Adventures of Don Juan (1948) User Reviews (71)

Don Flynn De Marana

[jpdoherty · 7/10 · 20 May 2009]

The most eagerly awaited Flynn movie has at last made it to DVD! Unavailable for some years except on a VHS tape and an obscure over priced Korean disc it, thankfully, is back in the Warner Bros. stable where it belongs. The wait was worth it for the disc is simply pluperfect! With rich vibrant three-strip Technicolor and sharply defined images it is a joy to behold! Flynn is terrific in the title role of the great lover and roue. Not withstanding perhaps a nod to the actor's own lifestyle the part was nevertheless taylor made for him. And although it was said at the time that he was slowing down and that he hit the booze while filming there is no evidence of it on screen. The great swashbuckler cuts a fine figure in his many fabulous costume changes throughout the picture. These costumes - designed by the great Travilla - won the 1948 Acadamy Award for best costume design.

The supporting cast were well chosen too! Robert Douglas is great as Flynn's adversary - the evil Duke DeLorca. His dark eyes blackened even more to make him look that bit extra villainous. Alan Hale is once again Flynn's faithful sidekick but after 12 movies this was to be their final picture together. He died the following year. The female lead is taken by the beautiful Swedish actress Vivica Lindfors. Here she plays Margaret Queen of Spain and the one true love of Juan. Lindfors' final film was "Stargate" in 1994! She died in 1995 at the age of 75.

"The Adventures of Don Juan" is well directed by Vincent Sherman and is probably his best remembered movie. The atmosphere, the colour and the sets in the court scenes are really very impressive. But now and then the film gets a little bogged down with some palace intrigue until the picture's famous set piece - the brilliantly staged sword-fight on the magnificent palace staircase. It ranks as one of the cinema's finest duels and Flynn will always be remembered for it even though that amazing leap with the knife was performed by stuntman and B picture actor Jock Mahoney.

Then, of course there is the music by Max Steiner - one of his very best scores! Particularly splendid is his music for Juan's Parade into London with its masterful use of bells and chimes. Also the wistful Ballade which accompanies Juan on his many and various balcony climbings, the driving action music for the fight in the palace and the gorgeous love theme for the scenes with Juan and the Queen especially for the sequence near the end. Here the theme is heard in full bloom as the lovers say farewell to each other forever ("I shall be the only one who knew, for just a little while, that there was no Queen"). Interestingly Flynn's usual swashbuckling composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold - who had served him brilliantly on past successes such as "Captain Blood", "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" and "The Sea Hawk" -was originally slated to score "The Adventures Of Don Juan" as far back as 1945, but by the time the picture went into production the esteemed composer had left Hollywood and returned to his birthplace Vienna. As brilliant a composer as Korngold was it's difficult to imagine he would have topped Steiner's exceptional score. But alas we will never know!

So quite a wonderful disc all round with good extras consisting of a commentary by director the late Vincent Sherman and Flynn authority Rudy Behlmer, a trailer and some instantly forgettable old fashioned shorts but the movie is all, so enjoy. En Garde!

Don Juan's True Love

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 22 May 2008]

Like his swashbuckling predecessor Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn tackled the part of Don Juan in his late years, he was 39 when he made this film for Warner Brothers. Like Fairbanks, Flynn plays an older and wiser famous lover who's getting a bit bored by it all. Not unlike the real life Errol Flynn.

The Adventures Of Don Juan finds Tirso De Molina's famous lover sent home after a couple of escapades in the newly formed Kingdom of Great Britain. King Philip III and Queen Margaret give our hero a chance to redeem himself by teaching at the royal fencing academy.

He's up to his neck in trouble soon enough, but not the kind of trouble Flynn's usually in. The first minister Robert Douglas is planning a move against the Queen who he sees as his main obstacle for total power in the kingdom. And the great lover starts behaving more like Sir Lancelot and less like Don Juan where Queen Margaret as played by Viveca Lindfors is concerned.

Although Philip III was not the great ruler his father Philip II was, by no means was he as big a fool as Romney Brent plays him. The real Queen Margaret who was his Hapsburg cousin did in fact have considerable influence over domestic and foreign policy in Spain.

The Adventures of Don Juan was given a sumptuous production and won an Oscar for Costume Design and was nominated for Art&Set Design. I think the film's best asset besides Errol Flynn is Max Steiner's music. As Flynn films usually are well scored, this one even stands out among that group.

The Adventures of Don Juan marked the thirteenth and last film that Alan Hale made with Errol Flynn. If Alan Hale or Frank McHugh did not appear in Warner Brothers production it didn't seem quite right. Jack Warner kept those two guys busiest of all at his studio.

Although Errol was getting older and his hedonistic living was starting to show, the part calling for an older and wiser Don Juan was well suited for him. One wishes he'd done the role back in the middle Thirties as a young man however.

Delightful!

