Captain Blood (1935): Errol Flynn Becomes a Star!

Studio head Jack Warner said of magnetic Warner Brothers superstar Errol Flynn, "To the Walter Mittys of the world he was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package." Flynn is famous (or more aptly infamous) for many things in his life, some admirable, some not so much. Cinematic swashbuckling is the one thing he is most associated with and what made him a star. As Captain Blood, the handsome actor cut his teeth on the genre and along with Olivia de Havilland began a run of adventure/romance films that made them both icons.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, when one studio had a hit or even a potential hit in the works, another would jump in with their own version. Such was the case when MGM produced Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935 with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton. Warner Brothers began production of its seafaring saga later that year, a remake of the Rafael Sabatini 1922 adventure novel Captain Blood. Peter Blood is an Irish doctor in 17th century England. He inadvertently treats the wounds of a participant of the Monmouth Rebellion and is found guilty of treason and, though sentenced to death, is instead sent as a slave to the West Indies. There he is bought by the beautiful Arabella Bishop, who wants to save him from the worst kind of hard labor reserved for the majority of slaves brought to the region. She increases his survival rate even further by recommending him as doctor to the ailing governor of Port Royal, an advantage he wisely accepts.

 

A plan of escape by Blood and his compadres is foiled by an attack on the colony by the Spanish. Blood and his company of fellow slaves, in fact, do escape by way of the Spanish ship, with the Spaniards left on shore! Piracy on the high seas and a merger with a dangerous French pirate (Basil Rathbone) await the motley crew until Blood inadvertently meets up once again with the beautiful Arabella.

Pre-production of Captain Blood began mid-summer of 1935, with English actor Robert Donat slated to play the lead role. Donat had a hit the previous year with The Count of Monte Cristo and Warner Brothers was ready to cash in on this success. Several reasons have been given through different sources for the actor's refusal to take the role of Peter Blood, from contractual disputes, to asthema, to his lady love who wouldn't leave England, but reason aside, Donat was out and a replacement had to be found. Brian Aherne was discussed as was John Barrymore. The powers that be got wind of a handsome young Austrailian, born in Tasmania, named Errol Flynn, who had recently come under contract at Warners and appeared in two standard films, one as a corpse. Although studio contractee Jean Muir was scheduled to play the female lead, her A Midsummer Night's Dream co-star, 19 year-old Olivia de Havilland was cast as Arabella Bishop. She and Flynn were natural co-stars and continued a successful run as Warner's definitive romantic screen couple.   

 

 

Blood was directed by Hungarian born Michael Curtiz, who would become the studio's master in the adventure movie genre. This was his second film with Flynn, the first being The Case of the Curious Bride (the one where Flynn is a corpse) but it began a long string of successful action pictures for the duo. The newbie actor was so nervous at the beginning of the film's shooting, Curtiz had to reshoot some scenes in post production when Flynn felt more comfortable with the process. With an ever growing budget, no full-sized ships were used in the seafaring yarn. Instead, miniatures and existing nautical footage from the 1924 version of The Sea Hawk created the visuals of the high seas. Also adding to the rousing atmosphere of the classic was the superb musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Korngold had come to America just a year before to arrange Mendelssohn's music for Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream and became one of Warner's greatest assets winning an Oscar for his work in the Curtiz/Flynn version of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, and Best Sound Editing, some categories on the strength of write-in campaigns. Everyone involved played a very large part in the success of Captain Blood, but ultimately Errol Flynn, the new star in town, WAS Captain Blood......until he became Robin Hood.

Hold Back the Dawn (1941): Boyer, De Havilland and the Cockroach You Never Saw

Like so many classic films, Hold Back the Dawn is one of those that played on late night television back in the day but has an obscure status among younger fans of golden age movies.  Not as well known as higher profile pictures of its era, it is a solid classic nonetheless and deserves its rightful place as a bonefide gem.  Produced by Paramount in 1941, it is a unique and intriguing film with a backstory which is just as interesting, if not more so.

As the picture begins, Georges Iscovescu (Charles Boyer) is making his way across the lot of Paramount Pictures, obvious by his gait and expression, a man on a mission.  He is searching for, and eventually finds, director Mitchell Leisen, to whom he wants to sell his story, hoping for some fast money.  As his tale unfolds we discover the reason for his need of a quick buck.

