Danielle Solzman
The Warner Archive Collection brings together swashbuckling adventures and wartime classics with the new Errol Flynn – 6 Film Collection on Blu-ray.
The collection features:
- The Adventures of Robin Hood
- The Sea Hawk
- Santa Fe Trail
- Edge of Darkness
- Objective, Burma!
- Adventures of Don Juan
Interestingly, Santa Fe Trail is the only film in the collection that comes without bonus features. While I haven’t had an opportunity to press play on Edge of Darkness yet, I can say with 100% certainty that Santa Fe Trail is the weakest film in the Errol Flynn 6-Film Collection.
Warner Bros. relied on Michael Curtiz throughout his career so it comes as zero surprise that he directs half the films in the set, although Curtiz had replaced William Keighley halfway through production on The Adventures of Robin Hood. Lewis Milestone, Raoul Walsh, and Vincent Sherman direct the other three films.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, and Franz Waxman weren’t just among the earliest composers in Hollywood. They helped to define what we know as film music today, especially Korngold, Steiner, and Alfred Newman.
Korngold’s Hollywood career didn’t last long after he moved to Hollywood. All in all, he scored just 16 films but he sure made the most of them. Korngold earned his second Oscar for his score for The Adventures of Robin Hood. The score established the symphonic style that composers would utilize for action films during Hollywood’s Golden Age and later throughout John Williams’ career. Korngold retired from film composing in 1947, but came back for a final score in 1955.
Steiner composed over 300 film scores and is considered to be the Father of Film Music or the Dean of Film Music. While he received 24 Oscar nominations, neither of his included Flynn scores were nominated. Waxman’s score for Objective, Burma! was nominated for an Oscar.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Synopsis
Dashing Errol Flynn triumphs in this lavish, fast-paced version of the Robin Hood legend, a winner of three Academy Awards in ravishing Technicolor. Doing many stunts himself, Flynn is at his athletic, romantic best in a role originally intended for James Cagney. Olivia de Havilland (as Maid Marian), consummate screen villains Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains, and a boisterous who’s who of character actors costar. Welcome to Sherwood!
Bonus Features
- Commentary by Rudy Behlmer
- Warner Night at the Movies
- Introduction by Leonard Maltin
- 1938 Newsreel
- Freddie Rich and His Orchestra
- Katnip Kollege
- From the Vaults
- Breakdowns of 1938
- Cavalcade of Archery
- Rabbit Hood
- The Cruise of the Zaca
- Robin Hood Daffy
- Splitting the Arrow Galleries
- Historical Art
- Costume Design
- Scene Concept Drawings
- Cast & Crew
- Publicity & Posters
- Glorious Technicolor
- Welcome to Sherwood: The Story of The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Robin Hood Through the Ages
- A Journey to Sherwood Forest
- Outtakes
- Trailers
- Music-Only Track
- 5/11/1938 National Radio Broadcast The Robin Hood Radio Show
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold Piano Sessions
DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz and William Keighley
SCREENWRITERS: Norman Reilly Rane and Seton I. Miller
CAST: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, and Patrick Knowles, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale, Melville Cooper, Ian Hunter, Una O’Connor
The Sea Hawk
Synopsis
Cannons thunder, blades clatter and Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s incomparable music swirls and flourishes in The Sea Hawk. In one of his best roles, Errol Flynn plays Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe, who commandeers a 40-gun galleon, endures captivity, then boldly escapes to warn England of Spain’s armada. Working on his 10th of 12 movies with Flynn, Michael Curtiz masterfully directs the film’s blend of royal intrigue and derring-do heroics — made on a then-lavish $1.7-million scale that included construction of two full-sized ships. The film was stirringly topical in its day. When Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) exhorts her country to maintain fighting readiness against tyranny “now and forever,” audiences knew forever had come: Hitler had launched his World War II air siege of England.
