The other day I had an email from an author and film-blogger asking an intriguing question. I can’t answer it, so I’m copying the relevant part of his email here to see if any of my readers can offer info or leads…
“… I know the Baz was an avid home video maker. Are there any around with him and Errol Flynn? I read that they went boar hunting together amoungst other things. All of EF`s home vids have been purchased by Roddy McDowall and are restricted fom public viewing. Does anybody of your community know why?… I hope you can clear these things up for me…”
The Baz 
There is film footage of Basil Rathbone filming Flynn sitting at a table.at an Oscar awards ceremony.
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Do you know where we can find it? 0_0
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Pingback: Errol Flynn 06.20.13 Thought of the Day | ritaLOVEStoWRITE
Oh my gosh! someone need to get a hold of that guy and tell him to let us see those videos!! I wonder why he never made them public.
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I was reading Basil’s Wiki page and I noticed it doesn’t link to this blog, why does it not? It should!
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Indeed it should. To bad I don’t know someone who works for Wiki! 😀
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Wiki won’t permit links to WordPress sites unfortunately so even if anyone added a link it would probably be removed.
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I wonder why his son never acted in any part in Adv of RH,he was in TOL and Dawn Patrol.
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I find still amazing that BR ever cared if Flynn liked him.2 people brought up on opposite ends of world,families so different (being born into ),but Baz apparently helped Errol w/his acting when they had rare occ to work together,too bad they didn’t do more films,esp w/Olivia as threesome.Given what was said of EF and spying thru special mirrors or what have you on guest bedrooms,I’m sure can only guess on his home movies.When boys get bored!Just hope our Baz didn’t share any other Flynn bad habits (i.e. drugs)
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I don’t think Basil did care if Errol liked him or not
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Not the impression I got from Rathbone’s IAOOC memoir.I think I agree with Alan Napier’s surmise that Baz wanted to be liked by everyone,incl someone like Flynn.Maybe he didn’t care about some things,but seemed to be looking for approval from many different sources,agree he prob was shy some ways and insecure,never wanting to be found “disobedient”.
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….nor in my research on the subject. I’ve never had the sense that Flynn and Rathbone spent any real private time together; they were of different social worlds. Also, though there is at least one photo of Flynn shooting with a home movie camera, I doubt if it would have held his interest, and certainly not enough to have compiled a “film library.”
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Mr Florczak I very much like your art!
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Thank you, sir.
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There are photographs of Basil Rathbone using his home movie camera on the set of The Adventures of Robin Hood. One photo that turns up fairly often on the web is of Basil filming Olivia at close range. There is a video containing clips of some home movies and candids from TARH in the boxed set of the DVD for that film, which I’ve seen, but I don’t know if those were from Basil’s movies, as he was actually in a few of those shots.
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John McElwee – who really knows his subject – assures me they ARE Basil’s movies. Maybe he just gave his camera to someone else to play with.
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McDowell fell into ownership of the camera negative from William Tell and donated it to Boston University, I believe. Roddy was an odd fellow in many ways and it made sense only to him why he deprived film scholars any opportunity to view the footage. I know that Flynn screened movies at Mulholland Farm. In fact, his wine cellar was full not of wine but of cans of film comprising his collection. But I’m not sure what home movies he took, and I only ever saw candids of Flynn-with-film camera in the context of shooting aboard his boats. Given his nature, I bet any home movies he made weren’t boring.
Like Marcia, I never heard of Flynn and Rathbone boar hunting. Flynn’s bow hunting trip with Howard Hill in the wilds above Chico, CA at the beginning of the Robin Hood location shoot received great attention from the Warner Bros. publicity department. But Rathbone didn’t arrive on the scene until more than two weeks later. If Errol and the Baz went boar hunting some other time, the episode eluded me in my research.
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I know that Baz went boar hunting with Howard Hill (archery expert). There are pics here: http://www.basilrathbone.net/gallery/candids/page5.htm
I haven’t heard or read anything about Baz boar hunting with Errol. If Roddy McDowall is keeping Errol’s home movies hidden from the public, perhaps there’s something really embarrassing on them!
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