Dodge City 1939 - A landmark early Flynn Western

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031235/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: Michael Curtiz
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh

"Director Michael Curtiz paints with a wide and colorful brush and Dodge City is the kind of virile entertainment where a mammoth barroom free-for-all rudely interrupts the temperance meeting taking place next door, a situation that allows recently chaste cattle driver Alan Hale to partake in both. There is also a stampede of cattle, a fiery climax on a hi-jacked train and the cowardly killing of little Bobs Watson to keep the action fan happy for a good 104 minutes of so. Which, needless to say, doesn't leave much space for feminine interest, supplied here by Olivia de Havilland (exceedingly good and ultimately brave) and Ann Sheridan (sort of 'bad' by the mere fact that she is in the employ of evil Bruce Cabot). The latter, unfortunately, is completely wasted in the thankless role of the saloon belle but does get to warble a song or two. Overseeing it all with his usual authority, Curtiz has a couple of neat tricks up his sleeve, including a memorable sequence where Miss de Havilland spots an intruder by his shadow. A solid box office hit, Dodge City was the first of a series of westerns for swashbuckling star Flynn; his next oater, Virginia City, followed in 1940." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/dodge-city-v14179/

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The dawn patrol 1938 - They roared through the dawn... with death on their wings

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030044/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Edmund Goulding
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Donald Crisp, Barry Fitzgerald

"The Dawn Patrol is a good example of how a remake can improve on the original version. John Monk Saunders's Oscar-winning story provides a solid basis for the efforts of screenwriters Seton Miller and Dan Totheroh. Though director Edmund Goulding stays safely within the guidelines of the war genre, Dawn Patrol shows the varying attitudes of the aviators toward combat, and particularly toward enemy pilots. Complementing the material is a star-laden cast led by the charismatic team of Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, and featuring solid supporting work from David Niven, Donald Crisp, and Melville Cooper. Brought to the screen with Warner Bros.' customary high production values, Dawn Patrol provides an excellent showcase for its stars, representing another winning entry in Goulding's prolific career." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-dawn-patrol-v12575/

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The adventures of Robin Hood 1938 - Errol Flynn is the ultimate hero of Sherwood forests

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029843/
IMDB rating: 8,0

Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Patric Knowles, Eugene Pallette

"The adventures of Robin Hood is one of the screen's greatest adventure films and an excellent example of how the studio system's production-by-committee method could create synergistically what, in that era, likely could not have been created by any single force. The hero behind the camera is co-director Michael Curtiz, who was installed by the corporate chiefs at Warner Bros. midway through production. Curtiz had little to do, though, with the impeccably selected cast. Errol Flynn may not have been the studio's first choice, but he is the screen's greatest Robin Hood. Among the film's many pleasures, you can watch for the meticulous attention to detail that was a hallmark of Curtiz's work. Incidentally, if you're wondering how the special effects were done on the split arrow stunt, there were no special effects. The astonishing shot was performed by professional archer Howard Hill who needed only one take.
James Cagney was originally announced for the role of Robin Hood, just before Cagney left Warner Bros. in a salary dispute. William Keighley was the original director, but he worked too slowly to suit the tight production schedule and was replaced by Curtiz (both men receive screen credit). A lengthy opening jousting sequence was shot but removed from the final print; portions of this sequence show up as stock footage in the 1957 Warners film The story of mankind. The chestnut-colored Palomino horse ridden by Olivia de Havilland in the Sherwood Forest scenes later gained screen stardom as Roy Rogers' Trigger."

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The charge of the light brigade 1936 - Fictional version of historical charge

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027438/?ref_=nv_sr_1
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: Michael Curtiz
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patrick Knowles, Henry Stephenson, Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, David Niven

"The film that cemented Errol Flynn's reputation as the most dashing leading man in Hollywood, The Charge of the Light Brigade is a notoriously inaccurate recounting of a key battle in the Crimean War. It's very loosely based on the famous poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson that recounts the battle of Balaclava, in which Russian resisters swamped the British. It depicts the charge as the outcome of an old grudge against an Indian leader who has joined the Russians. Most of the film takes place in India and involves a battle for the affections of a character played by Olivia De Havilland. An extremely popular and successful film, this 1936 Hollywood production was directed by the famed Michael Curtiz, whose second wife married Flynn. A sweeping and monumental piece of entertainment despite its inaccuracies, this Charge of the Light Brigade was superior to a 1968 British version.
Animal lovers be warned, however: several horses were killed during the climactic charge, a fact that compelled Hollywood (under the auspices of the ASPCA) to install safer and more stringent standards concerning the treatment of animals." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade-v8927/

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Captain Blood 1935 - The film that transformed the 26-year-old Errol Flynn into a star

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026174/
IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: Michael Curtiz
Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone

"Captain Blood adapted from the novel by Rafael Sabatini, is typical of the better-grade Warner Bros. efforts of the mid-1930s, combining first-rate production values with heavy-duty star power. Directed by Michael Curtiz with his usual economical style and talent for staging complex sequences, the film is among the best of the adventure films of its era, if at times too talkative for a film with only formulaic things to say. The United States was still suffering from the Great Depression in 1935, and films like Captain Blood provided audiences with inexpensive relief from the struggles of the era: the hero is handsome, the beautiful maiden is appealing, good triumphs over evil, and there's a happy ending, all to the stirring music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold
When British actor Robert Donat dropped out of Warner Bros. Captain Blood, the studio took a chance on its new contractee, Tasmania-born Errol Flynn.
The film also represented the cinematic debut of composer Korngold, who wasn't completely happy with his hastily written score and asked that his on-screen credit be diminished to 'musical director'." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/captain-blood-v8083

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