[hahnell · 8/10 · 15 September 2007]

I expected to see Flynn looking out of shape, trying to relive his past glories in this 1948 film. Instead it turns out that in The Adventures of Don Juan, not only is our hero still swashbuckling up a storm and almost as handsome as ever -- let's not forget, ten years and many events have now elapsed since Robin Hood -- but he is also man enough to laugh at himself along with the audience. The role of Don Juan could not be carried off by many actors, and casting Flynn in this role could easily end up being farcical. Instead, he pulls off the role with humour and grace.

And he still looks excellent in tights! More than good enough for me.

Errol Flynn is terrific as fencing champion in the Spanish court in this large-scale , grand fun

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 24 October 2017]

Amusing and entertaining swashbuckler has Don Juán (Errol Flynn in his self-mocking best) saving Queen Margarita (Viveca Lindfords) who secretly loves her champion from her evil First Minister , (the British Robert Douglas) . He , then swashbuckles his way across England and Spain in effort to win her heart . At the end Don Juan finds a worthy fencing adversary in the treacherous Duc of Lorca (actually , Duke of Lerma , favorite of King Felipe III) at an exciting final duel .

Errol's last spectacular and overwhelming epic features impressive duels , elegant costuming , impressive production design , marvelous gowns , and loads of action . It is so crammed with fights and action , there hardly seems to be a set-piece that doesn't start or end with a duel , fencing or brawl . This was the major ¨Sword and Swagger¨ film mounted by First National Pictures and Warner Brothers for its superstar of swashbucklers , Errol Flynn . Errol is still nearly at his most agile and deft style . Errol Flynn was 38 when he made this movie , but his wild lifestyle had diminished his health and made him less able to perform his own stunts, as he had in earlier films . Previously , Flynn made his best swashbucklers and played successes as ¨Captain Blood¨ , ¨Adventures of Robin Hood¨, ¨The prince and the pauper¨ , ¨Sea Hawk¨, ¨The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex¨ , ¨Gentleman Jim¨ . Flynn performed splendidly the mass battle royal at the ending and the ultimate romantic gesture for the queen , he certainly gave his enthusiasts something to remember him by . It was all downhill for Errol after this , as he followed his successive flops as ¨The warriors¨, ¨Against all flags¨, ¨The Master of Ballantree¨ and ¨Adventures captain Fabian . Support cast is pretty well , such as Alan Hale Jr as his squire , Rommy Brent playing the silly King Felipe III and Robert Douglas is too good for his baddie role . And other notorious secondaries in brief apparitions as Robert Warwick , Douglas Kennedy , Barbara Bates , Monte Blue , Raymond Burr , Helen Westcott , Fortunio Bonanova and forthright as well as sympathetic Una O'Connor , as usual .

Richly costumed , including luxurious gowns and in glamorous Technicolor by cameraman Elwood Bredell . Breathtaking and luxury set design and art design by Edward Carrere and Harry Platt , though mostly interiors . Thrilling and evocative musical score by the great maestro and prolific Max Steiner . The picture is not a masterpiece , but being made with huge confidence and fair play by Vincent Sherman . Vincent directed all kinds of genres : drama , suspense , Western , biography , such as ¨Cervantes¨, ¨Lone Star¨, ¨Affair in Trinidad¨, ¨The Young Philadelphians , ¨Ice palace¨, ¨All through the night¨ , ¨Underground¨. Being his best films : ¨Mr Skeffington¨and this ¨Adventures of Don Juan¨.

One of Flynn's best, though often overlooked

[ppc4158 · 7/10 · 20 January 2006]

I've always been a huge fan of Flynn's movies. When he was into the role, he was as good an actor as anybody. Of his swashbucklers, the "BIG THREE" were always Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk. But two movies often omitted from a list of his best are The Adventures of Don Juan and The Master of Ballantrae. Don Juan is a movie in the vein of Burt Lancaster's Crimson Pirate or The Flame and The Arrow, being a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler that scores on several points. Flynn was clearly comfortable with light comedy; it featured some great "bad guy" work by Robert Douglas; and, despite production problems caused BY Flynn's excesses, the editing in of sequences from Robin Hood and Elizabeth and Essex worked very well. The fencing scenes were thoroughly enjoyable! All in all, I would recommend this film to anybody who is a fan of the genre.

Technicolor swashbuckling adventure and romance...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 14 January 2023]

...from Warner Brothers and director Vincent Sherman. Notorious ladies' man Don Juan de Marana (Errol Flynn) has grown weary of all the duels and womanizing, and he turns himself over to the mercy of the Spanish King Phillip III (Romney Brent). Don Juan takes a job as a fencing instructor, but he gets drawn into court intrigue, and a romance with the Queen (Viveca Lindfors). Also featuring Alan Hale, Robert Douglas, Robert Warwick, Ann Rutherford, Jerry Austin, Douglas Kennedy, Jean Shepherd, Fortunio Bonanova, Una O'Connor, Aubrey Mather, and Raymond Burr.