Bonus Features
- Warner Night at the Movies
- Introduction by Leonard Maltin
- Virginia City Theatrical Trailer
- Newsreel
- Short: Alice in Movieland
- Cartoon: Porky’s Poor Fish
- Featurette: The Sea Hawk: Flynn in Action
- Theatrical Trailer
DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz
SCREENWRITERS: Howard Koch and Seton I. Miller
CAST: Errol Flynn, with Brenda Marshall, Claude Rains, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Alan Hale, Henry Daniell, and Una O’Connor, James Stephenson, Gilbert Roland, William Lundigan, Julien Mitchell
Santa Fe Trail
Synopsis
Bright young lieutenants Jeb Stuart and George Armstrong Custer are assigned to Kansas Territory to guard the Santa Fe Trail. There, they clash with the fanatical abolitionist John Brown. On a more romantic side, they also vie for the hand of ‘Kit Carson’ Holliday. But the pursuit of Brown leads the army to the pivotal battle at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which strikes the spark that hastens the Civil War.
DIRECTOR: Michael Curtiz
SCREENWRITER: Robert Buckner
CAST: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, with Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale, and William Lundigan, Van Heflin, Gene Reynolds, Henry O’Neill, Guinn “Big Boy” Williams
Edge of Darkness
Synopsis
In 1930, director Lewis Milestone won an Academy Award for his eloquent anti-war masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front. But with Edge of Darkness, made in 1943 during the dark days of the German blitzkrieg, Milestone displays no such pacifist sentiments. Indeed, this remarkable drama, set in a small Norwegian village, pays tribute to the heroic spirit of common people taking up arms against the Nazi invaders. Errol Flynn delivers a fine, understated performance as a common fisherman who leads the town’s resistance efforts. Ann Sheridan’s strong character reflects the strength of all womankind. And featured in the superb ensemble cast are Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon and Judith Anderson.
Bonus Features
- WB Short: Gun to Gun
- WB Cartoon: To Duck…or Not to Duck
- Theatrical Trailer
DIRECTOR: Lewis Milestone
SCREENWRITER: Robert Rossen
CAST: Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, with Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Helmut Dantine, Judith Anderson, Ruth Gordon, John Beal, Morris Carnovsky, Charles Dingle, Roman Bohnen, Richard Fraser, Art Smith
Objective, Burma!
Synopsis
Mission accomplished! Errol Flynn turns in a mature, acclaimed performance as the leader of a paratrooper patrol stranded in Burma. It’s “one of the few features of which I am proud,” Flynn later said. There’s reason for pride. Raoul Walsh directs the hard-hitting action, shot in rugged California locations so similar to Burma that veterans of that campaign refused to believe the crew hadn’t somehow sneaked into Asia.
Bonus Features
- The Tanks Are Coming (1941)
- The Rear Gunner (1943)
DIRECTOR: Raoul Walsh
SCREENWRITERS: Ranald MacDougall & Lester Cole
CAST: Errol Flynn, with James Brown, William Prince, George Tobias, Henry Hull, Warner Anderson, John Alvin, Mark Stevens (as Stephen Richards), Richard Erdman (as Dick Erdman)
Adventures of Don Juan
Synopsis
Errol Flynn made his name portraying dashing heroes who clasped a sword in one hand and a maiden in the other. Audiences loved Flynn’s devil-may-care bravado as much as they admired his athletic grace and astonishing good looks. Adventures of Don Juan was his first swashbuckler in nine years — and a glorious reprise it is, directed with gusto by Vincent Sherman. In the title role, Flynn is a wiser, warmer, wittier version of his earlier characters as he rescues the Spanish queen (Viveca Lindfors) from the snares of an evil duke. Oscar -winning costumes and superb sets (including a knockout grand staircase) create a lavish atmosphere for dalliances with married beauties, narrow dungeon escapes and duels aplenty. En garde!
Bonus Features
- Commentary by Director Vincent Sherman and Historian Rudy Behlmer
- Warner Night at the Movies 1948 Short Subjects Gallery
- Vintage Newsreel (1:07)
- Oscar-nominated Joe McDoakes Comedy Short: So You Want to Be On the Radio (10:47)
- Oscar nominated travel short Calgary Stampede (18:10)
- Classic Cartoon: Hare Splitter (7:09)
- Theatrical Trailer (2:29)
DIRECTOR: Vincent Sherman
SCREENWRITERS: George Oppenheimer and Harry Kurnitz
CAST: Errol Flynn, Viveca Lindfors, with Robert Douglas and Alan Hale, Romney Brent, Ann Rutherford, Robert Warwick, Jerry Austin, Douglas Kennedy
Warner Bros. Entertainment released the Errol Flynn – 6 Film Collection on September 2, 2025.
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