SEAN FLYNN: ERROL’S SON ON THE BIG SCREEN

Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the film appearances of Errol Flynn’s son Sean. The two did not get along, unfortunately, largely because of Errol only caring about Sean when the mood struck him according to Sean.

However, Sean did get to star in various movies thanks to his name and the efforts of his mother Lili Damita.

Growing bored with filmmaking, Sean worked as a photojournalist during the Vietnam War and tragically wound up among the dead victims of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia during 1970.    

THE SON OF CAPTAIN BLOOD (1962) – Since the 1935 swashbuckler Captain Blood propelled Errol Flynn to stardom, the studio was hoping a Son of Captain Blood flick would do the same for Sean. Jock Mahoney, a former Tarzan and stunt man for Errol trained Sean in fencing and acrobatics to prepare for the role.

The younger Flynn starred as Robert Blood, the adventurous son of the famous pirate Captain Peter Blood. Robert has been itching to take to the seas with a crew of his own to command. Early on in the film his mother Arabella (played this time by Ann Todd) at last gives her assent.

The ship Robert commands has among its passengers a handful of giggling young ladies being transported to England along with their stern lady chaperone. This new Captain Blood turns their heads and ultimately Abigail McBride (Alessandra Panaro) beats out the others for his heart.

On the way to England the ship is attacked by pirates and Robert is too inexperienced to prevail over the veteran freebooter he’s up against. That figure is Captain de Malagon (Jose Nieto), an old foe of Robert’s father, who is delighted that his enemy’s son has fallen into his clutches.

Our hero does what he can to protect the young ladies in his charge from losing their virtue to the evil pirates but the numbers are overwhelmingly against him, and he winds up defeated, lashed with a whip and reduced to servitude. By a cinematic coincidence, a few buccaneers who served under his father are among de Malagon’s crew and they decide to ally themselves with Robert.   

Blood leads them in a mutiny against the villain and becomes the new captain of the pirate vessel. Captain Blood rescues his lady Abigail and company, then follows in his father’s footsteps as he preys on enemy shipping.

Robert finds a nobler cause than his father had and thrives on taking down slave ships and freeing the unfortunate victims on board. (His mother taught him how evil slavery is in a nice touch from earlier in the film.)

And as if our hero becoming an anti-slavery crusader, saving his true love and her friends AND killing Captain de Malagon wasn’t enough, Captain Blood has another trick up his sleeve. He has to rescue his mother and other innocents from the real-life earthquake that hit Jamaica in 1692.

The Son of Captain Blood is no classic but it’s a fun watch, especially if you’re a fan of old-time swashbuckler movies.

SIGN OF ZORRO (1963) – Errol Flynn never played Zorro on the big screen so at least this time around Sean was moving a bit in his own direction. He played Ramon Martinez y Rayol, a Basque/ Castillian aristocrat in Spain.

Ramon excels at fencing, gunplay and horsemanship. Beautiful ladies of the region compete at trying to literally “catch” the handsome young caballero in their hoops, as was supposedly a flirting game for high-born women in Spain at the time. 

Our hero’s life of sporting, drinking and wenching is interrupted one day when his mother informs him that his father, who lives in Mexico, needs his help in a matter of life and death. Ramon welcomes the prospect of fresh adventures and fresher ladies, so he soon winds up in Old Mexico only to find his father has been killed under questionable circumstances.

Ramon investigates and learns his father was falsely accused of treachery against the Spanish Crown and was hanged. The corrupt Generalisimo Gutierrez and his lackey Lt. Martino wanted Ramon’s father out of the way so they could seize his estate and the silver mine he owned. 

Ramon dons a mask and costume, calls himself Zorro and sets out to clear his father’s name plus take back what is rightfully his. He is helped in his quest by his manservant Julio who came with him from Spain and by a trio of Basque carousers. Ramon even gets his own version of Frey Felipe.