Flynn is looking a bit older, and his health (and his drinking) was reportedly in such a state that he had to use stunt doubles, and frequently delayed filming. He isn't bad here, but this is a long way from Robin Hood, despite the presence of old pal Alan Hale. The production design is very good, and the score is rousing, but the story meanders a bit and goes on a tad too long. I still enjoyed it, though. The movie won the Oscar for Best Color Costumes (Travilla, Leah Rhodes, and Marjorie Best), and it was nominated for Best Color Art Direction.

I really liked it, and I wasn't expecting to

[jem132 · 8/10 · 4 January 2009]

Errol Flynn is back in swashbuckling costume eight years after the excellent "The Sea Hawk", and it feels like he never went away. I was expecting this film to be not that good, and I imagined Flynn as looking tired and puffy as a result of his wild lifestyle. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a wonderful piece of entertainment. Of course, the plot is really no different from any other swashbuckler, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun. Flynn is perfectly cast as Don Juan- really, who else can you picture but the Tasmanian Devil in the role? This film is about Don Juan in love, with his Queen (a suitably regal Viveca Lindfors), and putting his life on the line for Spain. Aside from the natural ageing process, and looking a little puffy around the face, Flynn is as attractive, charming and witty as ever. Alan Hale, his sidekick in many of his previous films, joins in again. He's Don Juan's loyal friend who keeps the horses under the boudoir window so Flynn can make a quick get-away if a jilted husband bearing a sword arrives. We even have Una O'Connor there, which makes us all sigh and remember Robin Hood. The Warners team do a great job in creating a fresh new swashbuckler for more cynical Post-War audiences (Flynn character is more knowing and sarcastic, but in a good way), whilst being an affectionate tribute AND send-up to the earlier great classics. I guess Warners capitalised on news of Flynn's rape trial and reports of his hedonistic lifestyle in creating this film. But Flynn seems to take it in good humour. The costumes, sets and colour are first rate, as is Max Steiner's stately score. And the last line is a classic!

A fitting final Warner swashbuckler for Flynn...

[Doylenf · 5 August 2001]

Errol Flynn, at 38, was not exactly as dashingly handsome as he was in his earliest triumph ('The Adventures of Robin Hood') for his life style had begun taking a physical toll on his health. But he looks in good shape (for the most part, except for some tell-tale closeups) and carries off the role with his usual zest, good humor and athletic grace.

He still has a good sidekick in Alan Hale who gets some witty banter with Flynn throughout the fast-moving film. Victor Sherman directs the tongue-in-cheek adventure tale with great style. All of the court intrigue and swashbuckling derring-do is photographed in gorgeous technicolor and accented by a lush pseudo-Spanish Max Steiner score. Fine bits of villainy supplied by Robert Douglas and Raymond Burr and some high spirited romance from women like Viveca Lindfors (at the peak of her physical beauty) and Ann Rutherford.

For fans of Flynn films, this is one of his best. None of it can be taken seriously, but that's part of the fun. From the wry opening to the sly closing scene, this is a pure delight if you're seeking escapist adventure photographed in some of the best color cinematography ever seen.

"I'm afraid your long stay in a country ruled by a king in petticoats has made you a feminist."

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 30 October 2015]

Errol Flynn plays the great lover (and apparently swordsman) Don Juan in this enjoyable attempt by Warner Bros. to recapture some of Flynn's swashbuckling glory. It's actually the humor and not the action that makes this one stand out. Otherwise it would be just another Technicolor costumer. The action scenes are many but very routine. If you've seen a few of Flynn's swashbucklers before, you've seen fencing scenes as good or better than what this has to offer. The story itself is also nothing to write home about, but it is undeniably entertaining thanks to Errol's charisma. Alan Hale is great fun as his sidekick. Sadly this would be Hale's last movie with his frequent co-star. Don Juan romances a few lovely ladies in this one but it's his romance with Viveca Lindfors that the movie is built around. Robert Douglas is a particularly goofy-looking villain. Beautiful sets, costumes, and lush Technicolor are major pluses. Max Steiner's exciting score goes a long way towards reminding one of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's classic scores for Flynn's earlier successes. Not a patch on Robin Hood or Captain Blood but a fun movie nonetheless.

Superb Flynn Swashbuckler

[orsino44 · 9/10 · 7 November 2005]

They truly don't make 'em like this anymore (more's the pity). Errol Flynn plays the role he spent his whole life "training" for -- Don Juan -- in this spectacular Warner Brothers adventure film. There is so much to recommend this film; it's a shame American audiences didn't respond to it the way European audiences did at its initial release. Flynn does his best work in years as Don Juan, ably supported by perennial sidekick Alan Hale and Robert Douglas as the evil Duke De Lorca. The costumes are amazing, the sets splendid, the Technicolor never looked better -- but to top it all off, the swordplay, choreographed by the legendary maestro Fred Cavens (Adventures of Robin Hood, The Mark of Zorro) is second to none. From the brief duels with jealous husbands to the scenes in the fencing academy to the final rapier and dagger brawl (capped by a spectacular leap performed by stuntman Jock Mahoney) the sword work here is awesome. (btw, historical fencing fans should note the use of Thibaults' Mysterious Circle on the wall of the fencing school, completely appropriate since this is the Spanish school of rapier play). Future Perry Mason Raymond Burr has a memorable role as one of the villains in this court intrigue adventure, and Viveca Lindfors is excellent as the Queen, but it is Flynn, with his wit, panache and blade skill, who dominates, just as it should be. For terrific entertainment in the classic Hollywood tradition, take a look at The Adventures of Don Juan! UPDATE 2/9/07 This film will soon be available on a new DVD in the second Errol Flynn collection box set, along with another good Flynn film, The Dawn Patrol.

