The Perfect Specimen

From director Michael Curtiz that uses the Warner Brothers stock company of contract players to great effect.

Wealthy and domineering Leona Wicks (May Robson) runs a tyrannical household, and nothing is more important to her than her grandson and heir Gerald (Errol Flynn). He's been raised in seclusion on her palatial estate and tutored in every subject imaginable since infancy in order to make him into "the perfect specimen", a man more than capable of taking over the family's interest when the time comes. However, his sheltered upbringing has made him bored and restless, and when the beautiful Mona Carter (Joan Blondell) comes literally crashing through the gate, he takes her advice to journey out into the world and see what's out there, an odyssey they take together which leads to love, naturally.

Flynn and Blondell make a great couple, with his easy physical grace and put-on naivete meshing well with Blondell's earthy sense and beauty. I also liked Jenkins and Moore as another that they literally bump into and form an unlikely friendship with. The movie lost a point or two from me, though, as soon as Hugh Herbert showed up and started to be "funny". Robson is good at playing cantankerous old ladies, but she nearly crosses the line from humorous to insufferable. Still, this was a very fun comedy, one that should be better known, and one that could easily be remade to some success in any era.

I have to agree with the other review on the page...The Perfect Specimen is a far better screwball comedy than it's been given credit for. In fact, it's head and shoulders above Flynn's next screwball comedy, 1938's Four's A Crowd.

It helped that Flynn and Joan Blondell were pals off-screen, because they show a very comfortable and breezy rapport with each other on-screen. Flynn shows a light and pleasant acting touch in this, especially when compared to his ham-handed performances in Four's A Crowd or Footsteps In The Dark.

It's too bad this isn't available on video, because I think both Flynn fans and non-Flynn fans will discover a small treasure.

The Perfect Specimen marked Errol Flynn's first foray into comedy and while amusing in spots does not work as well as Four's A Crowd or Footsteps In The Dark. In fact the film almost borders on the weird.

This film is a strange combination of Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and Being There. Errol Flynn has been raised by his tyrannical old grandmother May Robson on the confines of their vast estate which bears some resemblance to stately Wayne Manor. He's been raised like a hot house geranium, given the best education the world could offer, but has not had any human contact.

The premise isn't as strange as it sounds because after the Lindbergh kidnapping there was concern in the ranks of the rich and famous throughout the land. May Robson seems to have anticipated this because she's raised the 20 something Flynn like this away from the world for years before.

Flynn like Sellers in Being There has stayed on the grounds all his life, but he's not autistic. Still certain facts of life have been omitted from his education and given Flynn's reputation which he hadn't achieved when The Perfect Specimen they make viewing of the film a bit strange. Not the fault of Warner Brothers, who knew in 1937 that Errol Flynn would become synonymous with sexual prowess.

Anyway the same way Jean Arthur another reporter came crashing in on Gary Cooper's life, so does reporter Joan Blondell on the estate where her brother happens to be a gardener. Tyrannical old May Robson has even got a suitable wife picked out in Beverly Roberts whose a cousin, but Beverly likes the gardener Dick Foran.

When Flynn decides to go out in the world he borrows Foran's car who tells no one. His absence causes a panic in Robson who launches a nationwide manhunt for Flynn. Meanwhile he and Blondell are having a great old time on the road where his education about nearly everything else but social relations comes in handy.

The Perfect Specimen also boasts such folks as Edward Everett Horton, Allen Jenkins, Hugh Herbert, and Harry Davenport all in roles that are suitable to their type. Just their mention conjures up certain images and they perform right to image. The Flynn and Blondell team however was never asked for a repeat performance, they never really quite mesh.

The Perfect Specimen is amusing in a few places, but Flynn and Blondell were better showcased in a lot better films.

Fortunately for us, Carole Lombard, Marion Hopkins, Miriam Hopkins and Olivia de Havilland all turned down this role opposite Errol Flynn. None of those could possibly be a tenth as endearing, as funny, as utterly lovely or as perfect as Joan Blondell. She indeed is the perfect specimen.

Comedy was neither Errol Flynn's or Michael Curtiz's natural home but Joan Blondell could make the silliest story come to life. This is indeed the silliest story but Joan's magic makes this work and almost believable. It doesn't need to be completely believable because for that hour and a half all these characters seem like people you can believe in. It's got such a cosy, cuddly warmth about it, you can't help but enjoy it. And apart from the heretics who don't accept that Joan Blondell was the world's sexiest, loveliest woman whose smile could turn your legs to jelly, you'll love the fact that she'd never been more sweet and gorgeous than in this.

Half way through however your heart sinks as Hugh Herbert shows up. For once however you needn't hurl your dinner at the screen or rip your eyes out in despair - he's actually quite amusing (yes, seriously!) You don't often see him alongside Warner's other irritant, Edward Everett Horton but this unlikely, unholy combination actually works.

Despite my peculiarly weird obsession with Joan Blondell, this is actually a pretty decent thirties comedy. There were an awful lot of awful ones - some, I have to admit starring my beloved herself - she certainly did some rubbish so I didn't just like this because of it's a Joan Blondell film. It's real charming, escapist fun. Errol Flynn, despite some reviews isn't too bad and is as likeable as always. It's not especially funny but it will make you happy.

I find most of Errol Flynn's minor films, well...minor. But this one is an exception. The premise seems one-joke gimmicky: Flynn has been raised by his grandmother to be perfect in every way, except that he lacks any experience of life, being kept a prisoner on her estate until Joan Blondell breaks through the fence surrounding the estate with her car, (a recurring, unsubtle motif). She convinces him to escape and see what life is like and he eventually does so, leading to a series of amusing misadventures reminiscent of 'It Happened One Night'. As reviewer 'SimonJack' points out, both films are based on magazine article by the same author, Samuel Hopkins Adams. If felt this to be as good but the I've always felt that 'it Happened' was a little over-rated, at least by the Oscars. Both films are amiable and fun and worth watching.

Flynn does a good job of playing the good-natured innocent. The flimsy premise comes not to even matter that much as he becomes just a guy trying to become independent from his grandmother and who has fallen for Blondell. This is one of Joan's best roles. In other films I've seen, she's the wise-cracking girlfriend of the hero or heroine. Here she's a romantic lead not at all dependent on zingers. The emotions of a woman falling in love but unsure she wants to join that family play well over her face. The film is full of Warner's wonderful character actors who, as a group, probably contributed as much to their films as their stars did.