A few words about...™ The Errol Flynn Signature Collection - Volume 2

Robert Harris · 03-22-2007, 02:11 AM

Volume 2 of Warner Home Video's new release of the Errol Flynn Signature Collection is one of the most important classic releases thus far this year.

Having been brought up on the Warner classics, and having favored the Flynn productions, this second volume is a welcome gift.

With a career that went into gear in 1935 with Captain Blood, and ran into the late 1950s, one will find the important Flynn films between Captain Blood and Master of Ballantrae in 1953. Between them are 20 or so fine films, most for Warner, with a couple for M-G-M around 1950.

The first volume of Flynn productions brought us five wonderful classic films, Captain Blood (1935), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940) and They Died with Their Boots On (1941).

Volume two adds four great Flynn vehicles, Adventures of Don Juan (1949), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Gentleman Jim (1942) all in top shape and with beautiful transfers plus an "also ran," the 1941 Technicolor Dive Bomber, which is less than stellar shape, with a less than stellar transfer, and not a personal favorite.

The good news is that there are still enough quality Flynn films at Warner for a third volume, which is sure to some in the future.

Some of the greatest talent of the era went into the production of these films, which are a true treat for the cinephile.

The street price for volume one stands at around $45, while volume 2 arrives at under $35 5 films. This is a bargain price for a quality product.

Especially at under $6 per film, Volume 2 of the Errol Flynn Signature Collection wins highest honors from these quarters.

If one film stands out from the pack in terms of quality, it would be the newest of the group, the Technicolor Adventures of Don Juan, which I'd love to see arrive on HD in the near future. It would be magnificent.

I'm thrilled that they've arrived, and come Extremely Highly Recommended.

RAH

Jeffrey Nelson · 03-22-2007, 02:42 PM

I wish there was a film called THE TECHNICOLOR DIVE BOMBER. :-)

Jim Bur · 03-22-2007, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

With a career that went into gear in 1935 with Captain Blood, and ran into the late 1950s, one will find the important Flynn films between Captain Blood and Master of Ballantrae in 1953. Between them are 20 or so fine films, most for Warner, with a couple for M-G-M around 1950.

The first volume of Flynn productions brought us five wonderful classic films, Captain Blood (1935), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940) and They Died with Their Boots On (1941).

Volume two adds four great Flynn vehicles, Adventures of Don Juan (1949), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Gentleman Jim (1942) all in top shape and with beautiful transfers plus an "also ran," the 1941 Technicolor Dive Bomber, which is less than stellar shape, with a less than stellar transfer, and not a personal favorite.

The good news is that there are still enough quality Flynn films at Warner for a third volume, which is sure to some in the future.

Some of the greatest talent of the era went into the production of these films, which are a true treat for the cinephile.

RAH

I agree that Volume two adds 4 great Flynn films, which makes it a superlative set. It's also very welcome to hear your opinion that each of these four films have beautiful transfers I also agree that the fifth film in the set "Dive Bomber" is indeed an also ran, perhaps the weakest action vehicle that Flynn ever starred in.

It's especially disappointing that they chose Dive Bomber when they had 6 good western films to chose from. I personally would have preferred the technicolor western "San Antonio" for the fifth film in the set, however they couldn't have gone wrong with any of the black and white westerns "Rocky Mountain", "Santa Fe Trail" (which they could have rescued from PD hell), "Silver River", "Virginia City", or the other remaining Flynn color western "Montana".

I wish they would prove me wrong, however I continue to have the distinct impression that the folks at Warners just don't like westerns very much. Warners seems to have announced most if not all of their release schedule through June, and it appears that through one-half the 2007 year Warners has so far released just 1 western. That one western was the indifferent The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (I know there are some people who like it) which was included in the Mitchum set back in January. When the Mitchum set was released Warners also failed to include any of his classic westerns such as 'Blood on the Moon", "The Lusty Men", etc.