Errol was great!

[teleadm-persson · 7/10 · 23 June 2005]

this was apparently Warners last big Budget swashbuckler with Errol Flynn, and Don Juan must have clothed him to a T! so to say! After 1925 there was Anna Q Nilsson, Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman Signe Hasso, and Marta Thoren and Mai Zetterling! And so it was very fun to see Viveca Lindfors in such a lavish big budget movie! In glorious Technicolor!!! The movie in itself is just such an old matinée movie that some TV-channels just show in early morning hours. It's just a fun filled 100 minutes, not to be taken serious! It was directed by Vincent Sherman! much later known for Young Philadephians with Paul Newman in 1959! When did they let Erroll slip their contract?????

Charming, Witty and Delightful Adventure

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 9 November 2007]

In the end of the Seventeenth Century, Don Juan de Marana (Errol Flynn) is repatriated from London to Madrid after a serious diplomatic scandal caused by his affair with a British fiancée on the Eve of her marriage with a Spanish noble. The Spanish ambassador in London Count de Polan (Robert Warwick) sends a recommendation letter to his friend Queen Margaret (Viveca Lindfors) to give an opportunity in the court to rehabilitate Don Juan from the gossips and rumors about his love affairs, and he is hired as instructor of the art of fencing in the Spanish Academy. He secretly falls in love for Queen Margareth but becomes loyal to her and her irresponsible and weak husband, King Phillip III (Romney Brent). Don Juan discovers the plan of the Machiavellian Duke de Lorca (Robert Douglas) that intends to declare war to England and rules Spain. With the support of his friends, Don Juan defends the Queen, the King and Count de Polan against Duke de Lorca and his men.

"The Adventures of Don Juan" is a charming, witty and delightful adventure full of romance and comedy. Unfortunately the cinema industry forgot how to make awesome movies like this one without the need of sex scenes or gore and sadism. The athletic Errol Flynn is amazing, fighting with foil and seducing the women in the story and the audiences in the real world, using intelligent and witty lines. The gorgeous Viveca Lindfors performs a queen with stylish elegance and class. The traitor Robert Douglas is the perfect villain, with treachery, ambition and Machiavellism. In the end, this movie is highly recommended for the whole family as a great entertainment. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "As Aventuras de Don Juan" ("The Adventures of Don Juan")

Cute semi-spoof

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 8 June 2020]

I know what you're thinking: Adventures of Don Juan is going to be ridiculous. It's a tongue-in-cheek depiction of the old classic with an Errol Flynn who's past his prime and making a caricature of his screen persona. Give it a chance, because it's actually pretty cute.

Yes, Errol Flynn is making fun of himself a bit in this one, playing the adventurous womanizer, but he's still adorable. He looks a little older than he did in Captain Blood, but after thirteen years, wouldn't you expect him to look a little older? His faithful sidekick from a dozen movies, Alan Hale, plays his faithful sidekick again as he gets in and out of scrapes with married women. The humor in this semi-spoof is quite funny, since it's clear no one is taking it seriously. It doesn't have a cheesy B-movie quality to it, which makes it more enjoyable to watch than just picking something terrible like Ivanhoe to laugh at. Plus, you'll get some cute music from Max Steiner to get you in the mood for several classic swordfight sequences!

A too old Errol Flynn tries to recapture earlier magic and fails

[jacobs-greenwood · 5/10 · 6 December 2016]

Directed by Vincent Sherman, with a screenplay by George Oppenheimer and Harry Kurnitz that was based on the Herbert Dalmas story, this average adventure drama not only marks the last swashbuckler role for Errol Flynn (at 39 years old), appropriately playing the title character, but also the actor's last of more than a dozen pairings with sidekick Alan Hale. The film won an Academy Award for its Color Costume Design; its Color Art Direction-Set Decoration was also Oscar nominated.

The film begins by showing the legendary womanizer in a couple of different dicey situations in which Flynn's character, with the help of his sword and his trusty aide Leporello (Hale) must extricate himself. Una O'Connor appears briefly (as Helen Westcott's handmaiden) in one of them. The first incident leads to a second one in London, during which both men are captured and Don Juan must face his native Spain's ambassador, the Count de Polan (Robert Warwick), to whom he's been released. The Count is well aware of Don Juan's reputation, earned over many years across Europe, and chastises him for hurting his own efforts in negotiating peace with England.

