From am1001aa at thedvdforums.com :
Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection Captain Blood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Sea Hawk, They Died with their Boots On, Dodge City
Five DVD Debuts Plus a Brand-New Feature Length Documentary Available Only With the Collection Featuring Commentary from Co-Star Olivia de Havilland April 19 from Warner Home Video
Burbank, Calif., January 25, 2005 - April 19 will mark the DVD debut of five all-time favorite films from Errol Flynn - whose combination of natural athleticism and magnetic good looks made him one of the most popular and highly paid stars of the '30s and '40s. Now, Warner Home Video (WHV) is giving a whole new generation the opportunity to experience the man Entertainment Weekly named one of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in Captain Blood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Sea Hawk, They Died with their Boots On and Dodge City. Each DVD, which includes the abundant extra bonus features for which WHV has become so well-known, is priced at $19.97 SRP/$14.95 MAP. Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection, a six-disc set, also includes an all-new feature length documentary The Adventures of Errol Flynn (exclusive to this gift set), and will be available at $59.92 SRP. Orders are due March 22.
The Actor
Jack L. Warner, one of the studio's four founding Warner brothers, said of Flynn, "He was all the heroes in one magnificent, sexy, animal package." The actor became an overnight sensation when Warner brought him on as a last-minute replacement for Robert Donat for the pirate epic Captain Blood in 1935. From then on, whether as a buccaneer, nobleman, or frontier legend, he thrilled audiences and stole hearts during a career that encompassed more than 50 films.
Born Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn in Tasmania, Australia on June 20, 1909, Flynn was the son of respected marine biologist, Theodore Thomson Flynn (whom he credited with his life-long love of the sea) and Marrelle Young, a descendent of Fletcher Christian, of HMS Bounty fame, who Flynn later played onscreen. A rebellious child, more athletic than academic, he was expelled from almost every school he attended. His introduction to acting came through an Australian film producer who saw his photograph and had him cast as Christian in a small film In the Wake of the Bounty (1933). After a brief stint in London, Warner Bros. brought him to America.
The Captain Blood role quickly established Flynn as the era's replacement for Douglas Fairbanks and he was cast in everything from swashbucklers to light comedies to westerns.
The public, men and women alike, loved him best in romantic adventures as a man of action who won ladies' hearts. His co-stars included Bette Davis, Alexis Smith and Olivia de Havilland. He made a total of eight films with Miss de Havilland, including one of his best remembered, The Adventures of Robin Hood.
In real life, Flynn's off-screen adventures were as colorful as those on-screen. He became constant tabloid fodder, and, although married three times, Flynn was notorious for nonstop drinking and womanizing. His profligate lifestyle resulted in three statutory rape trials (from which he was eventually acquitted), and a new catch phrase, "in like Flynn." Ultimately this lifestyle took its toll, and the Hollywood heartthrob died of a heart attack four months after his 50th birthday.
Captain Blood (1935)
Errol Flynn shot to stardom as Peter Blood, a 17th-century physician who turned pirate after escaping unjust political imprisonment. It was a role the handsome, sea-loving Tasmanian was born to play, and he shaped it into Hollywood's archetypal image of the adventurous hero. That he also became a romantic idol and a vision of gallantry in love is due in large part to his ideally cast co-star: radiant Olivia de Havilland in the first of their eight films together. Directed with panache by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca), scored with flair by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and featuring Basil Rathbone and Lionel Atwill as villains to remember, Captain Blood becomes a ride on the high seas of unparalleled enjoyment.
Captain Blood will have the following extra content:
* Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1935 with:
* Newsreel
* Musical Short Johnny Green and His Orchestra
* Comedy Short All-American Drawback
* Cartoon Billboard Frolics
* 1935 Trailer Gallery
* New Featurette Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born
* Audio-Only Bonus: Lux Radio Theater Production from February 22, 1937 starring Flynn & de Havilland
* Languages: English & Français
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Bette Davis and Errol Flynn made The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex fascinatingly public, striking sparks in this lavish Technicolor tale of the ill-fated love between the aging Elizabeth I and the dashing Earl of Essex. Thoroughly unglamorous here - eyebrows and hairline shaved, face painted chalky white - double Academy Award® winner Davis exudes such intelligence, energy and ardor that her romance with the decades-younger Essex (Flynn at the peak of his remarkable good looks and athletic verve) is completely believable. Based on Maxwell Anderson's play Elizabeth the Queen and directed by Michael Curtiz, the film was nominated for five Oscars® (Best Art Direction, Color Cinematography, Scoring, Sound Recording and Special Effects).
