EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943)

The small Norwegian fishing village of Trollness (pop. 800) has been under Nazi control for the last two years. The citizens have tried a few small things to undermine the Germans (ruining the canned fish coming out of the cannery, random fires, etc.), but without weapons they have no hope of overtaking the 150 Nazi soldiers.

Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan both live in Trollness and are lovers. Flynn is a fisherman and looked upon as the unofficial leader of the Rebellion. Sheridan is the daughter of the only doctor in town and he disapproves in her involvement with the Resistance Movement. To complicate matters even further, her brother and uncle are in cahoots with the Nazis. Also, the young German commandant of Trollness is a go-getter and wants to make a name for himself by crushing the Rebels once and for all.

If you were expecting EDGE OF DARKNESS to be overly melodramatic and sentimental just because if came from the early 1940's you'd be partly correct, it had a few sappy moments, but at the same time it didn't shy away at all from showing the Nazi's just straight up mowing down town folk with machine gun fire. Also, in the most shocking part of the film it strongly implies that Sheridan was raped (off screen) by the Nazi's!

Good acting, exciting story, nice scenery, plenty of action (and one awesome explosion stunt), a young Ruth Gordon, piles of dead bodies, blood soaked shot of a guy's head after committing suicide with a gun...I say check it out. It's not the most action-packed WWII movie ever, but the story is intriguing and I enjoyed myself from beginning to end. I would love to see a remake or even play a video game version of this story.

Look at how young Ruth Gordon is!

DESPERATE JOURNEY (1942)

An Royal Air Force bomber is shot down deep in Nazi territory and now the surviving crew, lead by Errol Flynn, must make their way back to England, but not without making a few detours to cause some chaos and crack a bunch of jokes. I was a little bit taken back by the light-hearted nature of the film, but once I understood that the film was probably meant to cheer up Americans back home I got into and enjoyed the film for what it was. The chemistry between the leads is good and I was pleasantly surprised to see Raymond Massey as Nazi Major hot on their trail.

For an old WWII propaganda film, DESPERATE JOURNEY is entertaining enough, but honestly with a cast like that (not to mention director Raoul Walsh) I was expecting more. Worth watching, but nothing to get overly excited about.

Hardy-har-har. You get it? His last two movies co-starred Ann Sheridan.

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.