With the Count's advice and a letter sealed with a ring he'd been given by Queen, Don Juan returns to Spain seeking to serve her. Queen Margaret (Viveca Lindfors) and King Phillip III (Romney Brent) receive Don Juan and, after more chastisement, she puts him to work training their country's young fencers. The ambitious Duke de Lorca (Robert Douglas), the King's trusty right hand man, has secret plans of his own for seizing power, but cutting off the Queen's supply of funds for peace to Ambassador de Polan to use them to fund a new Spanish fleet for their Navy.

A reformed Don Juan does an excellent job training his country's young swordsmen, with Don Serafino's (Fortunio Bonanova) help, while befriending dwarf Don Sebastian (Jerry Austin), a friend of the royal couple. Unfortunately, he's then almost entrapped into another dalliance by Donna Elena (Ann Rutherford), she'd tried to seduce him just before her wedding. The scandal causes him to face the Queen, who had trusted him. Earlier under her orders, Don Juan revealed that his true love was the Queen herself. She was shocked at his impudence, that he would say such a thing even under her command, and had discharged him (but later had to admit to herself that she was flattered and not altogether unhappy with what he'd told her).

Distraught and consoling himself in a pub with Leporello, Don Juan discovers the Count's ring in the possession of the man (Douglas Kennedy?) who runs the Duke's secret torture chamber. But when he goes to warn the King and Queen of the Duke's treachery and treason, he's too late to stop the coup and ends up in said chamber himself. Leporello and Serafino rescue Don Juan, then the three free the Count before rendezvousing with the young fencers.

With Sebastian's help, they infiltrate the castle to rescue the Queen and a grateful King. A climactic sword fight between Don Juan and the Duke's trusty Captain Alvarez (Raymond Burr) is short-lived, but followed by a much longer duel (on the elaborate staircase steps) with the Duke himself. Naturally Don Juan wins; he then has one last platonic meeting with the Queen before he leaves, declaring to Leporello that his romancing days are over until he sees a lady in a carriage (Flynn's wife Nora Eddington, uncredited).

Errol Flynn Shines As Legendary Lover!

[cariart · 12 August 2003]

THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN was intended as something of a 'comeback' film for Warner Bros. resident 'bad boy', combining the heroic elements of 'ROBIN HOOD' and 'THE SEA HAWK' with Errol Flynn's well-established (by 1948) reputation as a hell-raising womanizer. Unfortunately, the color production, Flynn's first swashbuckler in nearly a decade, was not a box office hit, but the comic adventure is today embraced by his many fans as one of his best roles!

It was not an easy film to make, as Flynn's carousing and disappearances (officially called 'sicknesses') stretched the filming, and forced frequent reshooting. Director Vincent Sherman, cinematographer Elwood Bredell, and editor Alan Crosland often had to 'cut-and-paste' snippets of many takes to achieve a decent performance from the star, and careful lighting had to be used to play down the increasingly obvious effects of the star's hedonistic lifestyle. (The closing scene, featuring then wife Nora Eddington, was shot nearly a year before the remainder of the film, and the change in the Flynn's physical appearance is clearly evident.) At 38, the star, who always hated being called a 'pretty boy' (to the extent that his home had few mirrors) was aging rapidly.

All this being said, Flynn tried to give the film the best he could. It had been a landmark film for his friend/mentor John Barrymore, in the first Warners' film with sound, employed for music and special effects only, in 1926 (THE JAZZ SINGER would introduce 'talkies' a year later). It reunited him with friend and frequent costar Alan Hale, who, at 56, was still a popular character actor, and whose son, Alan Jr., was starting to make his mark around town (he would eventually be best known as the Skipper in 'Gilligan's Island'). The script for DON JUAN, in development since 1939, passed through many hands, including uncredited help by William Faulkner and Robert Florey, with the end result being marvelously tongue-in-cheek. The score, by the legendary Max Steiner, became an instant classic, and would be reused, years later, in George Hamilton's ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE. This was a film which, despite Errol Flynn's self-destructive lifestyle, had enough talent involved to still stand up as one of the better films of the 1940s.

The plot involves roué Don Juan, tossed out of England after breaking up a 'diplomatic' wedding (a VERY funny scene), returning home to Spain to find evil Duke de Lorca (the sublimely nasty Robert Douglas) controlling weak King Phillip, and taxing the population to near starvation, with only the beautiful Queen Margaret standing in his way. Flynn quickly dispatches a de Lorca press gang, earning the Count's hatred, and the Queen's attention...and Don Juan finds himself truly falling in love, for the first time, with the youthful monarch (played by the radiant Viveca Lindfors). Assigned as a fencing master at the Academy, the legendary lover draws the ire of the Queen by stating his feelings for her, then is manipulated into another disastrous diplomatic blunder, involving, of course, another woman. On the run, he discovers de Lorca's ultimate scheme (manipulating the Crown into war), and with the help of the students of the Academy, he must save the King and Queen.

Featuring a great early appearance by Raymond Burr (as a de Lorca henchman), and a stirring final duel between Flynn and Douglas (expanded from the 1926 version, and featuring an astonishing climactic stairway jump, performed by stuntman and future 'Tarzan' Jock Mahoney), THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN is a gloriously adventuresome romp. Sadly, it didn't save Flynn's flagging career, but it certainly has earned a place among his classic films!

