NORTHERN PURSUIT (1943)

Errol Flynn's first film back after his statutory rape trial finds him as a Royal Canadian Mountie getting mixed up with a bunch of Nazi spies in the backwoods of Canada. That sounds exciting, but after the initial setup it kinda dies a slow death. The film opens with a team of Nazi's getting dropped off in far northern Canada. They kill some Indians before finally getting wiped out themselves by an avalanche. Only one Nazi lives through the avalanche and he's at Death's door by the time Flynn discovers him. Flynn sees this as part of a much bigger plan, so he (with only his direct superiors in on it) endears himself to the prisoner. Stuff happens and after the German is taken into custody, Flynn publicly talks shit about Canada and quits the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and even punches his boss! He's looked upon as a traitor and a Nazi sympathizer, so when the German (along with some of his buddies) conveniently escape prison they look to Flynn for help traveling on foot to a remote location way the fuck up north somewhere since he knows the country.

You would think that this is where the real excitement starts, but no. You'd be wrong. Once Flynn and the escaped Nazi's get out in the wilderness...nothing happens! There's a lot of talking and walking, but no real tension. Yeah, Flynn tries to turn his captors on each other, but that goes over like a lead balloon. They keep talking about it being rough country, but everybody looks pretty comfortable. Nobody freezes to death, there's no frostbite or starvation or dysentery. And where are the animals?! I was hoping for a bear attack or maybe a pack of wolves, a rabid moose, a grumpy chipmunk, anything! Nothing. These woods are fucking dead. I didn't even see a wookalar. Nothing! So if there are no forces of nature or killer animals to keep us entertained then what is there? Not much.

Not all is bad though. Flynn has great screen presence and the direction by Raoul Walsh is impressive as always. I think the main problem with the film is the script is just kinda lame. There wasn't enough action or adventure to keep me interested. Also, it didn't help that Flynn and his love interest, Julie Bishop, had zero screen chemistry.

Worth a watch if you an Errol Flynn fan, but that's about it. I own it and I doubt I'll ever watch it again.

OBJECTIVE, BURMA! (1945)

[Update 05/14/2022: Need rewatch this film and redo this review completely. Fix the screenshots also.]

Who knew Burma looked so much like California?! I'm just kidding. OBJECTIVE, BURMA! is actually a good movie. It kept me entertained the entire time and even a little shocked in a few scenes.  Also, it's one of the only films I can even recall that's about the WWII Burma Campaign.

Handsome Errol Flynn leads a group of soldiers on a parachute drop behind enemy lines to destroy a radar station. They do it, but when it comes time for their air extraction the landing zone is too hot, so now Flynn has to lead his boys a hundred and fifty miles through an harsh jungle with a pissed off Japanese Army hot on their tails! Really good stuff and I especially liked the scene where the Americans are dug into little holes and the Japanese are slowly creeping up on them. I don't think I'm giving away anything here, but at one point the Japanese kills an American with a knife then calls out in English to another soldier asking if he's OK. The American instantly figures out what happened so he answers then sets a hand grenade in the space between them and lays down in his hole with his helmet over his head. The enemy soldier crawls over and the grenade blows up right in his face!!! Goddamn!

Of course it's not as bloody and violent as a modern day military action film, but this was the real deal full of anti-Japanese propaganda. Errol Flynn does a good job of looking like a war fatigued soldier. Director Raoul Walsh somehow directed three other films in 1945 including THE HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT.

Worth checking out.

CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935)

Ahoy! Let's mate. I read in a book that pirates would sometimes hold a captive still, make an incision in his torso and pull out a little bit of the person's intestines then nail the intestine piece to the mast and then chase the poor guy around with a burning poker which would end up forcing the guy to disembowel himself. Nothing like that happened in CAPTAIN BLOOD, but one guy got branded on the face and another got a big hook in the back. For 1935 that's pretty hardcore. I guess.

Errol Flynn is Peter Blood, a doctor living a peaceful life in England when he's called out to help an injured man. The man is a rebel and since Blood was helping him he's arrested and sentenced to death. Right before has date with the hangman he and his fellow prisoners have their sentences reduced from death to being sold as slaves in the Jamaica colony.  Wow, thanks.

Once there, Blood and his pals are sold to an asshole who works the shit out of them on his plantation. All kinds of stuff happens and eventually they escape and steal a large Spanish ship which they use to run around all over the Caribbean robbing people and doing pirate stuff.

This movie was entertaining. I don't know how much it would hold up to repeat viewings, but for the one time I watched it I enjoyed it. Errol and Olivia were great, but Errol's men got on my nerves with their silly babel and comic relief. Other than that this was a pretty action-packed movie and a fun watch for classic movie fans.