Naturally, a beautiful woman, Manuela (Danielle de Metz) is also involved. They all get killed. The end. I’m KIDDING! Ramon/ Zorro foils all the sinister plans of Gutierrez & Martino and wins back the estate and the silver mine while restoring his father’s good name. He and Manuela get married.

Once again, this did not revolutionize filmmaking or anything like that, but it’s fun as long as you don’t get stuck watching the Americanized re-edit titled Duel at the Rio Grande. Disney threatened legal action because of their Zorro television series at the time, so the U.S. release edited out every reference to Zorro and removed a few scenes, thus ruining most of the fun.   

TEMPLE OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT (1964) – This swashbuckler reunited Sean Flynn with his Son of Captain Blood costar Alessandra Panaro. He played Lt. Dick Ramsey, a British soldier in India during the Raj.

The roguish Lt. Ramsey winds up having to rescue the Viceroy’s daughter Cynthia (Panaro) and her husband-to-be from a deadly cult that worships Ganesha in the form of a white elephant. It’s a sort of 1930s Gunga Din actioner crossed with Indiana Jones antics. 

Ramsey battles cultists and jungle menaces while searching for the Temple of the White Elephant, where the hostages are being held. Ultimately, he is helped by the beautiful Princess Dhara (Marie Versini) and her burly aide Parvati. 

Our hero and his allies raid the temple, free the captives and manage to get out before the building comes crashing down in the finale. Umberto Lenzi of all people directed this flick which tried to pass itself off as one of Lenzi’s Sandokan movies in the usual Italian Cinema shenanigans.

If you’re wondering, Parvati was passed off as Sandokan in that version, which was retitled Sandokan, the Maciste of the Jungle, thereby bonding it to the Maciste menagerie of films, too. At any rate, The Temple of the White Elephant is another Sean Flynn vehicle that’s fun but not spectacular.

HONORABLE MENTION:

SEVEN MAGNIFICENT GUNS (1966) – A Spaghetti Western in which Sean starred as Timothy Hollister Benson, an educated Brisco County Jr.-ish young man from back east who inherits a gold mine out west.

Outlaws want to wrest the mine and his ranch from Timothy, so he teams up with six deadly gunmen busted out of prison to help him hang on to what is his.

Our hero’s side wins and he gets the beautiful (of course) Coralie (Evelyn Stewart).

A WOMAN FOR RINGO (1966) – Another Italo-Western. Sean is the gunslinger named Ringo this time out, and he teams up with his brother Trevor (Jorge Rigaud). The siblings use their pistols and their fists to help a pair of gorgeous trick-shooting twins from a traveling Wild West Show.

Those twins, played by Emilia and Pilar Bayona, were trying to settle down to run a ranch with their grandfather.

Vile bad guys want the land for themselves, so Ringo and his brother pair up with the lovely, lethal ladies to hold onto their ranch. 

MISSION TO VENICE (1964) – Flynn stars as Michael Newman in this spy flick. The wife of a French secret agent who once saved the life of Michael’s father guilts him into searching for her missing husband. He disappeared on his latest mission to expose a communist spy network operating in Europe.

You know how movies like this play out. Naturally, Michael survives assorted attempts on his life, finds the missing man and beats the bad guys to the master list of enemy agents.

Then he rides off with the beautiful blonde villainess-turned-heroine Maria Natzka (Karin Baal).

FIVE ASHORE IN SINGAPORE (1967) – Sean Flynn’s last movie was this espionage caper in which he played intelligence agent Art Smith. Smith poses as a Marine Corps Captain and has four fellow Marines accompany him as they look into the disappearance of other Marines in Singapore.

The carousing men eventually flush out the villains behind the abduction of the other servicemen and it turns out a mad scientist is brainwashing and freezing the Marines to sell as a ready-made army for world conquest.

The footage of late 60s Singapore is impressive and Marika Green is appropriately sultry as a female spy.