jackcade

"The Infidel" should be compulsory viewing today, especially in schools where we need to teach tolerance and respect. George Bush and Tony Blair (who should know better) would no doubt find this episode subversive television if caught it on cable TV today. A Moslem escapes his English kidnappers who brought him back from the Holy Land only to be beset by a bunch of English ruffians. Robin Hood, offended at the gutless behaviour of the gang, rescues the Moslem who explains his plight. There is a wonderful scene where they both speak with reverence of their respective leaders, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. Robin goes on to expose a land-grabbing plot in which the Moslem was a pawn. John Dyson was the pseudonym of blacklisted American writers. According to English film historian Steve Neale's excellent research, Robert Lees was a co-author of this episode. Ring Lardner Jr and Ian McLellan Hunter often used this pseudonym as well. The series had a strong social conscience. The films of Ralph Smart, who was a liberal rather than a socialist, had social justice themes and often questioned authority either gently or through rebellion. He worked with communist Harry Watt on the progressive films "The Overlanders" and "Eureka Stockade" in Australia and "Where No Vultures Fly" in Africa and later worked with blacklisted writer/producer Hannah Weinstein on several famous ITC television series. Ralph can be best judged on "Bush Christmas", "Bitter Springs" and "Never Take No for an Answer". Ralph especially loved the resourcefulness of children, something that shows up in several episodes of "Robin Hood", "William Tell" and "The Invisible Man". His films in Australia were among the first to feature Aboriginal characters and addressed the events on the frontier during white settlement. Smart, Weinstein and the blacklisted writers were a powerful team producing some of the best work ever seen on English television. Shows like "Robin Hood" were made for children. They may have been violent from time to time, but their social messages aimed to foster (Ralph's middle name, by the way) to inculcate fine values in children. Today's shows like "Robin Hood" stack up extremely well as educational and entertaining films. And episodes like "The Infidel" would be political dynamite today. Might teach some people that respect rather than hatred might better help resolve present-day world conflicts. If only Bush, Blair, Howard and Moselem leaders had seen it before a decision was made to go to war.

I recently read Charles Higham's notoriously unreliable biography of Errol Flynn because I picked it up for about $1 at a secondhand bookshop. I had long refused to read it because of Higham's infamous claims that Flynn was a Nazi and because the dust cover displayed a swastika. The copy I picked up didn't have a dust cover. Higham's spurious claims are based on his knowledge of the mysterious Nazi character Erben, a one-time associate of Flynn's, who later recanted his Nazi views. Higham also refers to Flynn's affairs with Nazi women. I'm not sure politics had much influence on Flynn's sex life. Nevertheless, it struck me while reading this drivel that you could just as easily construct a convincing portrait of Flynn as a communist. He secretly joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain and, of course, he made two pro-Castro films about Cuba. "Cuban Rebel Girls" is a bad film whichever way you look at it with an unusually poor performance from Errol (who was simply brilliant only recently in "The Roots of Heaven", "Too Much Too Soon" and, of course, "The Sun Also Rises"). I have watched "Cuban Rebel Girls" several times because I nevertheless find it a fascinating and curious film. Director Mahon directed some right-wing Cold War films so I am not sure why he was involved with this one. In any case, the direction like the script, was poor. The script should have been handed over to producers like Samuel Z. Arkoff or Albert Zugsmith for better results. It's the sort of film Mamie Van Doren would have spiced up wonderfully. "The Cuba Story" is another mess of a film, but like "Cuban Rebel Girls" at least its heart is in the right place. Sad to see Errol Flynn in failing health in both these films. He looks old and weary after a lifetime of living it up. But the point to be made is that no Nazi would be associated with these pro-Castro films. Or if Flynn did have Nazi sympathies or allegiances at some stage(and like Erben, recanted), then it is instructive that he chose to be involved with these Cuba films. And as for those Nazi women Flynn was supposed to have slept with? Maybe he was just pumping them for information.

Until recently, "Showdown at Eagle Gap" (aka Quell and Co.) did not show up in any William Witney filmography, not even the one in his own autobiography. My thanks to Francis M. Nevins for his insights into this film, a German-US co-production which received minimal release. In fact, I completely failed to recognise that Witney, the man himself, has a touching cameo at the very end of the film. He (pseudonymously) plays a sheriff who checks in on Quell and his two friends and he wishes them good luck when he salutes them as if giving them a blessing. Mr Nevins pointed out to me as well that it was fitting that Witney's first and last films centred on western trios, a mainstay of classic B grade westerns. His first feature film as a director was the excellent action-packed Three Mesquiteers entry, "The Trigger Trio". I have previously written that this was "an unusually bland film for Witney, but a lesser Witney film is still pretty good. It is an engrossing yarn rather typical of 1970s American television." I stand by those comments, but Mr Nevins' insights have me enjoying "Showdown at Eagle Gap" in different ways. If you like Witney's pictures or westerns in general, it is worth checking out.