weezeralfalfa
Errol Flynn, having played the long beloved mythical rascal-hero Robin Hood a decade earlier, here plays another centuries-old mythical rascal-hero: the legendary seducer of women: Don Juan, albeit in his mature years, when he was ready to curtail his lustful adventures for more practical pursuits. This screenplay is scripted in a historical setting of very early 17th century London and Spain, shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth. Phillip III(Romney Brent) is king and his Hapsburg wife Margaret(Viveca Lindfors) is queen of Spain. The chief villain is Duke de Lorca(Robert Douglas): chief minister of the Spanish court, supported by Don Rodrogo(Douglas Kennedy) and Alvarez(Raymond Burr), chief of the palace guard. The duke clearly plans to transform the royal couple into puppets so that he can carry out his plans for Spain. Since the queen refuses to cooperate, he is preparing to execute her near the film's ending.In the film, Philip is portrayed as a weak-minded king, dominated by his rather estranged queen and de Lorca, who are at odds with each other over major policies. Clearly, de Lorca is a stand in for the historic Duke of Lerma. Although there is often a measure of historical truth to the characterizations in the film, mostly, they are quite distorted versions of the historical persons they are based upon. The historical king and queen actually got on very well, for the most part: well enough to produce 8 children during the queen's short life(She died during childbirth at only 26). With at least some of these young children, the historic queen wouldn't likely be thinking of abandoning her position and running off with Don Juan, as she briefly fantasized. The Duke of Lerma was actually a good friend of the king, who willingly gave him his very powerful position within his administration. As in the film, the Duke was often at odds with the queen over financial policy. The queen influenced the king to provide financial aid to her native Holy Roman Empire, whereas the Duke wanted to use Spanish revenues only for Spanish purposes. In the film, this conflict is transformed into a conflict between using revenues to promote peace(queen's idea) vs. using it to built up the fleet in preparation for war(Duke's idea). Juan sides with the queen in this conflict. This is the ultimate fencing-dominated film, culminating in the dramatic duel between Juan and de Lorca on the very long palace stairs. Much of it is practice, after the queen demands that Juan become the chief instructor for the royal fencing academy, to give him something useful to do to keep his mind off chasing pretty young things. In one scene, there is a mass choreography of fencing students: the fencing equivalent of a musical chorus dance. Juan engages in a number fencing duels or mock duels throughout the film.For a film about a compulsive seducer of women, there is remarkably little real romance. The film begins with Juan climbing a balcony outside London to reach a lover. What ensues is cartoonish. He is soon chagrined to discover that she has a husband, who unexpectedly arrives, providing Juan's first dueling scene: really a mock duel, in which Flynn goes into his Robin Hood mode. He then lectures the husband about his inadequate attention paid to his wife. Juan and servant Leporello(Alan Hale) then make a fast getaway on horse, to be greeted by a palace patrol, expecting to meet a Spanish duke, coming to marry. Juan pretends he is this duke, thus is escorted to be introduced to the bride-to-be. A scandal ensues when the real duke arrives to find Juan and the lady alone in a room.... Later, while a fencing instructor, one of the court ladies makes an obvious pass at him, which he reluctantly follows up. Again, he discovers she is to be married the next day, her husband showing up to creating another scandal... The final scandal is when the Queen and Juan discover they love each other, heightened by Juan saving the Queen from de Lorca's planned execution. She even talks of running off with him, but Juan says her duty to Spain is more important than their love. An in joke is that in the final frames, Juan decides to chase after a coach containing Flynn's then wife, having vowed to abstain from chasing women.Obviously, the screen play exploits Flynn's reputation as a compulsive skirt chaser. Also, clearly, much expense was put into the elaborate costumes and sets. Max Steiner, taking over from Wolfgang Korngold as the traditional composer for Flynn films, did a fine job. Actually, I believe the film would have fared much better at the box office, if it had been made into at least a semi-musical. The film was not a box-office success in the US, although it did better in Europe. Hence, the Warner budgets for future Flynn films were slashed. Flynn still looked and acted relatively youthful at age 39. As he turned 40 or so, his drug excesses would show up much more clearly in his looks and performances. However, he wasn't quite done swashbuckling. For example, he starred in yet another sea pirate film: "Against All Flags", 4 years later, where he, perhaps with the aid of doubles, engages in several ferocious duels, clearly laboring where formerly he made it look easy.This same year, MGM released another classic tale of swordplay and romance in "The Three Musketeers", starring Gene Kelly.
Spuzzlightyear
A bit of an overzealous rewrite of history here, as the aging Errol Flynn plays the Spanish Don Juan, as only Errol Flynn can, and that is as Errol Flynn. No Spanish accent at all. But, ah! He does romance the women! And can handle a sword! Was the original Don Juan a swordsman? Oh right, he's a FICTIONAL character. Then why is he helping Queen Victoria of Spain against an uprising? Fairly goofy in terms of historical accuracy, if you replace "Don Juan" with "Zorro" you'll get a better understanding of where this one is headed. Still, it's pretty to look at, with magnificent sets. Maybe that's what the directors hoped for, to be distracted by it's magnificent color and forget about the story.
Jem Odewahn
Errol Flynn is back in swashbuckling costume eight years after the excellent "The Sea Hawk", and it feels like he never went away. I was expecting this film to be not that good, and I imagined Flynn as looking tired and puffy as a result of his wild lifestyle. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a wonderful piece of entertainment. Of course, the plot is really no different from any other swashbuckler, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun. Flynn is perfectly cast as Don Juan- really, who else can you picture but the Tasmanian Devil in the role? This film is about Don Juan in love, with his Queen (a suitably regal Viveca Lindfors), and putting his life on the line for Spain. Aside from the natural ageing process, and looking a little puffy around the face, Flynn is as attractive, charming and witty as ever. Alan Hale, his sidekick in many of his previous films, joins in again. He's Don Juan's loyal friend who keeps the horses under the boudoir window so Flynn can make a quick get-away if a jilted husband bearing a sword arrives. We even have Una O'Connor there, which makes us all sigh and remember Robin Hood. The Warners team do a great job in creating a fresh new swashbuckler for more cynical Post-War audiences (Flynn character is more knowing and sarcastic, but in a good way), whilst being an affectionate tribute AND send-up to the earlier great classics. I guess Warners capitalised on news of Flynn's rape trial and reports of his hedonistic lifestyle in creating this film. But Flynn seems to take it in good humour. The costumes, sets and colour are first rate, as is Max Steiner's stately score. And the last line is a classic!
