This movie was very much a disappointment to me.
I very much like Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Rosalind Russell. And Michael Curtiz has directed some of my favorite movies, such as Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. But despite all that talent, this movie just doesn't work for me.
I place the blame on the script, which is really weak. Flynn's character is often incomprehensible - whom does he love, and why? - and not particularly likable, though Flynn exerts all of his very considerable charm. As a result, we're not really rooting for him, or even sure which way he wants to go. Russell is great - shades of her performance as a newspaper woman in His Girl Friday - but she doesn't get the great lines that movie provided her. Things move along briskly, but we don't always care.
This movie leaves no lasting impression, which is a shame, because it shows that Flynn could have made some great comedies, had he but been given the right script.
I very much like Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Rosalind Russell. And Michael Curtiz has directed some of my favorite movies, such as Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. But despite all that talent, this movie just doesn't work for me.
I place the blame on the script, which is really weak. Flynn's character is often incomprehensible - whom does he love, and why? - and not particularly likable, though Flynn exerts all of his very considerable charm. As a result, we're not really rooting for him, or even sure which way he wants to go. Russell is great - shades of her performance as a newspaper woman in His Girl Friday - but she doesn't get the great lines that movie provided her. Things move along briskly, but we don't always care.
This movie leaves no lasting impression, which is a shame, because it shows that Flynn could have made some great comedies, had he but been given the right script.