OK swashbuckler

[Panamint · 7/10 · 12 February 2016]

Very good color filming, great costuming, a terrific music score are some plus factors for this swashbuckling movie. The highlight (pretty much the only one) is a magnificent sword fight- I can recommend the movie based on this highlight alone, as well all the sword work generally.

The film is competently but not spectacularly directed by Vincent Sherman. The characters in this film are fairly routine, the script is average, and except for the climactic sword fight the action mostly consists of characters running around briskly.

The fictional tale of 16th Century Spain is unremarkable, but the acting is good. Viveca Lindfors is a beautiful leading lady portraying the Queen of Spain, but is mostly required to react, breathlessly and with restrained emotion, to Don Juan's romantic verbal (verbal only) approaches. It is really not much of a role for a fine actress. Robert Douglas is as good a villain as you might find in any swashbuckler and gives a great performance as the evil Count. At this point in his career, an exceedingly obese Raymond Burr is just OK as a standard thug palace guard. Movie perennial Robert Warwick gives one of his best performances as the good Ambassador and friend of Don Juan; he makes his role more human and less cardboard than some of the other roles in this movie.

Errol Flynn is carefully filmed to appear strong and handsome, but heavy make-up and no shirtless scenes are some of the techniques used to disguise the sad fact that that Flynn was forty-ish and not physically well. He seems to realize that he is too debilitated for the part, and while his acting is good (he was a competent actor always), he is a more mature man than his once swashbuckling self. He clearly knows this fact and admirably tries to portray more "Don Juan" than "swashbuckler", and as a result he is utterly charming and watchable. Battling full blown alcoholism, serious heart problems, malaria and according to his then wife and others, a morphine issue, its remarkable that he is able to complete a film at this point in his life, although he did manage to keep his fading career limping along in increasingly poorer films for a few more years before dying at age 50.

Viewing this film I wonder why someone felt it necessary to put it together at all, but I guess swashbucklers were popular then. It seems unnecessary and basically just a retread with a fading and ill star. It is beautiful and well made technically but offers nothing at all that you could say was original.

Don Juan

[Spuzzlightyear · 6/10 · 25 March 2012]

A bit of an overzealous rewrite of history here, as the aging Errol Flynn plays the Spanish Don Juan, as only Errol Flynn can, and that is as Errol Flynn. No Spanish accent at all. But, ah! He does romance the women! And can handle a sword! Was the original Don Juan a swordsman? Oh right, he's a FICTIONAL character. Then why is he helping Queen Victoria of Spain against an uprising? Fairly goofy in terms of historical accuracy, if you replace "Don Juan" with "Zorro" you'll get a better understanding of where this one is headed. Still, it's pretty to look at, with magnificent sets. Maybe that's what the directors hoped for, to be distracted by it's magnificent color and forget about the story.

Fast Flynn Swashbuckler.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 8 February 2008]

This was Flynn's last big one. He was only 38 at the time but had begun drinking in the afternoon, causing problems on the set, what with multiple retakes and a major binge that lasted several weeks. It's not "The Sea Hawk" or "Robin Hood." Still, the film was artfully edited and clearly a lot of money was spent on it. The Technicolor photography is outstanding and nobody ever looked quite so natural in a gaudy period outfit as Flynn. It holds one's interest.

The story has Flynn as Don Juan, lover and swordsman, returning to Spain at the beginning of the 1600s. It's really a pastiche, kind of like "The Sea Hawk" with elements introduced from various other films of the genre. There's the well-intentioned Queen, the beautiful Viveca Lindfors of the plump lips and strong features, surrounded by weaklings and traitors who want to go to war -- except for Don Juan, of course. (Cf., "The Sea Hawk.") There's the comic sidekick, Alan Hale. (Cf., all of Flynn's Warners pictures.) The good guys disguised as hooded monks. ("Robin Hood", "The Mark of Zorro.") The hero and villain, face to face and belly to belly, straining at their crossed swords, and the villain sneakily withdrawing a dagger from his belt ("Robin Hood"). The hero captured and thrown into prison to await execution, only to make a spectacular escape. ("Robin Hood", "The Mark of Zorro.") Shadows fighting on the castle wall. ("Robin Hood," "The Prisoner of Zenda".) And so on. Some shot are edited in that are taken directly from "Robin Hood" and "Elizabeth and Essex." Robert Douglas is Duke de Lorca, the heavy. He makes a slimier heavy than Basil Rathbone did. Douglas is okay but Rathbone was a nonpareil with his tall figure, abrupt movements, and darting glances. Perc Westmore was responsible for the make-up. He should be proud of himself for the task with which Flynn must have presented him. But he should be ashamed of himself for what he did to the villains. You know how you can tell the principal villains from everyone else? They all have dark eye shadow, so they look like the ghouls or zombies in a Grade C horror flick. Douglas has this sinister curl down the middle of his forehead that looks painted on.