Iscovescu is a Rumanian ballroom dancer cum gigolo, who finds himself in Tijuana, Mexico, trying, like so many others in the town, to get into the U.S.  He bumps into his ex-dancing partner, sexy vixen Anita Dixon (played by sexy vixen Paulette Goddard).  She explains that, as a girl of mixed international heritage (she is half Australian, half French), she got her American citizenship via quick marriage (and subsequent quick divorce) to an unsuspecting native.  Her tale gets Iscovescu's sordid wheels turning and he roams the streets of the Mexican border town in search of marital prey from the USA.  Enter Emmy Brown (Olivia de Havilland), a young, spinster-ish American schoolteacher.  The suave heel uses all his European charms, along with his thickest accent, to woo the wide eyed innocent into a whirlwind wedding.  What he doesn't realize is that U.S. immigration agent (Walter Abel) is in town, sniffing out fraud and his radar is on Georges in full force.

Hold Back the Dawn was directed by Leisen, a former set and art director, whose peak years at Paramount these were.  Like George Cukor, his directing style favored the leading ladies in his films and his design background added an elegant visual element to his pictures.  With Dawn, the setting is a dusty, hot border town in Mexico, not exactly the Ritz.  Yet Leisen conveyed a certain sophistication in both character development and camera work, which was matched by the writing of master team Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.  There was, however, no love lost between Leisen and Wilder.  Their feuds over script changes are well documented and, like Preston Sturges before him, were the impetus for Wilder becoming a director in his own right.  One of the more explosive incidents during filming involved a scene where Boyer had to talk to a cockroach in his depressing, isolated hotel room.  The scene was a commentary on Iscovescu's immigration status, with the bitter emigre asking to see the roach's "papers."  Boyer thought the scene was degrading and refused to play it.  Leisen sided with the star, infuriating Wilder.  With the scene cut, Wilder and Brackett exacted their revenge on Boyer by rewriting the remaining scenes of the movie in favor of his leading lady de Havilland.  With the attention devoted to the actress by Leisen, the last portion of the script tipped in her direction and her own talent allowed to blossom in a quality production, de Havilland ended up with her first Best Actress Oscar nomination (she had been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind).

Olivia de Havilland's casting in the film was an ironic aspect to the production.  Screenwriter Charles Brackett had the actress in mind when penning the script, though her home studio, Warner Brothers, rarely loaned its stars and never without a hefty price tag.  The studio, however, was interested in Paramount star Fred MacMurray for a film called Dive Bomber that it was planning.  When negotiations began for MacMurray's services, Warners offered a list of its contractees as a trade off.  Olivia's name was on the list.  Paramount half heartedly accepted the actress in a swap with MacMurray, getting exactly what they wanted at no extra expense.  De Havilland's ironic inclusion in Hold Back the Dawn didn't end there.  Her Oscar nominated status was shared that year by her equally famous sister, Joan Fontaine.  Fontaine was nominated for Suspicion, a romantic suspense thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  Their sibling rivalry in Tinsel Town was exacerbated by this competition and the personal rift was only widened when Fontaine was proclaimed the winner on Oscar night (pictured above).

The film is a reflection on the community of American citizen wannabes in Tijuana during the 1930's and 1940's as much as it is on the plight of the main characters.  Rosemary de Camp gives a poignant portrayal as a pregnant European who, along with her husband, is awaiting her final entry papers, desperate that her baby be born on United States soil.  It is also interesting to see the interaction of American citizens making day trips across the border.  These lighthearted visits by tourists are a proverbial slap in the face to those pining to cross the ever taunting border.  Not to pass over the always lovely Paulette Goddard, her Anita is a fiery contrast to the more wholesome charms of de Havilland's Emmy.  In fact, there is a certain irony that Emmy comes across so hum-drum at first, as Olivia de Havilland is so physically appealing, a fact not lost on Anita during their face to face meeting.

