Die Liebesabenteuer des Don Juan

I've always been a huge fan of Flynn's movies. When he was into the role, he was as good an actor as anybody. Of his swashbucklers, the "BIG THREE" were always Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. But two movies often omitted from a list of his best are The Adventures of Don Juan and The Master of Ballantrae. Don Juan is a movie in the vein of Burt Lancaster's Crimson Pirate or The Flame and The Arrow, being a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler that scores on several points. Flynn was clearly comfortable with light comedy; it featured some great "bad guy" work by Robert Douglas; and, despite production problems caused BY Flynn's excesses, the editing in of sequences from Robin Hood and Elizabeth and Essex worked very well. The fencing scenes were thoroughly enjoyable! All in all, I would recommend this film to anybody who is a fan of the genre.

...from Warner Brothers and director Vincent Sherman. Notorious ladies' man Don Juan de Marana (Errol Flynn) has grown weary of all the duels and womanizing, and he turns himself over to the mercy of the Spanish King Phillip III (Romney Brent). Don Juan takes a job as a fencing instructor, but he gets drawn into court intrigue, and a romance with the Queen (Viveca Lindfors). Also featuring Alan Hale, Robert Douglas, Robert Warwick, Ann Rutherford, Jerry Austin, Douglas Kennedy, Jean Shepherd, Fortunio Bonanova, Una O'Connor, Aubrey Mather, and Raymond Burr.

Flynn is looking a bit older, and his health (and his drinking) was reportedly in such a state that he had to use stunt doubles, and frequently delayed filming. He isn't bad here, but this is a long way from Robin Hood, despite the presence of old pal Alan Hale. The production design is very good, and the score is rousing, but the story meanders a bit and goes on a tad too long. I still enjoyed it, though. The movie won the Oscar for Best Color Costumes (Travilla, Leah Rhodes, and Marjorie Best), and it was nominated for Best Color Art Direction.

Amusing and entertaining swashbuckler has Don Juán (Errol Flynn in his self-mocking best) saving Queen Margarita (Viveca Lindfords) who secretly loves her champion from her evil First Minister , (the British Robert Douglas) . He , then swashbuckles his way across England and Spain in effort to win her heart . At the end Don Juan finds a worthy fencing adversary in the treacherous Duc of Lorca (actually , Duke of Lerma , favorite of King Felipe III) at an exciting final duel .

Errol's last spectacular and overwhelming epic features impressive duels , elegant costuming , impressive production design , marvelous gowns , and loads of action . It is so crammed with fights and action , there hardly seems to be a set-piece that doesn't start or end with a duel , fencing or brawl . This was the major ¨Sword and Swagger¨ film mounted by First National Pictures and Warner Brothers for its superstar of swashbucklers , Errol Flynn . Errol is still nearly at his most agile and deft style . Errol Flynn was 38 when he made this movie , but his wild lifestyle had diminished his health and made him less able to perform his own stunts, as he had in earlier films . Previously , Flynn made his best swashbucklers and played successes as ¨Captain Blood¨ , ¨Adventures of Robin Hood¨, ¨The prince and the pauper¨ , ¨Sea Hawk¨, ¨The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex¨ , ¨Gentleman Jim¨ . Flynn performed splendidly the mass battle royal at the ending and the ultimate romantic gesture for the queen , he certainly gave his enthusiasts something to remember him by . It was all downhill for Errol after this , as he followed his successive flops as ¨The warriors¨, ¨Against all flags¨, ¨The Master of Ballantree¨ and ¨Adventures captain Fabian . Support cast is pretty well , such as Alan Hale Jr as his squire , Rommy Brent playing the silly King Felipe III and Robert Douglas is too good for his baddie role . And other notorious secondaries in brief apparitions as Robert Warwick , Douglas Kennedy , Barbara Bates , Monte Blue , Raymond Burr , Helen Westcott , Fortunio Bonanova and forthright as well as sympathetic Una O'Connor , as usual .

Richly costumed , including luxurious gowns and in glamorous Technicolor by cameraman Elwood Bredell . Breathtaking and luxury set design and art design by Edward Carrere and Harry Platt , though mostly interiors . Thrilling and evocative musical score by the great maestro and prolific Max Steiner . The picture is not a masterpiece , but being made with huge confidence and fair play by Vincent Sherman . Vincent directed all kinds of genres : drama , suspense , Western , biography , such as ¨Cervantes¨, ¨Lone Star¨, ¨Affair in Trinidad¨, ¨The Young Philadelphians , ¨Ice palace¨, ¨All through the night¨ , ¨Underground¨. Being his best films : ¨Mr Skeffington¨and this ¨Adventures of Don Juan¨.

Errol Flynn, at 38, was not exactly as dashingly handsome as he was in his earliest triumph ('The Adventures of Robin Hood') for his life style had begun taking a physical toll on his health. But he looks in good shape (for the most part, except for some tell-tale closeups) and carries off the role with his usual zest, good humor and athletic grace.

He still has a good sidekick in Alan Hale who gets some witty banter with Flynn throughout the fast-moving film. Victor Sherman directs the tongue-in-cheek adventure tale with great style. All of the court intrigue and swashbuckling derring-do is photographed in gorgeous technicolor and accented by a lush pseudo-Spanish Max Steiner score. Fine bits of villainy supplied by Robert Douglas and Raymond Burr and some high spirited romance from women like Viveca Lindfors (at the peak of her physical beauty) and Ann Rutherford.

For fans of Flynn films, this is one of his best. None of it can be taken seriously, but that's part of the fun. From the wry opening to the sly closing scene, this is a pure delight if you're seeking escapist adventure photographed in some of the best color cinematography ever seen.

Very good color filming, great costuming, a terrific music score are some plus factors for this swashbuckling movie. The highlight (pretty much the only one) is a magnificent sword fight- I can recommend the movie based on this highlight alone, as well all the sword work generally.

The film is competently but not spectacularly directed by Vincent Sherman. The characters in this film are fairly routine, the script is average, and except for the climactic sword fight the action mostly consists of characters running around briskly.

The fictional tale of 16th Century Spain is unremarkable, but the acting is good. Viveca Lindfors is a beautiful leading lady portraying the Queen of Spain, but is mostly required to react, breathlessly and with restrained emotion, to Don Juan's romantic verbal (verbal only) approaches. It is really not much of a role for a fine actress. Robert Douglas is as good a villain as you might find in any swashbuckler and gives a great performance as the evil Count. At this point in his career, an exceedingly obese Raymond Burr is just OK as a standard thug palace guard. Movie perennial Robert Warwick gives one of his best performances as the good Ambassador and friend of Don Juan; he makes his role more human and less cardboard than some of the other roles in this movie.

Errol Flynn is carefully filmed to appear strong and handsome, but heavy make-up and no shirtless scenes are some of the techniques used to disguise the sad fact that that Flynn was forty-ish and not physically well. He seems to realize that he is too debilitated for the part, and while his acting is good (he was a competent actor always), he is a more mature man than his once swashbuckling self. He clearly knows this fact and admirably tries to portray more "Don Juan" than "swashbuckler", and as a result he is utterly charming and watchable. Battling full blown alcoholism, serious heart problems, malaria and according to his then wife and others, a morphine issue, its remarkable that he is able to complete a film at this point in his life, although he did manage to keep his fading career limping along in increasingly poorer films for a few more years before dying at age 50.

Viewing this film I wonder why someone felt it necessary to put it together at all, but I guess swashbucklers were popular then. It seems unnecessary and basically just a retread with a fading and ill star. It is beautiful and well made technically but offers nothing at all that you could say was original.