The Fighting O'Flynn (1949)

Masterful Movie

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Blistering performances.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Once again fooled by the score and the reviews and ended up in wasting money in getting the DVD. The movie was good, had it been in Fairbank Sr's, and that too his early ones, say late '19s to early '20s. But considering that it is a '49 movie, the less said is better.Mindless sword fights and big holes honeycomb the whole movie plot. The plot has been covered in all the reviews, so there is no use in repeating it. The swashbuckling hero meets perchance the dame in distress and rescues her, as well as the prize possession, the Napoleonic Plot expose she is carrying. naturally no one would pause to think, why she has to carry this extremely critical invasion expose, with handful of soldiers (three to be exact, if one includes the coachman as one) and why the Royal army itself didn't march to protect the borders. The time and place has simply lost its significance. The fugitives, followed by the conspirators, go through arduous journey to Dublin, her father, the Viceroy's, territory. But at a certain point, while whiling away the time, his aides land up back into O'Flynn castle and discovers the mythical but real O'Flynn treasure, and that too in the nick of the moment bribe the army, and thereby save him from the court marshall. The distance between the seat of power and the different locations seemed to be very small, at least watching at the speed at which the people moved across them. A single man, often unarmed, against a well armed army and defeating them, even when they are militarily in a position of advantage and he isn't, is anyway something I have seen many times, and won't comment on. Why the blackguard, who is incidentally betrothed to the heroine, has to move around with his mistress, and no one, except his people, are privy to that, and to top it all, he perchance having his own private party in the same inn, where O'Flynn and his men are having their drunken orgy, and why he has to at all show his face there, or unnecessarily provoke O'Flynn into a duel, by when he should have been well aware that his opponent was a mercenary, of repute, so the duel could have gone either way. Not worth wasting the time, leave alone money, unless convert it into a silent movie, and transport it backwards in time by at least 30 years. At that time, well one could say it would deserve around 6.5 stars.

Until he was well established with his own reputation Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. eschewed playing roles like The Fighting O'Flynn that would draw comparison with his father. In fact his first costume epic was the British Elizabeth Bergner production of Catherine The Great and his was not exactly a swashbuckling role. Later on before World War II with his reputation well established, Jayar as his dad called him did great work in The Prisoner Of Zenda and The Corsican Brothers.But after the war Fairbanks claimed the Fairbanks swashbuckling legacy with Sinbad The Sailor, The Exile, and The Fighting O'Flynn. Fairbanks also produced The Fighting O'Flynn and did a wonderful job of creating the character of The O'Flynn whose first name like Lieutenant Columbo we are never destined to learn.As was also well known at the time the younger Fairbanks was the most known Anglophile in America and it would not due to have Fairbanks show the British as the villains, the occupiers of Ireland which they actually were. His rationale for being on the British side was to win the love of Helena Carter, daughter of the British viceroy who at the time though not named here was Lord Charles Cornwallis the guy who surrendered to Washington at Yorktown. But also Fairbanks does not fancy folks like the French and Dutch occupying Ireland either. Remember it was Dutchman William Of Orange who won the Battle of The Boyne and the Dutch were not well loved in Ireland either. And it's a Dutch agent Ludwig Donath who is the main intriguer in the plot.Donath's fellow conspirator is British Lord Richard Greene who is engaged to marry Carter, but has Patricia Medina on the side. So this guy is a double dealer all around. Fairbanks takes a while to see through him, but of course saves Ireland from the French occupation which other Irishmen in real life like James Wolfe Tone were trying to make happen. The loss of the Irish Parliament was one of the consequences in real life that actually happened.Fairbanks for me is one of those guys who is so filled with charm and style that I could have watched him on screen as The Fighting O'Flynn for double the running time of this film and begged for more. This man is handy with the ladies, a sword, or even a shillelagh when the situation calls and he has nothing else.Though the film is full of Irish blarney as they come, The Fighting O'Flynn shows what Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was all about on screen and its delightful entertainment.

For some reason, this film is not available for purchase anywhere. Strange, since so many worthless products are easy to locate. It is sad that this movie is so disregarded, in that this movie is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s best performance. You could argue that Gunga Din is a better movie, and that is true. Still, Fairbanks' performance as O'Flynn far outshines his work in Gunga Din. He holds together a slim plot line, and has some of the wittiest dialog you will ever find in a movie. O'Flynn's character is a charmer, loved by men and women, and somewhat of a con man. The dialog has many nice touches. For example, O'Flynn knocks unconscious one of the French soldiers (Henry Brandon), who later gets the drop on O'Flynn. In an off-hand remark, O'Flynn says to the Frenchman, "You must have a terrible thick skull." A great touch. Perhaps because Fairbanks was the producer and wrote some of the screenplay, we are getting more than the run of the mill swashbuckler. His pursuit of the almost painfully prim Lady Benedetta (Helena Carter) is full of poetry, romance, and charm, and she even remarks that his words are "…very nimble and very Irish." The supporting cast are all veterans, and good performers. Aside from Helena Carter, Richard Greene portrays excellently the weak and corrupt Lord Sedgemonth. Arthur Shields and J.M. Kerrigan provide great repartee in the lighter moments. Patricia Medina is great as Lord Sedgemonth's paramour, Fancy Free, who "only likes the good life," and says the Lord Sedgemonth must do the right thing by her, "…give me money." Add to this a remarkably good musical score, and you have a great and entertaining movie. It is obvious that this film suffered from a small budget, since it was shot in black and white, and if nothing else, this film screams for color. Perhaps it could be looked upon as a lesson on how to do more with less. Fairbanks, in this film, is every bit of the "presumptuous popinjay" he is accused of being by Richard Greene. You could hardly spend a better 94 minutes.

In this lively adventure, a daring Irish leader tires to keep Napoleon from invading Ireland. There is some worry that The Little Corporal will attempt to take over Erin. Fairbanks, equally adroit with a saber, a rapier, a shillelagh, or a kiss, does a splendid job in what is almost, but not quite, a satire of Errol Flynn and even Fairbanks himself in THE CORSICAN BROTHERS. Fairbanks is traveling to a castle he has inherited when he rescues Carter, daughter of Viceroy Hare, as her coach is being waylaid. Fairbanks leaps from horse to horse, roof to roof, heart to heart, and saves Ireland from the duplicity of Greene, who is Hare's assistant and in Napoleon's employ. Very enjoyable nonsense with lots of derring-do from Fairbanks in the kind of role his dad used to play.