Hold Back the Dawn was also nominated by the Academy as Best Picture, a deserved recognition.   An absolute perfect cast, good direction and writing, make it a film which should be viewed and remembered in the annals of classic movie history.  Catch it if you can.

*Note:  The film being shot by Mitchell Leisen at the beginning of Hold Back the Dawn is I Wanted Wings starring Veronica Lake, and actually Paramount release in 1941.

Happy 94th, Olivia de Havilland!

Born during the first World War, the legendary Olivia de Havilland turned 94 on July 1, 2010. One of the last stars of the golden age, de Havilland has one of the most incredible careers in film history.



Independent Woman published a wonderful interview with O de H last year. I'd like to share it to help celebrate her special day. Check it out by way of the link below.
Happy Birthday Olivia!

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/olivia-de-havilland-i-was-a-star-but-also-a-slave-1821397.html

In This Our Life (1942): She's Got Bette Davis Eyes

Nobody could chew up some scenery like Bette Davis. Sure, she occasionally played it low key (check out All This and Heaven Too or The Great Lie, where she was virtually obliterated onscreen by the wonderfully raving Mary Astor!), but when it came to hamming it up to full dramatic effect, none of her pre- Baby Jane performances can touch her turn as Stanley Timberlake in In This Our Life (1942). Those infamous eyes, bulging their fullest, voice when soft, at it’s silkiest (especially while using her “southern” accent), voice when upset at it’s shrillest. But all this being said, In This Our Life is a hoot to watch and never disappoints for a melodramatic funfest.

The film is based on a Pulitzer Prize winning 1941 novel by Ellen Glasgow, and it is cast full tilt with some of Warner Brothers top players. Davis plays Stanley Timberlake, Olivia deHavilland, her sister Roy. It’s one of the oddest naming of characters, which puzzles most viewers, and is never explained or addressed in the film. However, names aside, Stanley is a spoiled, loose living mantrap in Richmond, Virginia, who steals Roy’s husband, Peter (Dennis Morgan), and dumps her attorney fiancee, Craig (George Brent). When Stanley and Peter run away and get married (after the final divorce decree of his union with Roy comes through of course), Peter finds that living with this self centered, fun seeking harridan is no slice of Heaven. When he can take the stress of living with her no more, he commits suicide, sending Stanley ~ never one to be very self sufficient ~ back to Richmond and the family home. Meanwhile, Roy and Craig have developed a special if not slow-moving romance of sorts, and you can only imagine how me-me-me Stanley reacts to this current turn of events.



The film also weaves African-Americans into the mix in a dramatic and respectable way, in contrast to so many films of the day, which go to the opposite extreme of stereotype. Black actor Ernest Anderson plays Parry, a young man who wants to become an attorney and is encouraged and mentored by deHavilland’s Roy. A less noble and downright strange angle on the film, presents Stanley and Roy’s wealthy uncle, William Fitzroy (Charles Coburn) as a greedy, conniving old man, who has an obviously incestuous attraction to Stanley, and equally as twisted is Stanley’s apparent realization of this fact and flirting with him to take full material advantage of it! She is a piece of work.

Davis reportedly wanted to play the role of Roy. When cast instead in the meatier part, newbie director John Huston, let her have her way in playing it. Huston had made only one picture prior to In This Our Life ~ The Maltese Falcon . DeHavilland plays Roy in an understated, dignified performance, which makes Bette’s histrionics stand out all the more (it’s as if Olivia is standing back to let Davis make a ninny of herself). Another strike against poor Bette….has anyone ever said “poor Bette”?….was the fact that preview audiences noted a distinct dislike for her uncharacteristic beestung lips and her hairstyle, which included oddly cut bangs. The actress herself never cared much for the movie and moved on from it later the same year to create one of her signature roles, as “Aunt” Charlotte Vale in Now, Voyager.



