he meets and marries Libby Bacon (Olivia). It is during the Civil War that he is nicknamed “The Golden Cavalier”. In the West, Custer is in command of Fort Lincoln in Dakota Territory …and makes his fatal last stand at Little Big Horn. Watch for Sydney Greenstreet blustering as General Winfield Scott, Arthur Kennedy as Sharp and Anthony Quinn in the role of Chief Crazy Horse. However a tragic accident on the set marred the production. One of the extras carried a real sword instead of a prop weapon and, when his horse bolted during one of the gunpowder explosions , he let go of it. The sword landed upright and he fell directly on it. The blade went right through him and he died instantly. Notes: Michael Curtiz was supposed to direct this picture but he and Errol got into a fist fight on the set before filming began and Jack Warner wisely decided to change directors.
Still looking like “The Perfect Specimen” of 1937 Errol gets into the boxing ring as “Gentleman Jim” Corbett. However, in one scene during a boxing match, he collapsed on the set. There’s an old saying that “looks can be deceiving”. The report was “nervous exhaustion”. This true story (Hollywood style) takes Corbett from bank clerk to heavyweight champion of the world. Alexis Smith, his leading lady from “Dive Bomber”, is back with him again and his pal, Alan Hale from “The Sea Hawk, gets to play his father in this one. Ward Bond plays John L. Sullivan who loses the championship to Corbett and Jack Carson plays Walt. Notes: Errol has now built a bachelor house, shed a wife(and much of his hard-earned loot) and gained a son, Sean. He also became an American citizen.
The studio and Errol Flynn were at war again….with Great Britain! Apparently Britain took umbrage at the idea that Flynn took Burma back from the Japanese single-handedly and banned its first showing. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall and Lester Cole revolved around a group of American paratroopers sent as an advance force into Japanese-occupied Burma. Errol plays the troop leader with George Tobias as the wise-cracking guy from the Bronx. Henry Hull is the correspondent who travels with them and became hysterical when they come upon a platoon butchered by the enemy. The battles are photographed by expert photographer James Wong Howe. They looked so real, especially the scene when the Japanese attack in the dark, that it is hard to believe they were all filmed on location….at a California ranch. This was considered to be the best of Errol’s war pictures. Notes: Errol now had a second wife, Nora Eddington, one daughter and one on the way! He was also declared physically unfit for military service (a report the studio hushed up).
Not the usual Flynn fare! Errol gets top billing in this mystery/melodrama but Barbara Stanwyck holds her own. Errol is the master of the manor confronted by the widow of his late nephew, who suddenly appears at the funeral. She suspects god old uncle Errol of skullduggery, especially when she finds her late husband isn’t really “late” at all but confined to an old lodge on the estate. The scene where Babs runs terrified through the woods while trees, crickets and Mother Nature take on an ominous cacophony, is a humdinger. Support is supplied by Richard Basehart as the nephew, Geraldine Brooks in her first film as his sister and Jerome Cowan as the uncle who wants to be senator. Also watch for John Ridgely as the brother’s “caretaker”. Notes: In 1946 Errol’s new contract with Warner Bros. allowed him to work for other studios. He was also able to set up an independent production company, Thomson Productions, to produce this and one other film. It was more for tax relief than profit.
No more Mr. Nice Guy! As Soames Forsyte, Errol was possessive, materialistic and, even a bit sadistic as he ponders what to do about his wife’s infatuation with another man. It seems Mrs. Soames (Greer Garson) is smitten with her niece’s fiancé (Robert Young). Janet Leigh is the niece, Walter Pidgeon is the young Jolyon Forsyte and Harry Davenport as the elder Jolyon round out the supporting cast. The script deals with only the first book of John Galsworthy’s “The Forsyte Saga”. MGM had planned to do this picture 16 years earlier as a David Selznick project starring the three Barrymores. Notes: Harry Davenport , age 83, died shortly after doing this picture. He had been an actor for 77 years.
This was considered Errol’s last good swashbuckler. Unlike “The Sea Hawk” it was in glorious color. And Errol also had titian-haired Maureen O’Hara to add to the color. He had already severed ties with Warner Bros. and was now on his own. Errol played Brian Hawke, a British naval officer turned spy, who poses as a cashiered seaman and sets oars for Madagascar’s pirate coves. He meets “Spitfire” Stevens, a lady pirate with her own ship, no less. Anthony Quinn becomes his nemesis as Roc and Robert Warwick plays Captain Kidd. Of course, there are the usual bevy of beauties as pirate booty and they have Mildred Natwick to chaperone them. Alice Kelley plays Princess Patma. Notes: Errol was now married to his third and last wife, Patrice Wymore More about Errol…
Sean Flynn, Errol’s son by to Lili Damita disappeared in Vietnam in 1970 and is presumed dead. He was a photojournalist. His daughter, Arnella by Patrice Wymore died of a drug overdose in 1998. Because she outlasted Errol, Patrice Wymore got all that was left of his estate. While he left $10,000 to each child for their education, there was nothing for second wife Nora or his last mistress, Beverly Aadland. In 2000, Patrice sold the family’s cliff-top house in Jamaica for $30 million leaving the children and grandchildren high and dry! |
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