Editing Errol Flynn (section)

===''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938)===
[[File:The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 Trailer.jpg|thumb|right|With [[Olivia de Havilland]] in ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1938)]]
Flynn followed this with his most famous movie, ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1938), playing the title role, opposite de Havilland's [[Maid Marian|Marian]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2009/05/15/32184-torn-exclusive-with-reclaiming-the-blade-director|title=Exclusive with 'Reclaiming The Blade' Director|publisher=Theonering.net|date=15 May 2009|access-date=14 February 2010}}</ref> This movie was a global success. It was the 6th-top movie grosser of 1938.<ref>Variety December 1938</ref> It was also the studio's first large-budget colour film using the three-strip [[Technicolor]] process.<ref>Ebert, Roger (17 August 2003). "Roger Ebert's review of "The Adventures of Robin Hood". ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. Retrieved 30 March 2007.</ref> The budget for ''Robin Hood'' was the highest ever for a Warner Bros. production up to that point—$2.47&nbsp;million—but it more than made back its costs and turned a huge profit as it grossed $2.343&nbsp;million in the U.S. and $2.495&nbsp;million overseas.<ref>Mark Glancy Warner Bros. ledgers</ref>

It also received lavish praise from critics and became a world favourite; in 2019, Rotten Tomatoes summarised the critical consensus: "Errol Flynn thrills as the legendary title character, and the film embodies the type of imaginative family adventure tailor-made for the silver screen".<ref>The Adventures of Robin Hood". ''[[Rotten Tomatoes]]''. Retrieved June 30, 2019,</ref> In 1995, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States [[Library of Congress]] and selected for preservation by the [[National Film Registry]].<ref>"25 old films honored". ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]''. December 28, 1995. Retrieved July 22, 2009.</ref> Years later, in a 2005 interview, de Havilland described how, during the filming, she decided to tease Flynn, whose wife was on the set and watching closely. De Havilland said, "And so we had one kissing scene, which I looked forward to with great delight. I remember I blew every take, at least six in a row, maybe seven, maybe eight, and we had to kiss all over again. And Errol Flynn got really rather uncomfortable, and he had, if I may say so, a little trouble with his tights."<ref>Matzen, Robert (2010). ''Errol & Olivia: Ego & Obsession in Golden Era Hollywood''. Pittsburgh: Paladin Communications, p. 72.</ref>

The final duel between Robin and Sir Guy of Gisbourne ([[Basil Rathbone]]) is a classic, echoing the battle on the beach in ''[[Captain Blood (1935 film)|Captain Blood]]'' where Flynn also kills Rathbone's character after a long demonstration of fine swordplay, in that case choreographed by [[Ralph Faulkner]]. According to Faulkner's student, Tex Allen, "Faulkner had good material to work with. Veteran Basil Rathbone was a good fencer already, and Flynn, though new to the school of fence, was athletic and a quick learner".

The success of ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' did little to convince the studio that their prize swashbuckler should be allowed to do other things, but Warners allowed Flynn to try a [[screwball comedy]], ''[[Four's a Crowd]]'' (1938). Despite the presence of de Havilland and the direction of Curtiz, it was not a success. ''[[The Sisters (1938 film)|The Sisters]]'' (1938), a drama showing the lives of three sisters in the years from 1904 to 1908, including a dramatic rendering of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, was more popular. Flynn played alcoholic sports reporter Frank Medlin, who sweeps Louise Elliott ([[Bette Davis]]) off her feet on a visit to Silver Bow, Montana. Their married life in San Francisco is difficult, and Frank sails to Singapore just hours before the catastrophe. The original ending of the film was the same as the book: Louise married a character named William Benson, but preview audiences disliked the ending, and a new one was filmed in which Frank comes to Silver Bow to find her, and they reconcile. Apparently, audiences wanted Errol Flynn to "get the girl" or vice versa. (Bette Davis preferred the original ending.)<ref>Stine, Whitney, and [[Davis, Bette]], ''Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis''. New York: Hawthorn Books 1974. {{ISBN|978-0-8015-5184-0}}, pp.101–104</ref>

Flynn had a powerful dramatic role in ''[[The Dawn Patrol (1938 film)|The Dawn Patrol]]'' (1938), a remake of a [[The Dawn Patrol (1930 film)|pre-code 1930 drama of the same title]] about [[Royal Flying Corps]] fighter pilots in World War I and the devastating burden carried by officers who must send men out to die every morning. Flynn and co-stars [[Basil Rathbone]] and [[David Niven]] led a cast that was all male and predominantly British. Director [[Edmund Goulding]]'s biographer [[Matthew Kennedy (author)|Matthew Kennedy]] wrote: "Everyone remembered a set filled with fraternal good cheer.... The filming of ''Dawn Patrol'' was an unusual experience for everyone connected with it, and dissipated for all time the legend that Britishers are lacking in a sense of humor.... The picture was made to the accompaniment of more ribbing than Hollywood has ever witnessed. The setting for all this horseplay was the beautiful English manners of the cutterups. The expressions of polite and pained shock on the faces of Niven, Flynn, Rathbone et al., when (women) visitors were embarrassed was the best part of the nonsense."<ref>Kennedy, Matthew. ''Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory: Hollywood's Bad Boy Genius'', Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-299-19770-4}}, p. 177.</ref>

In 1939, Flynn and de Havilland teamed up with Curtiz for ''[[Dodge City (film)|Dodge City]]'' (1939), the first [[Western (genre)|Western]] for both of them, set after the [[U.S. Civil War]].<ref>Kass, Judith M. (1976). ''Olivia de Havilland''. New York: Pyramid Publications, p. 36.</ref> Flynn was worried that audiences would not accept him in Westerns, but the film was Warner's most popular film of 1939, and he went on to make a number of movies in that genre.<ref>Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer * Clifford McCarty, ''The Films of Errol Flynn'', Citadel Press, 1969 p 80-81</ref>