Adventures of Don Juan

Adventures of Don Juan

Original film poster
Directed by Vincent Sherman
Produced by Jerry Wald
Written by Herbert Dalmas
George Oppenheimer
Harry Kurnitz
Starring Errol Flynn
Viveca Lindfors
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography Elwood Bredell
Edited by Alan Crosland, Jr.
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
 December 1, 1948 (1948-12-01)
Running time
 110 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Spanish
Budget $3.5 million[1] or $3 million[2]
Box office $5 million[1]

Adventures of Don Juan, known in the United Kingdom as The New Adventures of Don Juan, is a 1948 American adventure Technicolor romance film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Jerry Wald from a screenplay by George Oppenheimer and Harry Kurnitz based on a story by Herbert Dalmas, with uncredited contributions by William Faulkner and Robert Florey.

The film stars Errol Flynn and Viveca Lindfors with Robert Douglas, Alan Hale, Ann Rutherford and Robert Warwick. Also in the cast are Barbara Bates, Raymond Burr and Mary Stuart.

The film was originally to be scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, however, production of the film was postponed until 1947, by which time Korngold had retired from scoring motion pictures. He was therefore replaced by Max Steiner.

Plot

Late in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, Spanish noble Don Juan de Maraña (Errol Flynn) is repatriated from London to Madrid after a serious diplomatic scandal caused by his affair with the British fiancée of a Spanish duke. The Spanish ambassador in London, Count de Polan (Robert Warwick), sends a letter of recommendation to his friend Queen Margaret (Viveca Lindfors), asking her to provide an opportunity at the court to rehabilitate Don Juan after the gossiping and rumors about his multiple illicit love affairs. He is thus hired as a fencing instructor at the Spanish Academy.

He secretly falls in love with Queen Margaret but remains a loyal subject to her and her irresponsible and weak husband, King Phillip III (Romney Brent). Don Juan discovers the treacherous plan of the Machiavellian Duke de Lorca (Robert Douglas), who is plotting to depose the monarch, usurp power in Spain and declare war on England. With the support of his friends, Don Juan defends the Queen, the King and the loyal Count de Polan against Duke de Lorca and his henchmen.[3]

Cast

Notes

The film was originally meant to be directed in May 1945 under the direction of Raoul Walsh but was postponed for two and a half years due to script problems and industrial unrest in Hollywood after the war.[6] Warner Bros were encouraged in 1947 by a successful reissue of Flynn's earlier starring vehicles, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and The Sea Hawk (1940).

Shooting eventually began in October 1947. Errol Flynn was suffering from poor health, suffering allegedly from a mild heart condition and recurrent bouts of hepatitis. According to film historian Tony Thomas, he drank heavily during the making of the movie. Filming was frequently halted due to Flynn's physical condition and by frequent changes and replacements in production personnel. In the famous leap from the head of a long staircase, Flynn was doubled by stunt expert Jock Mahoney.[7] In the silent film Don Juan (1926), Flynn's idol John Barrymore performed a similar leap without a stunt double. At the end of the 1948 film, the young woman in the coach asking Don Juan for directions is Flynn's wife, Nora Eddington.

Parts of the film's score were adapted later by composer Ian Fraser for the George Hamilton comedy Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981).[8] A portion was also used in two scenes in the film The Goonies (1985), although in the first scene, it accompanied a TV broadcast of the earlier film Captain Blood (1935).

The chase scene early in the film used recycled footage from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and is then followed by a grand procession with recycled outtakes from the The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), both starring Errol Flynn and Alan Hale. The film is the last of 13 in which Hale and his close friend Errol Flynn appeared together. Hale died on January 22, 1950, just over a year after this film's release.

Awards and honors

The film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color (Leah Rhodes, Travilla and Marjorie Best) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Direction, Color (Edward Carrere, Lyle Reifsnider).[9]

Reception

The film was very successful in Europe but less so in the US and struggled to recoup its large budget. From this point on, Warner Bros would reduce the budget of Flynn's films.[6]

It recorded admissions of 3,763,314 in France, making it the 7th most popular movie in the country that year.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Glancy, H. Mark. "Warner Bros film grosses, 1921-51." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. March 1995.
  2. ↑ Variety 18 February 1948 p 14
  3. ↑ http://www.mvlib.com/details/movie/adventures-of-don-juan-267964.html
  4. ↑ Jean Shepherd
  5. 1 2 DVD scene 7, at the inn called La Casa Rosada over the gate
  6. 1 2 Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer & Clifford McCarty, The Films of Errol Flynn, Citadel Press, 1969 p 156-157
  7. ↑ http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/adventures-of-don-juan-161180[]
  8. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083366/trivia
  9. ↑ "NY Times: Adventures of Don Juan". NY Times. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  10. ↑ 1948 French box office information at Box Office Story

External links

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