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Holistic Guidance - Errol Flynn Westerns Collection (Montana / Rocky Mountain / San Antonio / Virginia City)
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List Price: $49.98
Our Price: $34.99
Your Save: $ 14.99 ( 30% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith, Randolph Scott, Miriam Hopkins
Directed By: Michael Curtiz
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0085391188216
Format: Box set
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-08-26
Running Time: 389
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1950-01-28
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Editorial Reviews:
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Errol Flynn Tames the West in these Four Classic Westerns!MONTANA - Big Sky Country is cattle country! But sheep rancher Flynn has other ideas in this gun-blazing range-war saga. Alexis Smith co-stars.ROCKY MOUNTAIN - The Civil War comes to California and rebel leader Flynn finds that marauding Shoshones may be fiercer foes than the Union Army. With future Mrs. Flynn Patrice Wymore.SAN ANTONIO - A man is only as good as his aim when Flynn rides into ol' San Antone to hunt cattle rustlers. A landmark of Western excitement with an amazing saloon shoot-'em-up...and lovely Alexis Smith.VIRGINIA CITY - Union officer Flynn goes undercover to stop a gold-laden Nevada wagon train rolling to Dixie. With Randolph Scott and yes Humphrey Bogart as a pencil-mustached desperado.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:Â WESTERN/CLASSICS UPC:Â 085391188216 Manufacturer No:Â 1000027305
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Flynn's Westerns - A Unique Sub-Genre
Comment: There are westerns (with John Wayne, Gary Cooper, directed by John Ford, Howard Hawks, not to mention Roy Rogers and Gene Autry) and then there are Errol Flynn's westerns. I think I saw some of Flynn's westerns on TV before I saw any of the others and was therefore very surprised to find that DODGE CITY, VIRGINIA CITY, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, etc., were unlike any of the other films in the genre. That said, these films created a unique western sub-genre on their own terms, mainly because Flynn was a unique screen presence and Warners figured out how to tailor stories to his personality.
This four-film collection brings together the less celebrated films. 1940's VIRGINIA CITY is basically a "prequel" to 1939's DODGE CITY with Flynn, Alan Hale, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams playing virtually the same characters they did in the first film. My guess is that the romantic subplot with Miriam Hopkins (she and Flynn have absolutely NO screen chemistry)would have confused the love match in DODGE CITY had they played the same characters. Basically, VIRGINIA CITY is a shaggy dog story; that is, it starts off great even showing some influence of Ford's STAGECOACH with its extended sequences on a stage coach (and repeating one of STAGECOACH's best stunt scenes). But the plot gets so involved with so many characters that there's enough story for three films. You know things have gotten out of hand when you find yourself rooting for the Bogart character.
VIRGINIA CITY's saving grace is that it is an expertly made production and the money really shows on the screen. Technicolor would have been nice (as in DODGE CITY) but the b/w photography is crisp. Max Steiner contributes another fine score although some of the story's characters, like Frank McHugh, seem to get lost in the plot. This epic-scale film is a testament to the confidence Warners had in Errol Flynn at that time. It seems that almost every film he made during those years was an epic production and Flynn, at 30 years of age, never looked better.
Fast forward five years to the next film in this set, SAN ANTONIO, and we see more of a Roy Rogers influence than John Ford - Flynn even sings in this one! Glorious Technicolor is back (which makes up for a multitude of other shortcomings) but Flynn has developed a new screen persona by now. Gone is the noble Robin Hood-like knight that he more or less played in his films up to 1942. His well-publicized trial for statutory rape (he was acquitted however) persuaded Warners to reshape his character along the lines of Rhett Butler - a seeming gentleman with a shady past, decent people didn't speak to him - and this is the Flynn we see in films from about 1943 on.
SAN ANTONIO is Flynn's fifth western (of eight) and the first that was not an historical western. Played strictly as post-WWII escapist entertainment, Flynn at 35 is beginning to look like his dissipated lifestyle has started to catch up with him. His eyes were wonderfully expressive in earlier films but by now they're expressionless (check his closeups if you don't believe me). Teamed for the third time with Alexis Smith, they make a nice romantic team that almost (but not quite) makes you forget about Olivia De Havilland. Paul Kelly plays the dapper villain who seems to be based on Bruce Cabot's character in DODGE CITY. In real life, Kelly earlier served a prison term for a fist fight that turned fatal. But the climatic showdown between Flynn and Kelly that we've all been waiting for fizzles out. Duking it out in the deserted Alamo (we have a feeling that Kelly can take care of himself even against Flynn), the fight suddenly ends when Kelly falls down and hits his head against a rock, presumably killing him. What kind of climax is this!!!!
