Istanbul

Istanbul and the associated reviews are really interesting. Yes it is a bit cliché'd and yes some of the characters are one dimensional. Errol Flynn's acting is unique and there are clearly attempts to refer to film noir (even though this a colour film) and there is an attempt by the film studio to lay this film over the moral dilemma of Casablanca and throw in Nat King Cole and "when I fall in love" as a replacement for Dooley Wilson and Time Goes by. But let us not forget films cost a significant amount of money to make and studios are stupid and they feel that they have to piggy back the film's selling point with another film's Unique selling point...see Altman's The Player....if you need proof.

But actually the pull of this film's USP, namely the love interest's amnesia and Errol Flynn's affection for her are quite striking. The diamond smuggling sub plot works to a degree albeit the villains, as one reviewer says, are rather thinly drawn.

What I found interesting as well was 1950's view of women. There was no depth to the relationship between the lead characters just a suggestion of something deep and intense going on. However floating on a love boat in the Bosphorus was all that explained this "love". Also the potential life after the successful acquisition of the diamonds was hinted without any explanation...and the lead female's new life was ugly to the 21st century mind...a suggestion that she would look after Mr Fielding, (presumably cooking, looking nice and proving oral sex) and in return he would feed and clothe her and take her to places like Istanbul, was contrasted with Marge and her husband, where the husband dished out a black eye because Marge might have been tempted by a Frenchman who would have gone with her to see Hamlet in Turkish was almost risible.

But I stuck with this film to the end and enjoyed the mild threat and laughed at the cloak and dagger stuff........no it's not great but it is worth watching.

Nat King Cole was one of the greatest singers of all time. This is coming from a guy who generally prefers hard rock to most other music. His voice was so smooth and his style so perfect, you can't help but think he'd have been an even bigger star had he been born at a different time. While he made a few appearances here and there, this is one of the few chances to hear him sing one of his best songs (unlike in "Cat Ballou"). So, whether "Istanbul" is a good film or not, it's well worth watching just to hear and see Cole sing "When I Fall in Love"...a truly beautiful song from a beautiful man.

As to the film, it's one of Errol Flynn's last films. It's not a super-cheapo production like many of his later movies (a few of which are truly embarrassing to watch today) but is more an international film with lovely sets, location shoots and Flynn STILL looking fit and handsome...probably his last film where he didn't look awful due to the ravages of alcoholism. He really looks pretty good for a man in his late 40s. Sadly, he'd be dead at 50...bloated and a shadow of his former self.

Much of the movie is a flashback. As James Brennan (Flynn) nears Istanbul on an airliner, he thinks back to what occurred five years earlier. Back then, he fell in love with Stephanie Bauer (Cornell Borchers) but got pulled into a diamond smuggling affair as well. The end result was that Stephanie apparently died and Brennan left Turkey.

Once Brennan's plane arrives, however, things get weird. Soon he sees Stephanie...his old dead fiancé! But she's alive and now falls herself Karen Fielding. What is going on here?! He also is soon approached by various scum-bags (including Werner Klemperer) and the intrigue begins all over again! See the film and see what Brennan learns about this crazy, mixed up mess!

Along with "The Sun Also Rises", this is the last nice looking and cinematic film. It's in lovely Technicolor, has very good acting, music and enough gloss to make it worth seeing. Thankfully this is not an awful mess like his final film, "Cuban Rebel Girls"--and remembering him for films like "Istanbul" is what I'd much rather do. My only gripe about this one, and it's minor, is the amnesia angle--a plot device best left out of most films. Otherwise, I strongly suggest you see this film if you can...it's worth it.

In a mash-up of various Humphrey Bogart starring vehicles, Errol Flynn is a pilot in Istanbul who falls in love with Cornell Borchers and some smuggled diamonds. Then there's a fire, the diamonds are lost, Miss Borchers is dead and Flynn flies off for half a decade. When he returns, he goes about recovering the diamonds, and runs into Miss Borchers, who's amnesiac and married to Torin Thatcher.

And so it goes. There's a singing piano player -- it's Nat King Cole performing his hit version of "When I Fall in Love", Werner Klemperer as a sociopath who breaks into rooms and crawls when he isn't slinging knives, John Bentley as a Turkish Inspector -- non-corrupt -- and other echoes of Bogey. The one original note in the script is Leif Erickson and Peggy Knudsen as a bickering Ugly American couple, and a welcome change it is, to know that fifteen years after Huston et al. perfected the Bogart persona, there was still something to add to the tales of international intrigue besides some filming in Turkey.

In short, there's certainly nothing wrong with the movie, as had been demonstrated the last fifteen times it had been made.

By no means a masterpiece, and far from Errol Flynn's best, Istanbul still has much going for it. The locations and beautiful technicolour cinematography, bring us back to a time long since past. Errol Flynn does show moments of his past glory, and is OK as Jim Brennan, a pilot who's past comes back to haunt him. The picture is actually a remake of 1947's "Singapore", and the story seems awfully contrived and cliche' by today's standards. Also many of the supporting cast seem to be simply "going through the motions" in this picture. Many people have also compared it to one of the all time greats, CASABLANCA. While watching the film, I could see many of the similarities, but hey, Casablanca has inspired countless imitators, so take that for what it's worth. In closing, if you are a fan of Flynn, or old fashioned love stories, you might want to give this film a look. Otherwise, I'd recommend Casablanca, or The Maltese Falcon, as a good introduction to some of Hollywood's classics....

This must seem like a very superficial second hand plagiarism of "Casablanca" to many, but there is actually much more to it than that, if you bother to look deeper into the story, another fascinating study in a case of amnesia with a lot of question marks, many of which you have to figure out for yourself.

Errol Flynn comes back to Istanbul after five years and remembers the turbulence of his last visit, in which he was involved in some diamond smuggling. He had a great and promising love affair, when everything was brutally interrupted by unforeseen circumstances, and he couldn't come back for five years. On his return he meets again his great love, but she is another person, and he has some trouble in understanding the situation, especially since she is now happily married, or at least so it seems. There is very much in this intrigue of seeming appearances while much more isn't easily told.

The superficial impression and unavoidable associations to "Casablanca" are especially exacerbated by Stephanie's almost irritating likeness with Ingrid Bergman, but there is no Humphrey Bogart here. Instead you have an unusually sober Errol Flynn with almost a stone face, covering up stormy feelings with some difficulty, which must trouble him all the way. But the finale is a wonder of almost metaphysical turnings of a totally unexpected nature, and that's where you have to complete the picture by your own thinking; because Errol Flynn's sober face is never more stony than when he has given up all.