Dennis Morgan plays a darker role as Peter than his usual devil may care good guy on the Warner lot, but George Brent as Craig is George Brent through and through. Solid, stable and non threatening to his female counterparts. The terrific cast includes Billie Burke, also in an uncharacteristic role. As Lavinia Timberlake, the tempestuous Stanley’s mother, Burke frets and worries through the whole film in a dowdy shawl, almost in a shrewish way, a far cry from the featherbrained society ladies she is so accustomed to playing. Hattie McDaniel as the Timberlake’s maid and Parry’s mother, Minerva, gives pathos and dignity to her part and in a showy portrayal, Lee Patrick is fun as Stanley’s gaudy and obnoxious friend Betty. The whole thing is gaudy and obnoxious in a 1940’s Warner Brothers melodrama kind of way, but that’s what makes it so fun. Perhaps Davis’ 1962 film should have been called “Whatever Happened to Stanley and Roy?”

The Adventures of Robin Hood(1938): In Like Flynn

In the classic age of Hollywood, no film was more colorful (both literally and figuratively) and fun than Warner Brother's The Adventures of Robin Hood, and though Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. could buckle the best swash during the silent era, Errol Flynn was the master of such films in the 30's and 40's. The legend, who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, has been portrayed by many actors for many decades but above them all, Flynn is the definitive Robin Hood. (Daffy Duck did give a great animated rendition in the 1958 cartoon short, Robin Hood Daffy).

Along with the charismatic leading man, Olivia de Havilland jumps to mind as his lady fair, Maid Marian, Hood's own personal "Norman conquest." In all, Flynn and de Havilland made eight films together with their romp in Sherwood Forest being their third and most famous. But even as these iconic images are ingrained into the national psyche for this film, alas, like so many other infamous roles in Hollywood, they were not the original choices. Hood was first slated for James Cagney as a sort of follow up to his whimsical role as Bottom in the studio's version of Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1935. When Cagney and Warners butted heads, the project was postponed until a later date. When Flynn proved himself a magnetic adventure lead in Captain Blood (1935) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) the film was put back into production. Blond beauty Anita Louise, also a veteran of A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Titania), was first considered for the role of Lady Marian but with so much riding on the picture financially (it was Warner's biggest production to that date and the final cost was $2 million), the studio wanted to ensure a proven film team with Flynn and de Havilland. Other parts were recast for one reason or another. First choice for Friar Tuck, Guy Kibee was replaced by the gravel voiced and corpulent Eugene Pallette and Robin's sidekick, Will Scarlett, though originally slated for David Niven, eventually went to handsome contract player, Patric Knowles.

The Robin Hood legend has been oft-told, but never so colorfully full of pomp and pageantry. Flynn plays Robin, Earl of Locksley, a Saxon noble in 12th century England, who, along with his band of "merry men", protects the poor Saxons from the villainous and utterly corrupt Norman nobles, who have taken power in the nation during the absence of the king, Richard the Lionhearted (Ian Hunter). Worst of these are Richard's brother, the treacherous Prince John (Claude Rains) who, with the help of the equally despicable Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone) plans to take over England's throne permanently, while King Richard is away fighting in the Crusades. The film is a great romantic adventure and that aspect is provided by Lady Marian Fitzwater, aka Maid Marian (de Havilland), Norman noblewoman and orphaned ward of King Richard. At first disdainful to the pompous Robin, she falls in love with him when he reveals his true intentions of helping his suffering countrymen.

Warners brought in their top adventure director Michael Curtiz to replace initial director William Keighley, when more punch was required in the action scenes. The final product was superb, from the archery tournament to the final duel between Robin and Sir Guy, the one-two punch of excitement never lets up. As the evil duo of Prince John and Sir Guy, Rains and Rathbone cannot be beat. Rains, sly and cunning and Rathbone vicious and sadistic in his attack of the hero, both verbally and physically. An excellent swordsman off-screen, Rathbone is marvelous fencing against a very agile and able Flynn. Equally magnificent is the film's opulent musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The talented Korngold did not want to undertake the task, claiming he was "not a musical illustrator for a 90% action picture," but was persuaded by the studio brass to take on the challenge and his brilliant score won an Academy Award. Also winning Oscars for the film were Best Art Direction and Best Film Editing.

The movie, shot in the richest Technicolor, cemented Errol Flynn's status as an action superstar. What he began with Captain Blood, three years earlier, he capped with Hood. More successful than Fairbank's popular version, The Adventures of Robin Hood was Warner Brothers' biggest moneymaker of the year and would continue to be one of its most remembered classics.