CBS’ Valentine to Errol Flynn
Boston Globe January 21, 1985 by Kay Gardella New York News
New York—“He had an aura, a presence that was electrifying. He was an elegant, classy and articulate man who led a grand life.”
So says Doris Keating, producer of “My Wicked, Wicked Ways... The Legend of Errol Flynn,” a dramatization of the swashbuckling movie idol’s life, to be seen tonight on CBS (in Boston on Ch. 7, from 8 to 11 p.m.) Keating calls it ”my valentine to Flynn.”
Devoted fans of Flynn, who arrived in Hollywood in 1935 as an unknown and rose to fame in such films as “Captain Blood,” “Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Gentleman Jim,” may wonder what actor could possibly match their idol’s glamour and charisma.
They’re in for a pleasant surprise. Duncan Regehr, a strapping Canadian who has taken Hollywood by storm since his 1981 arrival, comes as close as anyone could to recapturing the flash of Flynn. In fact, the only ingredients missing from Regehr’s portrayal are that delicious, devilish glint in Flynn’s eye and the slightly crooked smile that suggested he was always laughing at life.
But Regehr cuts a fine figure and turns in a winning portrayal. He’s dashing in his tweedy clothes, and when he mounts a horse he looks as if he’s ready for a polo match. The trouble is the entire film is like a huge, glossy portrait; there’s very little depth. Regehr’s performance is far better than the script, which was written by Keating (who is Flynn’s goddaughter), Jill Trump, James Lee and Don Taylor. It covers only the early part of the actor’s career, ending with his trial on charges of statutory rape in 1943. The first seven years of his Hollywood career were his most successful, and while the film includes a look at Flynn’s notorious exploits, his life is depicted with limited insight and understanding.
Based on Flynn’s autobiography, the drama begins as he steps off the train in Pasadena just as actress Lili Damita, who becomes his first wife, is being met by her screaming fans, Barbara Hershey, in the role of the tempestuous Damita, is right on target, capturing both the color and flair of the actress as well as the feelings of a woman desperately in love with a man who was the target of world-wide adoration.
Also turning in a realistic and impressive performance is Hal Linden as Jack Warner, the studio executive who helped launch Flynn’s career. Flynn immediately got off on the wrong foot with Warner when he bumped into him on the Warner Brothers lot and failed to apologize. Warner started him in a series of forgettable B pictures (the secondary attraction on a double feature), but then took a gamble and put him in “Captain Blood” opposite Olivia de Havilland (played by Lee Purcell).
Was there a romance between Flynn and De Havilland? One can’t tell from this film, since they’re depicted simply as good friends. Much later, when Flynn tosses a big party after his rape trial and no one shows up except de Havilland, she says to him, “You and I had very different lives to lead. I was lucky; I got to lead mine.”
What her remark suggests is precisely what’s wrong with the drama; the notion that Flynn was a creation of Hollywood and felt he had to live up to his marquee image. Because it focuses so heavily on his professional life, the film ends up looking superficial and insubstantial. We get a rare look at the private Flynn only through the portrayal of his love of sailing – he bought his own boat, the Sirocco – and his devotion to friends such as John Barrymore (disastrously played by Barrie Ingham), stuntman Billy Welch (John Dennis Johnston) and Dr Gerrit Koets (Darren McGavin).
We are shown many of Flynn’s brawling escapades south of the border in a Mexican brothel and the stormy, much-publicized battles with the hot-tempered Damita. To persuade the actor to propose, she climbs out on a ledge of her apartment building and threatens to jump. But his popularity, exploits, and eye for the ladies put an end to the marriage, and Damita demanded a divorce in 1943.
For a brief time, Flynn decided to join Koets, an adventurous two-fisted guy, on the front line of the Spanish Civil War. The battle scenes, filmed in Spain, look as if they were shot in the foothills of the California mountains. Flynn’s motives are questionable anyway. After being wounded, he heads back to Hollywood and movie-making, realizing “It wasn’t my war.”
Throughout the CBS film, confrontations are depicted as Flynn demands more money form Warner. We also see his deep depression over the deaths of Barrymore and stuntman Welch, who was killed when he fell while jumping on a horse during a film.
The rape trial, which ended in acquittal, was the turning point of Flynn’s career, He made many more films but was never able to match his earlier popularity. He died in 1959 when he was 50.