— David DeWitt
Archive for November, 2012
The William Tell trail- Errol Flynn`s swashbuckling swansong
18
Nov
Dear Flynn Fans,
thanks David for welcoming me aboard (schooner or pirate ship that is?).
I`ve been a big fan of Errol since the age of ten when I saw Robin Hood for the first time on TV.
Now 33 years later I dig for bits and pieces in all four corners of the globe concerning his abandoned William Tell- film.
We all agree that it would have been his second coming of Robin Hood and an instant resurrection of his career.
I dub this project: “The greatest film never seen on the silver screen.”
Fortunately one Austrian actress which was part of the cast still lives in Vienna and granted me an interview.
Mrs. Waltraut Haas remembered well her role of Mary and recalled some of the circumstances of the shooting in Courmayeur.
Most of all she was full of praise of Errol, his humour and gentleman attitude (he liked to flirt, but respected boundaries).
She told me when present, he was the first on the set, knowing well his lines.
She was rented out from German production firm “Herzog Film” for a rehearsing scene and beat out Vira Silenti by choice of Jack Cardiff.
She was friendly with Pat Crawley, wife of the “whats-his-name- boxer” and had a daily budget of 1000 Lira, which sometimes they used for movie tickets instead of meals.
One night Errol and his entourage went out to a Hillside Casino and meet with Gina Lollobrigida and her Serb husband, which was speaking German well, so they got along well.
When they met again years later at a Biennale in Berlin and greeted each other, la Lollo had forgotten about their brief encounter and asked Mrs. Haas, where from she knew her husband?
“From the Casino!”, replied Mrs. Haas, unaware that casino means also “brothel” in Italian when not pronounced perfectly right.
She confirmed that in her dying scene her dress was torn up by the Habsburgian henchman Jost and her bussom would have shown- the mother of all Nipplegate affairs so to speak.
This might have attracted the interest of King Farouk, which wanted to meet her in Rome.
When she resisted, Mrs. Haas said, that she took some heat from cast and crew (not from Errol!) for shunning the possible sponsor.
Quite interesting was that she mentioned filmmaker Roberto Rosselini being interested in helping out to finish the film some time later on.
By then young Guido Martufi had grown considerably and that in reality this was the final deathblow to the project.
For unpaid hotel bills the Cinemascope lense, which the camera man (Hermann?) had personally vouched for, was taken away.
He promptly suffered a heart attack. I will now search for more information south of the Austrian border, in Italy and will try to contact the other female lead, Mrs. Antonella Lualdi and her husband Franco Interlenghi in Rome.
If I succeed, I plan to write everything into a book called: “The William Tell trail- Errol Flynn`s swashbuckling swansong.”
But you will read it here first, since you are all good sports!
Bye for now, Heinz
— shangheinz
We Welcome New Author Heinz Kampel to the Errol Flynn Blog!
17
Nov
Heinz is our latest author from Austria. He has had the chance to talk to Waltraut Haas, one of Errol’s co-stars from “William Tell”, and he is going to tell (!) us about it soon.
Welcome, Heinz, and we look forward to your posts!
P.S. Thanks to David and Support, the technical difficulties have apparently been resolved!
— Inga
Technical difficulties!
16
Nov
We are experiencing technical difficulties! It seems we cannot upload photos to the library for use on the blog and I have put in a support ticket to my hosting outfit and should hear back shortly! Sorry for the inconvenience …
— David DeWitt
Kim-Hello God-Wife for the Czar??
04
Nov
Remember the link I posted a while ago about the discussion concerning a picture from Brian? The question was: was Errol’s beard the “Kim” beard or the one from “Wife for the Czar”? I finally managed to take some screen shots from “Wife for the Czar”, and here is the result, together with a picture from “Kim” and Brian’s. I would say Brian’s picture was taken at the time of “Kim”. What is your opinion? (You can click on the picture to see it larger.)
— Inga
November 2012 Docklines now available!
03
Nov
The latest DOCKLINES NOV 2012
Paul Dadd
General Manager
Errol Flynn Marina
Box 188 Ken Wright Drive
Port Antonio, Portland, Jamaica
Phones: 876- 993-3209; 876-715-6044
Fax: 876-715-6033 SKYPE: PaulDadd
Cellular: 876-3814357
— David DeWitt
3012 November Rock-itt Magazine!
03
Nov
Dear Rock-itt Readers,
The November issue of The Rock-itt magazine is now online. Click on the following link to read the latest in news, music, sport and entertainment on the Northern Beaches.
The November Rock-itt
Enjoy!!
Pete Johnson
— David DeWitt
