Escape Me Never

'Escape Me Never' is a tired remake of an Elizabeth Bergner film from the '30s and they should have thought twice before filming it. As the N. Y. Times so aptly observed: "Harsh and unbelievable...the script is a frightful thing." Ida Lupino only made it because she was eager to co-star with Errol Flynn (they had a brief romantic relationship) but despite competent performances by all concerned, none of them have a chance against the poor script. Basically, it's the story of two musician brothers (Errol Flynn, Gig Young) and their involvement with two women (Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker), a romantic tearjerker with occasional flashes of humor. Ida is the poverty-stricken Gemma in love with Flynn who is unfaithful to her until his reformation at the end. One of his musical compositions is brilliantly performed by a full orchestra and here Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score soars. He was unfortunate in that some of the films he scored were considerably less worthy of his talent than they should have been. His music is the only redeeming value of this disjointed, uneven mess of a film, a short original ballet, Primavera, and a popular song that was well received, Love for Love. Production-wise, the film suffers from an obvious use of process shots and sound-stage simulations of the Alps.

My career article on Ida Lupino is due to appear in the Fall issue of FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE.

I echo what a number of other reviewers have said about this film, that they were pleasantly surprised by it. Most of the books about Flynn pan the film, and put it on the list with his lesser- quality pictures. It may not be in the top rank with his swashbucklers, but it really isn't a bad film at all. He gives a fine performance, and shows what a good actor he was, in just about any role he tackled. I like the fact that it isn't an action film, as we get to see what he could do in a different kind of part. I think he carries it off very well. He still gets to be the handsome rogue (with a piano instead of a sword), but also shows that his character is deeper than that, and has some real sensitivity for his lady friend and her baby. Some reviewers say that he was miscast, but I don't agree. A handsome, charming guy like Flynn is just what the part demands. A flirtatious character, but one with some deeper feelings, too. That could almost be a definition of the real Errol Flynn. Flynn succeeds with a difficult task here- making a selfish cad somewhat likable. You find yourself rooting for Sebastian in spite of yourself.

It's nice seeing Flynn work with his real-life friend, Ida Lupino. Flynn, Lupino, and director Raoul Walsh reportedly spent a lot of time together, and were very close pals. In fact, Ida and her mother Connie (who also loved Flynn) are buried right next to Flynn in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. One gets the feeling that Ida always loved Errol, and, in an alternate universe, you wonder if they might have gotten married, or had some kind of long-term relationship. Flynn was a wanderer, though, so perhaps that wouldn't have worked out so well. Anyway, they play well together, and you sense that they really liked each other.

Gig Young and Eleanor Parker are also very good in this film. Both were excellent actors, though their later roles perhaps provided them with more range than this film does. As in all Old Hollywood movies, this one is chock full of great character actors. Reginald Denny, Frank Reicher, Anthony Caruso, Albert Bassermann, Doris Lloyd, Leonard Mudie, and many others. Reicher is one of my favorites, in all kinds of films. I think he is best remembered as the captain of the ship "Venture" in King Kong. Caruso was great, too, and should have had a bigger career. He always projected sincerity and believability.

I'm guessing Flynn had some coaching on the piano for this. There is at least one shot where you can see his hands on the ivories. Most of the other scenes show him from behind. Films have always been good at faking the playing of musical instruments, as it had to look good and seem believable. Pianists might poke holes in what looks like Flynn really playing, but it looks pretty good to me.

Anyway, this film is worth a look. It shows that Flynn's talents really did go beyond playing the swashbuckler. All of us fans have always known that, but it might be an eye-opener for some people. Supposedly, the bad reviews for this film, and for his performance, upset him greatly. Many think that the criticisms of his acting, combined with the effects of his rape trial, and inability to serve in the military during the war, led to the downward spiral his life soon took. If you look at him just two or three years after he made this film, he looks ten years older. Everyone knows how it all finally played out. But here, he still seems young and full of life. And he has a perfect partner in Ida Lupino, who was always good in these kinds of dramas. It's too bad they didn't make more films together.

When the macLean family catches gemma (Ida Lupino) wandering around the closed rooms of their venice mansion, they learn what a scoundrel dubrok is. But there are two dubroks! Caryl (Gig Young) is the prim and proper one, while sebastian (Flynn) is the troublesome, artistic, bohmian one that gemma knows. So the macLeans rush out of town to keep their daughter from getting mixed up with any dubroks. So the brothers take gemma and her baby to go find fenella (Parker) and straighten the mess out. When they find her, sebastian and fenella talk alone. Fenella can't make up her mind which brother she likes. Life is confusing. And when people "talk" in the moonlight, sometimes it means more happened, during the film code... it's ok. Takes a long time to get where its going. And the ballet scene goes on way too long. Will fenella steal gemma's man? She flutters her eye lashes, and floats back and forth between them. This warner brothers version, and the 1935 UA film are both based on the novel and play by Margaret Kennedy.

After 1945 in which Errol Flynn appeared in typical roles for him in Operation Burma and San Antonio, he obviously must have talked to Jack Warner about getting parts that would broaden his range. He did three films over the next two year designed to do that, Never Say Goodbye, Cry Wolf, and Escape Me Never. The last is probably closest to Flynn, but all three didn't either get great critical notice or did outstanding box office. After Escape Me Never, Flynn was back in traditional action roles like Silver River and The Adventures of Don Juan, the kind of parts his fans like to see him in.

Escape Me Never is a four sided triangle story set in the years of the turn of the last century. Errol's a misunderstood genius of a composer who is living with a young widow, Ida Lupino and her baby. Ida's another Bohemian sort who broke into the villa in Venice of an English couple and their daughter. When she's confronted she mentions she's living with Errol. That sends a ripple through the house because daughter Eleanor Parker is engaged to Gig Young who is Errol's brother and they think Errol's a two timer. When she leaves Venice in a huff, Flynn, Lupino, and Young chase after her.

The problem is that the daughter may have been wrong on the particulars, but in fact Errol is a two timing cad, though a charming one.

Charm Flynn had in abundance, but I could never quite accept him as a musical genius. The best thing about the film is the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold who wrote a ballet for the film that is the highlight. Korngold scored a lot of Flynn's early swashbucklers, most notably The Adventures Of Robin Hood.

This is the second version of this story, the British cinema did one in 1935 with Elisabeth Bergner and Hugh Sinclair. I'm guessing that was a better film.

I saw this on TCM and had read in several review books that this was a bomb remake of an earlier picture with Elizabeth Bergner,but I was charmed by this film and like Ida Lupino and Errol Flynn's chemistry a lot. The other actors(especially Eleanor Parker) are also quite good and the film is quite a change of pace from the swashbucklers,war filmsand Westerns Flynn was in a lot. I enjoyed it a lot,and wished Lupino and Flynn had had another outing in a better film. This is a good instance of Flynn's natural ease on screen,and his sex appeal even when playing a cad in rags! Not many actors could do as well with this selfish playboy role as Errol did-so underrated an actor.Ida is always watchable,too.