The director, Vincent Sherman, doesn't seem to have compelled any of the performers to act with any subtlety. It's not that kind of movie. But everyone is professionally competent. Alan Hale -- well, it's as if he were your fond uncle. Viveca Lindfors probably puts the most effort into her work. When Flynn enters her life she becomes positively, and literally, breathless. And watch the fleeting expressions that cross her features when Flynn confesses his love for her -- the briefest of half-hopeful smiles followed by a scowl of indignation.

The amours of Don Juan occasion some amusing moments. One of the many young ladies who come to watch him instruct the members of the fencing academy leaves her fan behind. When Flynn calls this to her attention, she replies, "You WILL return it, won't you? It's the house on the Plaza Madrid. The last house on the right." "Oh, on the RIGHT," says a resigned Flynn, who has heard this hundreds of times before.

The budgets on Flynn's pictures dropped dramatically after "The Adventures of Don Juan." He chain smoked, used drugs, boozed it up daily, and never complained. He died at the age of 50, having lived as he pleased.

Flynn at his heroic best

[Bows2No1 · 10/10 · 31 May 2006]

The Baron shines as Don Juan. He does with a period role what Elvis did with a song he makes it his own.There may have been better swordsmen technically but no one had Flynns charisma or showmanship when it came to sword fighting. Today's actors when you dress them in seventeenth century attire look like twenty-first century blow dried wimps dressed in costume. Flynn looks like he belongs in whatever time the film is set. It is impossible to visualize any other actor as Juan. And make no mistake Flynn was an actor.Just because he made it look easy does not mean it wasn't acting.If you want to see how an epic should be made watch this motion picture. There is no CGI here these are real sets and real actors. In this day of remakes I rue the day they get around to Flynn's films no one can fill his boots.

Takes Advantage of Errol Flynn's Charisma

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 10 May 2022]

The creators of "Adventures of Don Juan" were smart to take a jaunty, silly tone with this sexy costume drama and avoid the wooden, stuffy pitfalls that make so many other historical pics from this time period such a slog to sit through now. They were also smart to recognize what they had in leading man Errol Flynn, and to play up his considerable sex appeal. There's no new ground being broken here, but what is on screen is fun and entertaining enough.

"Adventures of Don Juan" won the Academy Award for Best Color Costume Design in only the second year of that category's existence, and it was also nominated for Best Color Art Direction.

Grade: B.

My second favorite movie of all

[JARA-3 · 8/10 · 14 May 1999]

If you love swashbucklers, period movies, buddy movies, or Errol Flynn, you must love this movie. For swashbuckling, you have a series of wonderful fight scenes, each one convincing, each one a delight. For period movies, the costumes are excellent and the history just accurate enough to be useful, but not so accurate as to be dull. Flynn and Hale are perfectly matched foils here, with Hale getting some of the wittiest lines in the movie. And this is Flynn's perfect part, still ladykiller enough to carry off the love scenes, still fit enough to persuade as the great duellist. Watch it.

Would have been an epic silent film

[ArtVandelayImporterExporter · 6/10 · 11 April 2022]

There are so many great elements here: Errol Flynn still a stud. Plenty of swordfights. Beautiful costumes shot in Technicolor. All-time great sidekick Alan Hale.

So why doesn't it work?

Flynn is either playing Fairbanks or himself. Flynn and Hale both seem to be in on the joke. Problem is, everybody else thinks they're in a costume epic.

Robert Douglas as Count de Badguy lacks the charm of Claude Rains in Flynn's Robin Hood or the humor of Alan Ryckman in the Costner version. Viveca Lindfors as the Queen has about as much feminine appeal here as the engine block on a Volvo. Gotta be the all-time stiff among Flynn's leading ladies. Romney Brent as the King is a b00b who evokes neither sympathy nor scorn. And Jerry Austin as the court m1dget got on my nerves.

Worst of all, the score by Max Steiner seems to consist of the same six notes - dum, dum, da-DUM-dump - that I swear he lifted from Korngold's score for The Adventures of Robin Hood. Stolen and repetitive. Bad combo.

So it all just wore on my nerves after a while.

The action is still up there on screen. Flynn sitll has a twinkle in his eye. The jokes are sly and clever. And the color is sumptuous. Therefore I humbly submit that if I wasn't forced to listen to Lindfors' hackney accent, Brent's bumbling, Douglas's intensity or that grating music, this would be a more highly regarded film.

A colorful costumed adventure... highly recommended.

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 17 June 2000]

The film opens in 17-Century Europe...

After many shameful incidents, Don Juan is forced to return to Spain where he discovers a country without life, driven to war, and a King in petticoat with a dissatisfied Queen...

But, despite of all the court's intrigues, Don Juan saves the lovely Queen and the confused King Philip III (Romney Brent) from the treacherous schemes of a malicious minister, the great Duke De Lorca and his puppeteers Raymond Burr & Douglas Kennedy...

His farewell scene with the Queen of Spain remembered me "Prisoner of Zenda."

