Famed lover Don Juan (Errol Flynn), and his faithful servant, Leporello (Alan Hale), return to Spain to find it under the thumb of the traitorous Duke de Lorca (Robert Douglas). Assigned as a fencing instructor, Don Juan devotes himself to the welfare of Queen Margaret (Viveca Lindfors). When de Lorca moves against the crown, it is up to Don Juan, his friends, and students to save the Queen, the feeble King (Romney Brent), and Spain.
The last and least of the lavish, Warner Bros., Errol Flynn Swashbucklers, Adventures of Don Juan may have been the perfect farewell for the king of the genre. Sword epics, as a form, were aging, as was Flynn, and the golden age was almost at its end. The makers of Adventures of Don Juan seemed to know this. The movie is one step from a parody, and Flynn’s self-deprecating performance sends a message to his fans: “I know I’m not as young as I was and have a reputation as a Don Juan myself, so let’s all sit and enjoy that for an hour and a half.” Flynn went on to make many more films, including a few Swashbucklers, but they were smaller affairs. Luckily, Adventures of Don Juan is a good way to end an era. It is bright, quick, and filled with charm.
Flynn is joined by his long time costar, Alan Hale (Little John in The Adventures of Robin Hood), who plays the same kind of role he had in most of their other thirteen collaborations. Like Flynn, he was aging, but still had his charisma, if a bit muted. He died two years later. To continue the reunions, consummate character actress, Una O’Connor (Bess in The Adventures of Robin Hood) has a cameo.
The plot treads ground well trampled by Swashbucklers before it: the good natured hero is looked down upon by both polite society and the beautiful woman, and the evil-for-evil’s-sake villain plots dastardly deeds. It’s familiar, but fun, and pulled off with flair. Robert Douglas is effective as the archfiend, hitting all the right notes, but never bringing anything new to the part. There’s more than the average amount of humor, exhilarating sword fights, extravagant sets to frame it all, and a jaunty, though slightly over-used theme to set the mood. The final, with Don Juan and de Lorca facing off on the grand stairway, is a classic moment in the genre and not to be missed.
The one significant misstep is its single variation from lockstep Swashbuckler form: there’s no romance. This is particularly glaring since the hero is Don Juan, known as the world’s greatest lover. He’s fallen for the Queen, and vice-versa, but that’s not to be. A few moments of mutual admiration hardly gets the blood pumping. It’s hard to get excited about the threat to Spain without a girl involved.
Vincent Sherman’s direction is impressive considering the problems Flynn was having finishing a scene (he wasn’t the physical specimen he once had been), but lacks the vision and power of Michael Curtiz, who was at the helm for all of Flynn’s great costume movies. Even with the huge, elaborate sets, the movie feels claustrophobic.
No fan of Swashbucklers will be disappointed by Adventures of Don Juan. It succeeds as a middle ground adventure yarn at the end of a long string of great ones.
Flynn’s other Warner Bros Swashbucklers are: Captain Blood (1935), The Prince and the Pauper (1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), and The Sea Hawk (1940).