rosebette

I remember seeing it in the theater as a child and being totally enchanted, especially with the cartoon sequence to Peer Gynt Suite. I haven't seen it since.

Well, Speedracer5, I fell for Errol as Robin Hood at age 10, and still haven't gotten over him. At that age, the wig didn't bother me. It was the late 60s when I first saw him on some late show, and all the cute guys had long hair back then. He is excellent in Dawn Patrol and They Died with Their Boots On. The farewell scene in Boots always makes me tear up. I feel that he was a truly underrated talent. He's a great Robin Hood not only because he is handsome and charming, but you believe all that stuff he says about fighting for injustice. If you like him dancing a jig, you should catch him in the pub number in Thank Your Lucky Stars. The movie itself can be tiresome, but it's worth watching for that number and for Bette Davis singing They're Either Too Young or Too Old.

The pictures of Judy are really beautiful. My dad told me a story of Presenting Lily Mars being the first movie he saw when he entered the service and was sent overseas, and that when he saw Judy, he bawled like a baby because she reminded him of home.

I love Meet Me in St. Louis, but my husband hates it and thinks it's a bunch of syrupy goo. I like Escape Me Never with Errol Flynn and Ida Lupino (except for the parts with GIg Young, who is a total bore), even though the critics savaged it.

ErrolFlynn's Girlfriend, you may have a significant rival, as you can see from my photo. Anyway, glad to hear you are discovering the gorgeous and talented Flynn. I have to admit The Adventures of Robin Hood is probably my favorite film, and I go into a funk if I don't see it 2 or 3 times a year. Captain Blood is another favorite of mine, perhaps also because of the presence of Basil Rathbone, who has his own kind of sexy going on. I usually watch mostly TCM, but saw a few things On Demand last week because my sister was visting. Like a another poster, I found Captain Philips very disappointing and actually fell asleep at one point. I thought Tom Hanks was excellent, but found the movie overlong. We all knew where it was going, and it took too long to get there. I was surprised by The BookThief, which got mediocre reviews. I watched it with my sister, and we were both moved to tears. All the performances were excellent, especially Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel last week-end in the theater. It's really a visually delightful, funny, and surprising movie. I also would like to get the score on CD.

I just saw Meryl Streep interviewed at UMass Lowell (and coincidentally Lowell is Bette's birthplace). In the interview, Meryl talked about how unattractive she thought she was as a young woman during the Kramer vs. Kramer period ("fat and with a long nose"), but on seeing pictures now, she realizes how beautiful she was. I wonder if Bette felt the same way.

I'm glad that you included some unconventionally beautiful women like Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck. The picture of Davis looks as if she's without make-up.

Yes, she's a favorite of his. He lives in fear that someone will put her on a diet and ruin her figure.

Actresses today face a catch-22. If they do nothing to stop the aging process, they are criticized for looking old, but if they do try to impede the process and it's unsuccessful, they are criticized. Those who say if Ms. Novak can't take the heat, she should just hide like Garbo are missing the point. Why should actresses hide when they are aging? I was watching one of the Cavett interviews with Bette Davis, and she was completely honest about the ageing process and the difficulties related to it for an actress. Of course, Ms. Davis was a completely different personality (perhaps the total opposite of Ms. Novak), and we all accepted her for who and what she was. Why can't we do the same with Ms.Novak? Do we need to doubly punish her? I think it's extremely difficult to be somewhat introverted and lacking in self-confidence in "the business", and it has destroyed many. It's kind of like a junior high class that decides to pick on the shy kid who has to get up and give a speech. Why can't we accept Ms.Novak for who she is and for what she has given us in films and what she can add to our knowledge about classic through her interviews?

I recommend that you all visit Basilrathbone.net, which has some letters written by Rathbone, as well as other information about his military career. Rathbone was profoundly affected by the death of his brother, and in his writings speaks bitterly about the futility of WWI. I think I recall Colman saying that Smitty was one of his favorite roles. I often wondered whether the air of wistful melancholy that pervades that performance and his performance in Lost Horizon were the results of his wartime experiences.

When hubby sees these older movies, he says, "They don't build 'em like that anymore." Makes you wonder why "thigh gap" is supposed to be the new beautiful.

How can I block this thread so my husband can't view it? Just kidding!

I think that the image of the woman in the short gingham dress is not Olivia deHavilland, but an early image of Lucille Ball.

I was on vacation and without much web access when all this was posted. A thoughtful and honest evaluation of Flynn. Also, rumor has it that the fisticuffs with John Huston may have been about a certain lady that Huston was involved with at the time who was also Flynn's frequent co-star. You don't have to be Fellini to figure that one out.

