Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone
Have I Seen it Before: Never. One of the characters in The Lowdown muttered that this was one of Curtiz’s favorites, so it went to the top of (or at last found itself on) the to-watch list.
Did I Like It: I’m not sure what they were talking about. I can think of five Curtiz movies right of the top of my head that I like better*. This movie moved with the speed of something far thicker than blood. I became overwealmed with wanting to ask when, or even if, someone might start buckling a swash in this ostensive swashbuckler. Other films in the genre and of the period—I’m at this point mainly thinking of The Mark of Zorro (1940)**—are slightly bogged down by the more romantic, pontificating trappings of the genre, but still remember that swordplay put butts in seats in the first place.
Then there’s The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)***. Almsot exactly the same ingredients. Is it possible I’ve become one of those people who views a movie that’s in color as better than a corrolary in black and white? I definitely think more highly of White Christmas (1954)****, for any number of a reason, is better than Holiday Inn (1942). Maybe Curtiz and company had to get better at the swashbuckling formula before old Jack Warner lets the technicolor film stock out of the vault.
*Might be unfair, because the guy made about a million of them. Nothing like the point I keep trying to make about Rob Reiner when people bring up The Princess Bride (1987).
**I’ll get to some other very key examples here in a little bit.
***Speaking of Michael Curtiz movies I like more than this…
****Speaking of Michael Curtiz movies I like more than this…