Royal Flash

This is a fun flick. I've always liked the humorous fighting style that director Richard Lester brings to his films (The Three Musketeers/Superman I and II/Robin and Marion). This rollicking tale has a dash of that as well as the comic timing of Malcolm McDowell and the grandiose aspirations to rip off "The Prisoner of Zenda" in roundabout fashion.

Royal Flash is an adaptation of the second novel of George MacDonald Frasier's hilarious historical fiction series about the 19th century British officer Harry Flashman, an admitted rogue and coward who always seems to end up smelling like roses. By placing Flashman in settings right out of history and populating his stories with real historical figures Mr Frasier has found the perfect way to inform as he entertains.

The film follows Flashman from a torrid affair with the sadistic Lola Montez to a chance meeting with Otto von Bismark before sending him on a wild journey to a small European province where he's forced to imitate a prince and marry a princess and...

Royal Flash is a good movie and I wish it had reached a wider audience so that I could have seen more of Harry Flashman on the screen. It is one of the weaker novels in the series, but plays well on film. McDowell is a perfect fit and the great Oliver Reed makes a convincing and intimidating Bismark.

8.5 out of 10, but I'm admittedly biased. Seek out the movie, then read the books. Or vice-versa. You won't be disappointed.

As a fan of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series I have seen this film many times and it's a treat to finally own a widescreen transfer on DVD. Royal Flash is the 1975 film based on the second "Flashman" novel of the same name. It stars Malcolm McDowell as Captain Harry Flashman, Oliver Reed as future German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, Britt Ekland as the chilly Princess Irma, and Florinda Bolkan plays the actress/mistress of mad Bavarian King Ludwig. Lola Montez. It also features the best Scrooge ever, Alastair Sim, and a pre-"Roger Rabbit" Bob Hoskins in minor but memorable parts. Fraser wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Richard Lester. It is very similar in style to their collaboration on The Three/Four Musketeers films of 1973/1974, which also featured great locales, swordfighting galore and an ideal cast. OK, first, the BAD news: although I saw a 1975 preview screening in Ottawa I have never seen the original longer version, which apparently was released and trimmed to 102 minutes shortly after. Sadly, this footage, which apparently featured Lester regular actor Roy Kinnear in some scenes, does NOT appear on the DVD. There are some special features, including the theatrical trailer and a couple of mini-documentaries made around 2004. Another quibble some Flashy purists have expressed is that McDowell is not "stout" enough to play Harry. I think the natural devilment in Malcolm's performance more than makes up for his stature, and they even try to make him broad-chested in the film. I'm a Flashy purist too, and I prefer the tall lancer figure portrayed by Barbosa on the original book covers to the rather fat portraits on the current book covers. Finally, some have objected to the "slapstick" nature of the film, and perhaps these readers are more interested in Flashy's military campaigns than his rollicking amorous adventures. How much you like Lester's use of muttered quips and style of shooting will perhaps guide you: if you like "A Hard Day's Night", "Help!" or the Musketeers films you should enjoy this one. If you're looking for Kubrick, move along. Here's the GOOD news: the widescreen transfer is fine, the outdoor location shots still gorgeous and the movie is great fun. It is still a puzzle to me why such a fine film stiffed at the box office and was hard to find on TV or video for so many years. But you don't even have to be a fan of the books to enjoy this movie, or know the fascinating actual histories of Bismarck or Lola Montes to enjoy the larger-than-life characters. P.S. any resemblance to the classic "Prisoner of Zenda" is entirely deliberate. Eight out of ten stars, only because I hope the "lost" footage has survived and may be available in a (Blu-Ray, please!) version soon.

If you haven't read any of the Flashman series, go out and find one. Rollicking good read, with the protagonist being an absolutely selfish, cowardly, mean-spirited ass of a man who nonetheless finds himself considered a dashing hero by the public at large. Fraser does a good job of converting his book to the screen (writing Three Musketeers was probably good practice), re-teaming with Richard Lester. MacDowall is good as ol' Flashy, glossing over the fact that Harry is supposed to a large, strapping Brit, and not a skinny little guy like Malcolm. :)

Enjoyable on its own merit, but I'd say read one of the other Flashy books and then see this.

A lot of the humour in the Flashman novels is based on the discrepancy between how Harry Flashman appears and what he's actually thinking. As a result the filmmakers have had to make some adjustments to how Harry is played to bring our more of his innate cowardliness, lechery, thieving, and being an all round bad egg to the surface. I believe that the filmmakers have got the balance right and fully enjoyed this adaption of the Flashman papers.

The screenplay is a fairly faithful adaption of the original novel, which can be expected when the author is also wrote the screenplay. Malcolm McDowell and Oliver Reed give fine performances in the central roles, with the supporting cast ranging from excellent (Henry Cooper) to bland (Britt Ekland).

Bags of fun, but not to be taken seriously.

Going into this one, I was aware it was part of a literary franchise by George MacDonald Fraser (who personally adapted the novel of the same name to the screen – incidentally, he died quite recently) involving roguish British officer Harry Flashman (the name itself derives from the student bully of the literary classic for children "Tom Brown's Schooldays"!). The film-makers, in fact, hoped this would take off a' la the James Bond extravaganzas – but, clearly, the idea was doomed to failure, since old-fashioned and expensive costume pictures were no longer trendy by this time; for the record, not long ago I'd watched another contemporary tongue-in-cheek epic – Jerzy Skolimowski's film of Arthur Conan Doyle's THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD (1970), which was partly shot in Malta! Besides, I think it was a mistake to have started off with a novel whose plot had already been redone to death over the years – the protagonist, in fact, goes through a "Prisoner Of Zenda"-type adventure where he has to impersonate a look-alike royal!

Even so, on its own account, the film is undeniably stylish, considerably funny (effortlessly going from verbal wit to broad slapstick) and blessed with a tremendous cast (Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates, Oliver Reed as future German political leader Otto von Bismarck, Florinda Bolkan as actress/courtesan Lola Montes – who, obviously, had already been the protagonist of Max Ophuls' sublime but ill-fated 1955 film of that name, Britt Ekland – underused as McDowell's frigid intended, Lionel Jeffries - sporting a metallic hand, Michael Hordern, Alastair Sim – amusingly popping in merely to referee a pistol duel between females, Joss Ackland, Tom Bell, Christopher Cazenove and Bob Hoskins). At the same time, however, it fails to scale the heights of director Lester's previous swashbuckling saga – THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1973) and its simultaneously-filmed sequel THE FOUR MUSKETEERS (1974).

Interestingly, the opening sequence – with McDowell speaking at a school assembly with the Union Jack behind him – is actually lifted from the unforgettable prologue to PATTON (1970) where, in that case, George C. Scott had addressed the (non-visible) troops in front of the U.S. flag! Other notable assets here are the cinematography (by Geofftrey Unsworth), the production design (courtesy of Terence Marsh) and the score (from Lester regular Ken Thorne). By the way, in the liner notes it's stated that the film was originally previewed at 121 minutes and later cut to 98 for general release – but the DVD edition I've watched, and which was released only recently as a SE by Fox, is a bit longer than that (running 102 minutes, to be exact)!