I just finished watching Danger Light. I was impressed not just by Wolheim, but also by Jean Arthur and the stunning cinematography of the railroads. I've always thought of early talkies as stagy, but this one was superb and moved along like "gangbusters." And how is it Jean Arthur wasn't recognized as a terrific actress even then? Robert Armstrong, who is the weak link in this one, is pretty wooden compared to her. I couldn't sit through the Gilbert film afterwards. What a slog. I'm beginning to think that the problem wasn't Gilbert's voice, but just that he wasn't a very good actor. The movie is much more interesting when Louis Wolheim or Leila Hyams are on the scene. Edited by: rosebette on Mar 28, 2014 6:41 PM

OK, point taken. A clip from Zorro would have been nice -- he had some good one liners in that one. I liked the material about the radio show. I wasn't aware that it was so popular, perhaps even more popular than the films.

Unfortunately, I don't have the set with that film. I have the other set with the later SH movies, and I really enjoy the commentary on those. I remember reading a remembrance from someone meeting Basil during his youth (not Basil's, the writer's), and noticing what a large man he was (he was 6'1"). You don't get that impression in Robin Hood, for example, because Flynn was also a big guy, 6'2", and larger framed. No wonder Olivia deHavilland always looked so tiny in those movies. It's something to think about when most stars at the time, with the exclusion of maybe Gable and Cooper, were average to short -- Ronald Colman, Humphrey Bogart, and others were only around 5'7".

That would be fun, and in an interview, he once said he could beat Errol Flynn anytime he wanted to. If you watch The Adventures of Robin Hood or Mark of Zorro, it's hard to believe Basil is in his late 40s. When Tyrone Power was that age, he had passed away, and Flynn at that age was in such poor physical condition that he would have been incapable of that level of physical activity.

I enjoyed your podcast very much, Attaboy, especially some of the lesser known info about the personal life of Nigel Bruce and his friendship with Rathbone. However, the sound clip that you attribute to The Mark of Zorro is actually from Captain Blood.

The full plot synopsis on the TCM site is a fairly accurate summary of the 1936 film. A good chunk of the film takes place in Calcutta and parts of India (perhaps capitalizing on the success of Lives of a Bengal Lancer?). Somehow, an oriental (Indian, Arab, who knows) potentate Surat Kahn is at the center, and he and his forces are involved in a massacre at Lohara of the English and civilians there. Kahn then joins forces with the Russians. Flynn falsifies the orders and leads the charge in revenge. Somehow, the movie eludes even my weak grasp of geography and late 19th century history and international relations. But since I already have trouble believing that Olivia would prefer Patrick Knowles to Flynn in this one, I dispense with credibility. However, Flynn looks fantastic in uniform, is great at being noble, and leads one of the greatest actions scenes ever filmed if you can tolerate the abuse of horses as collateral damage for superb action filming (which most modern viewers understandably can't).. Edited by: rosebette on Mar 2, 2014 2:17 PM

The Charge of the Light Brigade is about the Crimean War....sort of. I lived for years under the delusion that the Crimea was somehow part of India after watching that film. It's very entertaining, but as history, pure nonsense.

Doesn't this describe all the Astaire Rogers movies? The plots are so forgettable (and often similar). We all know that we're their just to watch the dancing and maybe enjoy some comic relief from Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore.

I would say that Flynn never really made a good comedy, although his ability with humor was obvious in Gentleman Jim, They Died with Their Boots On, and even The Adventures of Robin Hood. The Adventures of Don Juan also display his ability with a well-written comedy line. I believe that it's his ability to hand the lighter elements of these movies that makes them classics. Compare Errol's Robin Hood to the dour Russell Crowe. Why would I want to watch some middle-aged, paunchy guy with a bad disposition play that famous outlaw from the greenwood? I saw The Perfect Speciman many years ago and I remember enjoying it, but I haven't seen it since. I have a cup that I purchased at a Warner Brothers' store about 30 years ago with a picture from that movie. The handle is broken, but I still have it. As Tom JH has written, comedies were not Warners' strong suit. While there were actors who had a way with a comic scene or line, like Flynn, and in a different way, Cagney, most Warners' comedies were heavy-handed and not especially well-written or directed.

Sol Polito had an easy job making her look beautiful. No wonder Errol fell for her.

Ed Flaherty as Count Floyd always cracks me up. I also enjoyed him as the father in the series Freaks and Geeks. He inevitably stole the scene from the younger set. By the way, Freaks and Geeks was probably the best thing Judd Apatow ever wrote and one of the most closely observed depictions of adolescence.