Don Juan, wisely, persuades the Queen that her duties lies with her people, and after kissing her, he says: "I shall be the only one who knew that for a little while there was no Queen."

Flynn had the flair and style to play, with elegance, the charming manipulator, gaining admiration through his charisma, talents and abilities, seducing loving maidens, coming against angry husbands, causing a striking impression on the tall, dark, beautiful Queen...

Challenging the mighty Duke De Lorca, he makes his point as the loyal and devoted friend to the crown, when he declared: "Some men prefer the conquest of beauty to the conquest of a throne."

Viveca Lindfors plays a generous Queen who fights for peace and works for the welfare of her people... She is brave enough before an impertinent traitor who dreams to be a future king... She is a passionate young woman before Don Juan, her eventual true love...

Robert Douglas played a stupendous villain in many adventure films, crossing swords with great stars (Burt Lancaster, Cornel Wilde and Robert Taylor). As Duke De Lorca, he was a very ambitious minister with a hand of steel... "I'm Spain!, he expressed once... His declaration remembered me Vincent Price in "The Three Musketeers," when he states, in his role of Cardinal Richelieu, "I'm France!"

The duel between De Lorca ("I warned you, Señor, this time I shall cut deeply.") and Don Juan ("This time, I'm wearing my old clothes.") is exciting and stylish...

With humorous moments displayed by the sympathetic dwarf actor Jerry Austin (Don Sebastian) and with a splendid exhibition of young swordsmen, lovely ladies, secret plots, drinking escapades, swords clashing, furious fights, and with a great complementary score by Max Steiner, "The Adventures of Don Juan" is a great entertaining swashbuckler, highly recommended...

Errol Flynn adventure

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 23 July 2020]

It's early 17th century Europe. In the outskirts of London, Spanish womanizer Don Juan de Marana (Errol Flynn) climbs up to a balcony for a noble beauty but her husband surprises them. It causes a scandal with Elizabeth I of England and he manages to escape back to Spain. Queen Margaret still pines for Don Juan and is trapped in a loveless marriage to King Philip III. There is intrigue in the royal court. Don Juan confronts King's minister, Duke de Lorca, who manipulates the weak King to build a second armada for war.

Errol Flynn is the definition of a swashbuckling womanizing cad. He's perfect for the role. The movie rises up whenever the music swells and he swings that sword. It's big and it's fun. The story itself is not the greatest of writing. It's drags a bit in the middle and goes on too long. All in all, it's a big adventure vehicle perfect for Errol Flynn.

Flynn's Most Underrated Swashbuckler

[jkogrady · 30 June 2003]

A runaway success in Europe, Flynn's Don Juan did not do so well

in the U.S. Nevertheless it is one of his best pictures and

deserves to be better known. Vincent Sherman, the director, does

not quite give it the slam-bang Curtiz touch, but instead imparts an

old fashioned worldly-wise flavor that is right here. The plot is

absolutely unrelated to Warner Bros' 1926 "Don Juan" with John

Barrymore, an actor who has sometimes been compared with

Flynn and who was even impersonated by him once in "Too Much,

Too Soon". Anyway, Flynn and Alan Hale Sr. were born to play Don

Juan and Leporello, and the movie was barely made in time, a few

years before Hale died, and before Flynn deteriorated too much.

Slated for production as early as 1945, endless delays caused by

logistical problems (not least of which was Flynn's increasing

alcoholism), it finally emerged at the end of 1948. Sherman

deserves a great deal of credit for making it happen at all. It is

given a lavish treatment all round, and the set designers did

exemplary work, particularly a superb massive staircase just

made for epic fencing duels. Romney Brent is spot on as the

befuddled king, and Robert Douglas is almost too velvety a villain;

what other color than black could he dress in? Viveca Lindfors,

who would later win a considerable reputation as an actress in

more serious Scandinavian movies, was at this stage merely an

ingenue for Warner Bros.; but she is for my money the greatest

leading lady Flynn ever had, stunningly beautiful and absolutely

credible in the part of an Austrian princess married to a pointless

king. Erich Korngold would likely have done the music had he not

given up on films and left Warners by the time this picture was

made; and his friend and compatriot Max Steiner has written a

score which is clearly a tribute to the Korngold style, and worthy of

both of them. Errol Flynn had a real knack for light comedy which

the studio seldom let him indulge fully; but swashbucklers and

screwball comedies are cousins under the skin, and here Flynn

found his real metier. Some of the best bits come early. One of his

inamorata complains "You've made love to so many women".

Without a beat of hesitation Juan replies, "Catherine. An artist may

paint a thousand canvases before achieving one work of art.

Would you deny a lover the same practice?" How many of you

male types out there could have come up with that line that fast?

Later on an irate husband says, "You're caught!" to which Juan

replies, "The Story of my life". Flynn was a limited actor, but within

those limits he was superb. Nobody had more grace, more

charm, more disillusioned humor. No man could enter or exit a

throne room with greater aplomb. Feminine friends of mine still

get a bit woozy over him, 38 years old as he was at the time. It's an

ideal marriage of an actor to a part.