A real determined Robin risking his life. Note the little fellow hiding under the camera platform!
— Don Jan
Archive for the ‘Films’ Category
A Day in the Life of Flynn – New Year’s Day, 1942
02
Jan
“Errol Flynn is a dashing Custer. How he rides, and how wonderful he looks in his uniform.”
– Louell O. Parsons
Playing on the bill with Boots at Warner Theaters was the Academy Award Nominated Rhapsody in Rivets.
Also playing was Water Sports (Film not found):
“Diving, swimming, surf-board riding and water skiing are the topics in the Technicolor short from Warners. Champion diver Ruth Nurmi demonstrates some of the dives which have won her championship titles, while Fairid Sumaika does the same for his gender. Comic diver Bill Lewin also appears.”
— 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
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
Museum of Flight & The Dawn Patrol with Errol Flynn!
10
Nov
Eric Tillerson sends us this via the Mail Bag:
Down at the Museum of Flight in Renton, Wa., in the WWI section, they have the coat that Errol wore in The Dawn Patrol on what I believe is permanent display, shown next to the Academy Award that the earlier Fairbanks version of the film won. Sadly they spell his name “Erroll”, but coming across this was still a nice surprise. Some photos attached.
Regards,
Eric
Thanks, Eric!
— David DeWitt
Project Liberty – Protecting a Flynn-Related Theater
14
Oct
In the 75th Anniverary Year of Desperate Journey and it’s World Premier in Libertyville, Illinois
Americans of all walks of life were banded together to support the war effort, and Hollywood celebrities were no exception. This was the reason that on September 3, 1942, famed actor James Cagney, known for his energetic performances, and deadpan comic timing, visited Libertyville as part of an effort to sell war bonds. Drawing a crowd of some 4,000 at Cook Park (according to the 194o census the population of Libertyville was 3,930) Cagney gave a speech about the virtues of supporting the war effort by buying war bonds. It must have been a very inspiring speech since by the time he left the steps of the Cook Memorial Library, which was at the time located in Cook House, the town had pledged nearly $111,000.
As a reward for the town’s patriotism, Liberty was chosen to be the location of the world premiere of “Desperate Journey”, a film about a group of downed Allied airmen making their way out of Nazi Germany staring Errol Flynn and (Future President) Ronald Reagan. As part of the ceremonies, then Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green drove a horse-drawn carriage, loaned to him by publishing magnate John F. Cuneo, up Milwaukee Avenue.
— Tim
Objective Brooklyn!
31
Jul
Grabbing breakfast this morning at the Brooklyn Water Bagel Company in Boca, I noticed the following 3′ x 3′ image. It’s a WWII era photo of the College Theater in Brooklyn, on the southeast corner of Flatbush Avenue and Glenwood Road. I can perrsonally attest that Flynn was HUGELY popular in Brooklyn, along the lines of a superhero – something touched upon in My Favotite Year.
— Tim