The extra features included on the DVD are:
* Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1939 with:
* Newsreel
* Musical Short The Royal Rodeo
* Cartoon Old Glory
* 1939 Trailer Gallery
* New Featurette Elizabeth and Essex: Battle Royale
* Languages: English & Français
The Sea Hawk (1940)
Cannons thunder, blades clatter and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's incomparable music swirls and flourishes in The Sea Hawk. In one of his best roles, Errol Flynn plays Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, who commandeers a 40-gun galleon, endures captivity, and then boldly escapes to warn England of Spain's armada. Working on his 10th of 12 movies with Flynn, Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) masterfully directs the film's blend of royal intrigue and derring-do heroics - made on a then-lavish $1.7-million scale that included construction of two full-sized ships. The film was stirringly topical in its day. When Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) exhorts her country to maintain fighting readiness against tyranny "now and forever," audiences knew forever had come: Hitler had launched his World War II air siege of England.
The Sea Hawk will contain the following bonus content:
* Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1940 with:
* Newsreel
* Short Alice in Movieland
* Cartoon Porky's Big Fish
* 1940 Trailer Gallery
* New Featurette The Sea Hawk: Flynn in Action
* Languages: English & Français
They Died with their Boots On (1941)
The 7th Cavalry Regiment, Gen. George Armstrong Custer says, rides "to hell or to glory. It depends on one's point of view." The point of view of Raoul Walsh's spectacular They Died with their Boots On decidedly favors glory. Errol Flynn portrays the famed cavalryman in this hoof-and-thunder chronicle tracing his career from dandyish West Point plebe to Civil War hero to frontier legend immortalized by the Battle of Little Big Horn. Olivia de Havilland, sharing the marquee with Flynn for the eighth and final time, plays Custer's devoted wife Libby. And composer Max Steiner's stirring music trumpets gallantry and sacrifice.
They Died with their Boots On will contain these bonus features:
* Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1942 with:
* Newsreel
* Military Short Soldiers in White
* Cartoon A Tale of Two Kitties
* 1942 Trailer Gallery
* New Featurette They Died with their Boots On: To Hell or Glory
Dodge City (1939)
Where cattle drives end, trouble begins. Thirsty, trigger-happy cowmen pour into Dodge City, where might too often makes right. There ought to be a law in this corrupt, bullet-riddled town. Once trail boss Wade Hatton (Errol Flynn) pins on a badge, there is.
In his first of eight Westerns, Flynn is as able with a six-shooter as he was with a swashbuckler's sword. He confronts lynch mobs, slams outlaws into jail and escapes (along with co-star Olivia de Havilland) a fiery, locked railroad car. Hailed for Flynn's sagebrush debut, its vivid Technicolor look and spectacular saloon brawl that may have employed every available stunt person in Hollywood, Dodge City later gained another distinction when it inspired Mel Brooks' cowboy parody Blazing Saddles.
The extra content in Dodge City will be:
* Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1939 with:
* Newsreel
* Academy Award®-Winning* Drama Short Sons of Liberty
* Cartoon Dangerous Dan McFoo
* 1939 Trailer Gallery
* New Featurette Dodge City: Go West, Errol Flynn
* Languages: English & Français
Each DVD will be presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition and will include subtitles in English, French and Spanish. All are in Dual-Layer format.
BONUS DISC (Available only in the Errol Flynn: The Signature Collection)
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
Acclaimed, Emmy-Award winning documentarians Joan Kramer and David Heeley (Bacall on Bogart, The Spencer Tracy Legacy, The John Garfield Story, Katharine Hepburn: All About Me) cast their sights on the amazing Flynn life story with this new feature length documentary, available exclusively as part of the Errol Flynn Signature Collection. Narrated by Ian Holm, the film traces Flynn's journey from his Tasmanian childhood to the heights of Hollywood celebrity. Along the way, he goldmines in New Guinea, sails the world, reports on wars, stands trial, goes broke and chases (and catches) far too many beautiful women. Film clips, home movies and interviews that include fascinating commentary provided in 2004 by eight-time Flynn co-star Olivia de Havilland highlight this insightful look at a real life that - often tragically - out-glamoured reel life.
Ooooh mama!
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