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Forgotten Flynn

The five titles included in the recent TCM Spotlight Collection Errol Flynn Adventures set were all made between 1942 and 1945. They might as well have called it "Errol Flynn Plays an Do-No-Wrong Hero", since that describes him in every last title.

Even devoted Flynn fans wouldn't name-check them as favorites, mostly due to the fact that, like many WWII-produced films, they haven't been widely available (or at all) on home video over the last couple of decades, and they aren't exactly the titles that would be done for repertory screenings. They're very rah-rah, patriotic propaganda jobs, but they're all enjoyable aside from historical appreciation.

The thing that keeps me coming back to these "TCM Spotlight" releases is the way Warner Home Video curates them. They include vintage pre-show newsreels and shorts, as well as trailers, so it recreates (as best one could) the historical experience of seeing these in first run. In particular, one of my beloved Joe McDoakes shorts (So You Think You're Allergic) is included on the disc for Objective, Burma!. The whole set of McDoakes shorts is highly recommended and available from Warner Archive.

Ronald Reagan co-stars in Desperate Journey, a shot-down-flyboys picture. Ann Sheridan (who nearly played Ilsa in Casablanca) co-stars with Flynn as Norweigan freedom fighters. I affectionately refer to Northern Pursuit as "Nazis on Ice!", where Flynn plays a valiant Canadian who sabotages the plans of some Nazis by infiltrating their ranks. Flynn plays a self-sacrificing Frenchman (his fourth nationality in as many movies) in Uncertain Glory. Rounding out the set is the aforementioned Obejctive, Burma!, a jungle combat movie noted in its time for being ultra-realistic (by the standards of the day).

Amazon's got the set for just shy of $40, or less than $8 per title. If this is your kind of thing, you won't be disappointed.