Warner Archive Errol Flynn Collection

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Blu-Ray Review by Roy Frumkes

If you are an Errol Flynn fan, which he adamantly wasn’t, you’ve got a smart package of six discs here representing two Technicolor adventures and four B&W war flicks.

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is a hugely important 1938 release, not so much for its story, but rather for the quality of its imagery. Technicolor was taking its first bold baby steps, and a close friend of mine who saw the film in a neighborhood theater when it opened told me that the packed audience would actually applaud the colors.

Over the years I caught the Technicolor version a few times, but I also blundered into crappy Eastmancolor prints that bore no earthly similarities to the magnificent Technicolor version. With this Blu-ray release, much rested on those heavenly tones being present. Would it be Technicolor (in which case I strongly recommend you bring your heart medicine with you to the screening room)? Or would it be derived from an unimpressive, shitty Eastman negative?

And the answer is…

Technicolor! Thank God!

And what kind of quality does the other Technicolor-driven print display, that film being THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN? To our delight, this is a pure, immaculate beauty as well. And since the film is not quite as well directed, the art department absolutely deluges us with color – no holds barred. The cinematography is so magnificent that not only does it take your breath away, you can even tell the fabrics they’re using — flannel, taffeta, satin, brocade, etc. Una O’Connor, the frantic pub owner in 1933’s THE INVISIBLE MAN, is dressed in an aggressively purple ensemble, and I really hope she got to take it home with her after the shoot! A prop crown worn by Viveca Lindfors as the queen sparkles with such eye-searing presence it could well have been unearthed from an African diamond mine.

Though playing second fiddle to the color palette, Errol Flynn charmingly introduces a slight air of decline in much the same way that 1934’s THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN allowed Douglas Fairbanks to portray the renowned lover in his waning days.

Raoul Walsh and Flynn were great buddies, as one can see from reading both of their autobiographies. Curtiz was another story entirely. Flynn despised the Hungarian director, whom he characterized as a sadist, and made no bones about letting everyone know. This despite the fact that they made twelve films together! Was this an example of greed overcoming personal disgust? Nah. It was an example of Flynn pouring excessive amounts of alcohol down his gullet.

And that was not the only thing that slid down Flynn’s gullet. As a young fellow prior to his swashbuckling days, he had the enviable job of lying on his back, letting sheep walk over him and a) biting their balls off and b) spitting them out. Not that I needed to mention “b,” but just in case some of you were concerned about his health… In Australia back then it was actually a legitimate paying job.

The third Curtiz flick in the pack is THE SEA HAWK. The melding of miniature work and full-scale replicas of ships in combat is seamless and terrific, and I’ve wondered why the film was in B&W, but perhaps the models didn’t look as realistic in color. That was certainly the case with the miniatures in BEN-HUR which, at the time (1959), was the costliest film ever made, and whose miniatures should have been a bit less disruptive to our willing suspension of disbelief.

Supplements from the titles are a welcome repository of info including, of genuine and appropriate importance, a feature documentary on the history of Technicolor.