1950's MONTANA is the third film in the set but Technicolor seems to be used to disguise the fact that this film is a 76 minute B-picture. By now, Flynn was starting to really look haggard and Warners was pulling the plug on his films (and for the first time loaning him out to other studios). The previous year's ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN was Warners' last effort to promote Flynn in a big budget film. His absences, lateness, and general lack of cooperation on JUAN convinced the studio to just let him serve out the remaining films in his contract in routine productions. By 1950, the studio was hiring Gary Cooper and James Stewart for big budget westerns that a few years earlier almost certainly would have starred Flynn. MONTANA reunited Flynn and Alexis Smith for the fourth and last time - she looks ageless while he has clearly seen better days.
The last film in this set is ROCKY MOUNTAIN, a better production than MONTANA but a far cry from DODGE CITY, VIRGINIA CITY, SANTA FE TRAIL, and THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, which were made about a decade earlier. His co-star from most of those earlier films, Big Boy Williams, is with Flynn in ROCKY MOUNTAIN and there are moments when Williams almost seems to say to Flynn, "What happened - how did we wind up in this thing?" (OK, you can accuse me of having an overactive imagination.)
If you enjoy any of the earlier Flynn westerns, you will want to have this set although it unintentionally documents the decline of one of Hollywood's greatest stars. Finally, I can recommend the book, "THE FILMS OF ERROL FLYNN" by Tony Thomas, et al. Originally published in 1969, it is chock full of great photos, credits, etc. from all his films. My only complaint is that the authors are dismissive of many good Flynn films - but they made their judgments almost 40 years ago. A number of the Flynn films beyond the essentials (CAPTAIN BLOOD, ROBIN HOOD, SEA HAWK) have grown in stature through the years as it has become obvious that we will never see the likes of Flynn or the wonderful films that Warners produced for him ever again.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Essentially a volume 3 of the Flynn Signature series
Comment: Only "Virginia City" has an A-film feel about it with Michael Curtiz directing and notable Warner costars. The other three are B Westerns in my opinion, but Flynn's presence always made any film much better. His performances in all of these films are very good, he just doesn't always have the best material with which to work, and in some cases he is working with some very bizarre casting. The extra features bring this package up to four stars in my opinion, but I don't understand why WHV just didn't go ahead and add "Silver River" to the set and make it the usual five film classic box set. Someone else has already done an excellent job of summarizing each film. So I'll just mention the extra features for the set, the director in each case, and my personal rating of each film on a five star scale:
Montana (1950) directed by Ray Enright. (3/5)
The weakest of the four films in the set.
Extra Features:
Vintage Newsreel
Warner Night at the Movies 1950 Short Subjects Gallery
Joe McDoakes Comedy Short: So You Want a Raise
Classic Cartoon: It's Hummer Time
Trailers of Montana and 1950's Chain Lightning
Bonus Gallery of Santa Fe Trail Series Western Shorts: Oklahoma Outlaws, Wagon Wheels West and Gun to Gun
Rocky Mountain (1950) directed by William Keighley (3.5/5)
Begins well, ends well, but the middle does sag a bit, which is unusual for a Flynn film of any genre.
Extra Features:
Commentary by biographer Thomas McNulty [McNulty looks at Flynn's career, his unique qualities as a Western hero and his romance with costar Patrice Wymore.]
Warner Night at the Movies 1950 Short Subjects Gallery
Vintage Newsreel
Trailers of Rocky Mountain and The Breaking Point
Bonus Gallery of Santa Fe Trail Series Western Shorts: Roaring Guns, Wells Fargo Days and Trial by Trigger
Classic Cartoon: Two's a Crowd
Joe McDoakes Comedy Short So You Want to Move
San Antonio (1945) directed by David Butler (3.5/5)
Extra Features:
Warner Night at the Movies 1945 Short Subjects Gallery:
Vintage Newsreel
Oscar-Nominated Vitaphone Varieties Short Story of a Dog
Vintage Shorts: Frontier Days and Peeks at Hollywood
Classic Cartoons: A Tale of Two Mice and Wagon Heels
Trailers of San Antonio and The Corn Is Green
Virginia City (1940) directed by Michael Curtiz. (4/5)
How weird to see Humphrey Bogart playing his role of the bandit with some of the oddest diction ever. Not nearly as good as Dodge City but still good.
Extra Features:
Commentary by historian Frank Thompson [Thompson discusses this all-star collaboration with Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Randolph Scott and Miriam Hopkins, and the challenges faced by director Michael Curtiz throughout production.]
