Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Short changed again, 16 Sep 2008
Warner Brothers have short changed the UK once again. The Region 1 version of this collection features four movies, but the UK is missing "Virginia City". Get real Warners, why should we always miss out.
All four movies are worth having, so, if you want all four, go for the Region 1 collection.
|
|
|
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag, at best. Rocky Mountain is a winner and Flynn is very good as the burdened Capt. Barstow, 6 Sep 2008
The three movies that make up this set are, for the most part, conventional westerns with plenty of action and a fair amount of entertainment value. They depend heavily on Errol Flynn's charm and star quality. The exception is Rocky Mountain. Alone among the others it packs a real punch and offers us Flynn as a man who doesn't charm, woo or perform stunts. It's a very good movie and a quality performance.
Rocky Mountain (1950):
Lafe Barstow, a captain in the Confederate army, and his seven men are holed up in the Nevada Mountains vainly waiting for promised assistance from a California renegade. Their assignment was to raise an army of Confederate sympathizers in California. It's 1865. They've rescued a stage driver and a woman passenger, the fiancée of a Union officer, from an Indian attack. They've tricked and captured a Union patrol. And they know Shoshone warriors are gathering in force to wipe everyone out.
This was the last western Flynn made. Warner Brothers put as few resources into the making of this movie as they could get away with. There are a handful of actors, with only Flynn being a name, and perhaps 50 extras on horseback. It was shot at one location outside Gallup and on what looks like just one studio set. It's in black and white. The screenplay is workmanlike, but in the best sense of the word. About a third of the movie is shot at dusk, night or early morning when a lot of set deficiencies can be covered up. In fact, Rocky Mountain is probably the smallest scale movie Flynn ever made.
It's poetic justice that Rocky Mountain turns out to be a very good film, especially because of its small scale. The movie didn't have the budget to screw things up by trying to turn the story into something bigger than it was. Flynn plays Barstow as a man with burdens. There's none of the Flynn charm and easy smiles. As Barstow's options dwindle he faces reality with none of the Hollywood posturing that takes place in bigger budget movies. To accept the situation and take action is something he and his men simply shrug their shoulders about and then get on with.
San Antonio (1945):
San Antonio is better than a routine western, but still not much more than a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. It's the story of Clay Hardin and his determination to bring to justice to the king pin of a ruthless rustling operation. For me, the real pleasure was watching two notable actors, Victor Francen and Paul Kelly, as the villains. Francen was a Belgian who came to America in 1939. He played men who were suave to their fingertips, worldly in outlook and perfectly at home at the roulette table. He always had a gracious smile while he said the most threatening things and did the most deadly deeds. Paul Kelly, on the other hand, was made of rougher material. If you want a sample of outstanding acting so bizarre it's memorable, just watch the scenes Kelly shares with Gloria Grahame in Crossfire.
Montana (1950):
Morgan Lane (Errol Flynn) shows up on horseback in the Montana Territory with a lot of sheep following him. All he wants is a chance to prove that cattle and sheep can share the same land profitably. While he's trying to do this, sometimes with humor, sometimes with his fists, men will die, a great stampede will take place and a passionate cattle queen will find out that at least one sheepman smells better than sheep. At one point Flynn strums a guitar and sings...
"I met a certain someone who makes me feel that way.
And ever since I met her I'm a singin' in the saddle
`Skidoodle diddle daddle'
all the day."
He smiles while singing this, but he must have needed a drink afterwards.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ROCKY MOUNTAIN is a great films but where is Virginia City!, 9 May 2009
I have to agree with the reviewer who asks - why are we being short changed! Shame on Warners!
I also must agree with the reviewer who states that Rocky Mountain is a great film. I loved it. It is one I hadn't seen before and made the whole purchase worthwhile. I wasn't expecting it to be any good as Errol's later films always get criticised, but this was excellent - unpredictable. I can see why it wasn't a box office hit, it's a strange movie in many ways. BUT I really enjoyed it!
|
|
|
|
![Errol Flynn Western Collection [DVD] [1945]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SQfDUbaLL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Errol Flynn - Signature Collection Box Set (Dive Bomber, They Died With Their Boots On, The Seahawk, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Dodge City, Captain Blood) [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515FJXYXGVL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![The Adventures Of Robin Hood [DVD] [1938]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518APD7T4CL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Santa Fe Trail [DVD] [2002]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41361XYPY4L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Errol Flynn - Signature Collection Box Set (Dive Bomber, They Died With Their Boots On, The Seahawk, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Dodge City, Captain Blood) [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515FJXYXGVL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Errol Flynn
![Santa Fe Trail [DVD] [2002]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41361XYPY4L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Errol Flynn;Olivia de Havilland;Raymond Massey;Ronald Reagan;Alan Hale;William Lundigan;Van Heflin;Gene Reynolds;Henry O'Neill;Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams;Alan Baxter;John Litel;Moroni Olsen;David Bruce;Hobart Cavanaugh
![Kim [DVD] [1950]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510NjKd7SQL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Errol Flynn
![The Adventures Of Robin Hood [DVD] [1938]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518APD7T4CL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Errol Flynn
![Young Billy Young [DVD] [1969]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51B0QqGPUEL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Robert Mitchum
