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the audience applauded

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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¨.

"The Adventures of Don Juan" was the final hurrah for Errol Flynn as far as big budget films were concerned. The film didn't perform very well at the American box office and Jack Warner decided that Flynn was no longer worth the money. The filming was constantly delayed due to Errol Flynn not arriving on time for work allegedly, the budget was out of control, he grew depressed over reviews he read about his film, "Escape Me Never." In addition, Flynn's rather hedonistic lifestyle was taking its toil on his body. He had to wear a tighter costume to hide his expanded waist line and most of the action scenes had to be re-shot several times each. Initially, he and the film's director Vincent Sherman got along quite well as Flynn was receptive to the director's instructions and suggestions. However, things soon changed and by the end of filming, 28 days had been lost for one reason or another. Watching "The Adventures of Don Juan," you would never have guessed there were any problems of any kind. Errol Flynn is great as the womanising, care-free adventurer and Alan Hale features one last time as the ever faithful friend. The look on Flynn's face shows a man who had been through a lot and had experienced what life could throw at him. It is with a slight feeling of sadness that things would change so much for Flynn after this film: No more Alan Hale or Olivia De Havilland, no more big budget films or box office success. The film is played as being tongue-in-cheek for the most part and that was the correct decision. For all of Flynn's way of life, even his character wouldn't stoop so low as to betray his own country. The scene where traitor Robert Douglas attempts to buy Don Juan's loyalty and is turned down highlights this. Juan makes it clear that it fills his heart with horror at the very notion of the King's adviser (Douglas) being the ruler of Spain. Robert Douglas is a very good villain but not quite in Basil Rathbone's league. The set design and the photography are first class. I can actually picture Spain as it might have looked back in the day when this film was based. The music is very good as well, it is a real stirring composition. The swordplay scenes really make this film and they usually occur when Flynn is pushed into action. Vincent Sherman was a fine director in his own right and we see evidence of that here in spades. The last masterpiece Errol Flynn made. His career would never be the same again.

Errol Flynn, having played the long beloved mythical rascal-hero Robin Hood a decade earlier, here plays another centuries-old mythical rascal-hero: the legendary seducer of women: Don Juan, albeit in his mature years, when he was ready to curtail his lustful adventures for more practical pursuits. This screenplay is scripted in a historical setting of very early 17th century London and Spain, shortly before the death of Queen Elizabeth. Phillip III(Romney Brent) is king and his Hapsburg wife Margaret(Viveca Lindfors) is queen of Spain. The chief villain is Duke de Lorca(Robert Douglas): chief minister of the Spanish court, supported by Don Rodrogo(Douglas Kennedy) and Alvarez(Raymond Burr), chief of the palace guard. The duke clearly plans to transform the royal couple into puppets so that he can carry out his plans for Spain. Since the queen refuses to cooperate, he is preparing to execute her near the film's ending.In the film, Philip is portrayed as a weak-minded king, dominated by his rather estranged queen and de Lorca, who are at odds with each other over major policies. Clearly, de Lorca is a stand in for the historic Duke of Lerma. Although there is often a measure of historical truth to the characterizations in the film, mostly, they are quite distorted versions of the historical persons they are based upon. The historical king and queen actually got on very well, for the most part: well enough to produce 8 children during the queen's short life(She died during childbirth at only 26). With at least some of these young children, the historic queen wouldn't likely be thinking of abandoning her position and running off with Don Juan, as she briefly fantasized. The Duke of Lerma was actually a good friend of the king, who willingly gave him his very powerful position within his administration. As in the film, the Duke was often at odds with the queen over financial policy. The queen influenced the king to provide financial aid to her native Holy Roman Empire, whereas the Duke wanted to use Spanish revenues only for Spanish purposes. In the film, this conflict is transformed into a conflict between using revenues to promote peace(queen's idea) vs. using it to built up the fleet in preparation for war(Duke's idea). Juan sides with the queen in this conflict. This is the ultimate fencing-dominated film, culminating in the dramatic duel between Juan and de Lorca on the very long palace stairs. Much of it is practice, after the queen demands that Juan become the chief instructor for the royal fencing academy, to give him something useful to do to keep his mind off chasing pretty young things. In one scene, there is a mass choreography of fencing students: the fencing equivalent of a musical chorus dance. Juan engages in a number fencing duels or mock duels throughout the film.For a film about a compulsive seducer of women, there is remarkably little real romance. The film begins with Juan climbing a balcony outside London to reach a lover. What ensues is cartoonish. He is soon chagrined to discover that she has a husband, who unexpectedly arrives, providing Juan's first dueling scene: really a mock duel, in which Flynn goes into his Robin Hood mode. He then lectures the husband about his inadequate attention paid to his wife. Juan and servant Leporello(Alan Hale) then make a fast getaway on horse, to be greeted by a palace patrol, expecting to meet a Spanish duke, coming to marry. Juan pretends he is this duke, thus is escorted to be introduced to the bride-to-be. A scandal ensues when the real duke arrives to find Juan and the lady alone in a room.... Later, while a fencing instructor, one of the court ladies makes an obvious pass at him, which he reluctantly follows up. Again, he discovers she is to be married the next day, her husband showing up to creating another scandal... The final scandal is when the Queen and Juan discover they love each other, heightened by Juan saving the Queen from de Lorca's planned execution. She even talks of running off with him, but Juan says her duty to Spain is more important than their love. An in joke is that in the final frames, Juan decides to chase after a coach containing Flynn's then wife, having vowed to abstain from chasing women.Obviously, the screen play exploits Flynn's reputation as a compulsive skirt chaser. Also, clearly, much expense was put into the elaborate costumes and sets. Max Steiner, taking over from Wolfgang Korngold as the traditional composer for Flynn films, did a fine job. Actually, I believe the film would have fared much better at the box office, if it had been made into at least a semi-musical. The film was not a box-office success in the US, although it did better in Europe. Hence, the Warner budgets for future Flynn films were slashed. Flynn still looked and acted relatively youthful at age 39. As he turned 40 or so, his drug excesses would show up much more clearly in his looks and performances. However, he wasn't quite done swashbuckling. For example, he starred in yet another sea pirate film: "Against All Flags", 4 years later, where he, perhaps with the aid of doubles, engages in several ferocious duels, clearly laboring where formerly he made it look easy.This same year, MGM released another classic tale of swordplay and romance in "The Three Musketeers", starring Gene Kelly.

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!