Warner Night at the Movies 1940 Short Subjects Gallery
Vintage Newsreel
Technicolor Shorts: Cinderella's Feller and The Flag of Humanity
1936 WB Short: The Light Brigade Rides Again
Classic Cartoons: Cross Country Detours and Confederate Honey
Trailers of Virginia City and A Dispatch from Reuters
Recommended for the Errol Flynn completist. If you haven't got them already, get the excellent two volumes of Errol Flynn's Signature Collection. They are a very good introduction to Flynn's work - especially volume one - and should give you a better idea if you would like this set.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Rich Man's Roy Rogers"
Comment: This is the third box set of Errol Flynn's films.This time it's the fine
westerns he appeared in for Warner Bros. in the decade 1940/1950 which includes "Virginia City" (1940), "San Antonio" (1945), "Rocky Mountain" (1950) and "Montana" (1950). Flynn had great success with his playing in westerns which baffled and intrigued the actor no end and prompted him to refer to himself on occasion as "the rich man's Roy Rogers".
Since "Dodge City" (1938) plus "The Died With Their Boots On" (1941) had
already been issued on DVD and "Sante Fe Trail" (1940) is available elsewhere on Budget DVDs, with variable quality I must add, this new set - with the exception of "Silver River" (1948) - contains the remainder of Flynn's western output.
VIRGINIA CITY (1940) is a top notch western with a top notch cast. Besides Flynn it had stone faced Randolph Scott as a Confederate officer and Flynn's main adversary. And sporting a dubious Mexican accent - a pre stardom Humphrey Bogart as a bandit leader and also the awful Miriam Hopkins (where oh where was Olivia?) as a saloon singer come Southern spy. The story has Flynn - fresh from the quarter-deck of The Albatross in "The Sea Hawk" - playing a Union Intelligence officer trying to prevent a shipment of gold bullion going to the South to prolong the struggle during the closing days of the Civil War. "Virginia City" is an enjoyable action packed western and high on the list of favourites with Flynn devotees. Solidly directed by Michael Curtiz, it is splendidly photographed by Sol Polito and composer Max Steiner contributed one of his very best scores for a western. Particularly effective is his uplifting Main Theme played in the scene where the gold laden wagons inch their way across the plains. It is Steiner at his most emphatic!
When originally released "Virginia City" was shown in cinemas in Sepiatone so hopefully this DVD release will be the same.
SAN ANTONIO (1945)was a colourful but thinly plotted oater directed by David Butler. Max Steiner reused his Main Title music from "Dodge City"
over the credits and it suited the picture perfectly well. From a screenplay by Alan LeMay it was richly photographed in Technicolor by
Bert Glennon. The story has Flynn as a cattleman trying to bring down baddie Paul Kelly - the head of a syndicate of cattle thieves and the picture culminates in a shootout in the ruins of the famous Alamo shrine. Flynn looks extremely handsome throughout the film with his stetson tilted to one side, his well fitting figured-in three quarter length coat and his sixgun slung across his midriff just like a sword. The man could sure cut an elegant figure!
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (1950) was Flynn's last western and a good one to finish up
with. In this handsomely mounted movie he plays a Confederate officer who
with a small band of men travels to California with orders to try and persuade outlaws to join with them in their fight for the South. Flynn
gives a very likable subdued performance and is ably supported by Scott Forbes (impressive as a formidable Union officer), Slim Pickins, Sheb Wooley and Patrice Wymore who - some weeks after the film wrapped - would become Mrs. Flynn the third. Crisply photographed in Monochrome by genius cameraman Ted McCord in stunning New Mexico locations it was excitingly directed by William Keighley and brilliantly scored by Max Steiner. His music for the Indian sequences is nothing short of breathtaking! The final chase and battle with the Indians in a blind canyon ("they've seen our backs let's show 'em our faces" declares Flynn) is marvellously executed and is the highlight of the movie. Nice to see this rarely seen film at last on DVD!
MONTANA (1950) is the weakest movie of the set! Lamely directed by Ray
Enright and poorly written by James R.Webb and Bordan Chase the picture never seems to get up off its knees and say something to us. Flynn is supposed to be a sheepman bringing his sheep into cattle country to the chagrin of cattle rancher Alexis Smith and her neighbours but half the time he goes around with a bemused look on his face and doesn't really seem to have much interest in what's going on. Even David Buttolph's "pantomime" music adds to the frivolity of the thing. The only saving grace with this movie is Karl Freund's rich technicolor photography and an amusing moment where Flynn sings to Miss Smith a Mack David ditty "Reckon I'm In Love" accompanied by - what looks like Flynn - playing the guitar. Yes indeed, "the rich man's Roy Rogers" was certainly in evidence here.
Apart from the last movie this is a splendid Flynn box set and will not be out of place with the other Flynn sets in your collection......Now if
only they had included "Silver River" instead of "Montana"!!
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