IMDb RATING
6.3/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
Ne'er-do-well Captain Harry Flashman (Malcolm McDowell) is coerced by Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) into impersonating a Prince.Ne'er-do-well Captain Harry Flashman (Malcolm McDowell) is coerced by Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) into impersonating a Prince.Ne'er-do-well Captain Harry Flashman (Malcolm McDowell) is coerced by Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) into impersonating a Prince.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 1970, Richard Lester had planned to make a movie of "Flashman", the first of George MacDonald Fraser's novels, from a screenplay by Charles Wood and Frank Muir, with John Alderton in the title role. Because of the expense, it was canceled days before shooting was scheduled to start. Four years later, after collaborating with Fraser on his two "Musketeers" movies with huge success, Lester tried to reactivate the project. He found it easier to make a movie of Fraser's second novel, "Royal Flash", perhaps because the story is a parody of "The Prisoner Of Zenda", which had been filmed several times before. United Artists went cold on the idea shortly before filming was set to begin, but Lester was able to successfully transfer the project to Twentieth Century Fox. The movie was a critical and box-office failure, and for general release in Britain it was cut from one hour fifty-eight minutes to one hour thirty-six minutes. George MacDonald Fraser hated the film so much that he would refused to authorize any more films based on his Flashman novels in his lifetime.
- GoofsAbout 48 minutes in, as Flashman and Rudi enter Strackenz, one of the cheering townspeople pulls out a compact camera and takes a photo of the procession.
- Quotes
Harry Flashman: [to Bismarck] How dare you insult a lady, you dirty foreigner.
Otto von Bismarck: I shall remember you.
Harry Flashman: Well I shan't trouble to return the compliment.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Superman III (1983)
Featured review
Great DVD - a must buy for fans of Flashman
First and foremost- This movie is enormous fun.
If you're a fan of the books (as I am - and if you're not then I heartily recommend them) then this film admirably captures the sense of fun and adventure that the books have. It has a lot of slap stick in it which doesn't necessarily translate well from the books, but it does capture a sense of (for lack of a better term) light-hearted love of fun that is pure seventies and just would not and could not be replicated now. Cinema just isn't in the right frame of mind for this anymore. It's either too serious or too dumb but it couldn't achieve this in it's wildest dreams in these morose joyless days.
Malcolm McDowell is young and at the top of his game as his charismatic persona in "A Clockwork Orange". Olly Reed is pure, toe cringing (but love-him-really) badness as Otto Von Bismark. There's so much comedy but there are also scenes where your swashes will never be so buckled! Don't expect a Citizen Kane or anything even remotely close, just sit back and enjoy a classic "Saturday afternoon" romp (and never has a word been so well used) through a classic Flashman story- great baddies, exotic foreign locales and wenches ripe for Flash's advances! Enormous fun if you approach it in the right frame of mind- it will leave you shouting HUZZAR!
If you're a fan of the books (as I am - and if you're not then I heartily recommend them) then this film admirably captures the sense of fun and adventure that the books have. It has a lot of slap stick in it which doesn't necessarily translate well from the books, but it does capture a sense of (for lack of a better term) light-hearted love of fun that is pure seventies and just would not and could not be replicated now. Cinema just isn't in the right frame of mind for this anymore. It's either too serious or too dumb but it couldn't achieve this in it's wildest dreams in these morose joyless days.
Malcolm McDowell is young and at the top of his game as his charismatic persona in "A Clockwork Orange". Olly Reed is pure, toe cringing (but love-him-really) badness as Otto Von Bismark. There's so much comedy but there are also scenes where your swashes will never be so buckled! Don't expect a Citizen Kane or anything even remotely close, just sit back and enjoy a classic "Saturday afternoon" romp (and never has a word been so well used) through a classic Flashman story- great baddies, exotic foreign locales and wenches ripe for Flash's advances! Enormous fun if you approach it in the right frame of mind- it will leave you shouting HUZZAR!
helpful•110
- oldchina
- Feb 8, 2008
- How long is Royal Flash?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El cobarde heroico
- Filming locations
- Twickenham Film Studios, St. Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK(filmed at Twickenham Film Studios, London, England)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,500,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 42 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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