I guess if one stretches the point, perhaps you could give Warners credit for 2 new to DVD westerns if one counts the announced "Allegheny Uprising", which is set in Pennyslvania in the 1700's as a western. However, Fox released 3 classic westerns in March (Jesse James, The Return of Frank James, and The True Story of Jesse James) and have at least 3 more classic westerns scheduled for release in May, namely "Broken Arrow" (a great western), "White Feather', and "Fury at Furnace Creek". Univeral has 8 westerns (7 of them good) scheduled for release on May 1st, "Canyon Passage (a great western)", "California", "Texas Rangers", "The Man From the Alamo", "The Cimarron Kid", "The Kansas Raiders", and "The Lawless Breed". Univeral has also included a western in the upcoming Hudson set (The Last Sunset with Kirk Douglas), and Unconquered with Gary Cooper is also scheduled for May. Sony/MGM through Fox has also scheduled 3 westerrns for May as part of its Gary Cooper collection.

WARNERS WOULD APPEAR TO BE IN 4TH PLACE, among the major studios for western releases. So it appears that virtually every major studio is beating the pants off of Warners in 2007 when it comes to releasing classic westerns, and this despite the fact that in its library Warners has more unreleased westerns then probably all the other studios combined. Warners seems to be virtually going out of there way NOT to release classic westerns. What's going on there?

c Jim Bur

Ken_McAlinden · 03-22-2007, 09:38 PM

I am still working my way through the set for my review. I agree that "The Adventures of Don Juan" looks wonderful. Unfortunately ,"The Charge of the Light Brigade" looks like parts of the source element ran a half-a-league gauntlet of Russian artillery, but I'm sure we have the best of what Warner had at their disposal. Right now, I'm about halfway through "The Dawn Patrol", which looks beautiful.

Regards,

Robert Harris · 03-23-2007, 11:24 AM

The b&w productions are typical of the era with either entire duped shots for printer functions, or cut-ins of short lengths. Dawn Patrol is inclusive of some stock from the earlier version. Interestingly, Don Juan appears to include some LS stock of riders which may come from Robin Hood.

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David_B_K · 03-23-2007, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Posted by Robert Haris: Interestingly, Don Juan appears to include some LS stock of riders which may come from Robin Hood.

It's been awhile since I've seen Don Juan, but didn't it also make some use of Essex's entrance from Elizabeth & Essex as well?

RobertGr · 03-23-2007, 02:04 PM

Yes on DON JUAN the shots of the soldier chasing them on horseback is from ADV OF ROBIN HOOD. And the shots of the town people celebrating the arrival of the person they think is royalty but is really Don Juan are indeed lifted from ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. If Mr Harris reads this have you seen the question about THE GANG''S ALL HERE asking you if you knew what caused the terrible dvd transfer of that title from the otherwise outstanding ALICE FAYE BOX? Do you have any idea what went wrong on that title?

THANKS

Ken_McAlinden · 03-23-2007, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

... Dawn Patrol is inclusive of some stock from the earlier version. ....

Yes. I believe almost all of the aerial shots are from the 1930 Howard Hawks version, and they shot some new second unit stuff of the planes on the ground and taking off. Could you imagine the outcry if someone remade a movie from eight years ago (e.g. "The Matrix") today and even re-used some of the more expensive footage?

It was a little easier to pull-off when there was no video ... or even television ... to keep the original fresh in audience's minds, and in the case of "The Dawn Patrol" it certainly worked well.

The 1930 version came out the same year as "Hell's Angels" and "All Quiet on the Western Front". It must have seemed to audiences like a hybrid of the two with its aviation action and pacifist theme.

Regards,

John Hodson · 03-23-2007, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken_McAlinden

It was a little easier to pull-off when there was no video ... or even television ... to keep the original fresh in audience's minds, and in the case of "The Dawn Patrol" it certainly worked well.

And add to that that it was rarely an issue anyway, like scratchy old newsreel footage, the occasional hair in the gate, a bit of poorly dubbed post-synch, it was just simply part of the movie landscape that audiences accepted.

There's also some footage of Captain Blood in The Sea Hawk (one of the reasons for shooting in b&w), and lord knows how many movies have filched bits of The Four Feathers. On and on; I wonder what pre-war audiences would have made of all today's internet angst and breast beating?