Customer Reviews

Errol Flynn: The Untold Story

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This book is so full of riduculous, unsupported accusations that it becomes comical to see what Mr. Higham will think of next. There is not one decent piece of evidence to assert that Flynn was a Nazi spy, homosexual, or murderer. Keep writing about dead people, Charlie. They can't sue!

Or rather Made Up. Higham's book is fully readable, but it lacks truth. Higham is probably the proto-James Ellroy, who takes real persons out of Hollywood history and wraps them in fiction.
This book is well written but that's it. The whole Nazi spy/homsexual angle has been exposed as a fraud by the late, great Tony Thomas. Do yourself a favor and borrow this book at the library if you want to read it. Don't buy it.
"It's not a book to be tossed aside lightly, but rather thrown with great force..." -(...)

If you want a good book about Errol Flynn, DON'T buy this one. Higham belabors Flynn's supposed homosexuality and status as a spy ad nauseum - and with very little, if any at all, fact to back the allegations up. Most sources, when they're named at all, are dead now so they can't be questioned; very few paper references are cited; and the book sounds much more like a work of fiction than an autobiography. A much better book is the newest one, Inherited Risk, by Jeffrey Meyers.

I read the book and threw it out.....worry not.. just a paperback..but the words within have caused more hurt and misunderstandings than any other written material I can think of....in the US one cannot sue for defamation of the deseased...probably Higham was aware of that long before writing this waste of time and good timber??????

It's a pity Mr. Higham didn't explore fiction as a means to make his living, as most of his writing seems to be comprised of mostly fictional accounts and very little fact. I truly believe that Mr. Higham intends, at first, upon writing a biography, but seems to get distracted somewhere between the last hit of whatever he's smoking and actually leaving the house to do any form of research on his subject. The Flynn book, if nothing else, is entertaining in its sheer fantasy alone...particularly the scene where Flynn flees the arms of his married lover and dives several stories from her window. If you're looking for comedy, "Errol Flynn: The Untold Story" holds at least a laugh a page.

I have read this book and some others by Higham and a common thread runs through all of them.. the Nazi Spy theme...in one The Dutchess Of Windsor and her husband were to have had connections to the Nazi's,and Higham must not know much about the Nazis to begin with,because bisexuality and homosexuality were considered to be a sign of inferiority and reason to kill, people who were not "perfect" according to the Nazis would face death.I doubt the Nazis would have a bi-sexual spy working for them,and by the way,Flynn has not bisexual or gay,does Higham profess too much?

Like so many other books of this type, the blurbs fail 100% to reflect the trashy, slimey, fact-less, evidence-free dross that fills its pages.

I particularly liked the reference to Flynn visiting a Swedish millionaire on his Caribbean island where, according to Higham, the millionaire's huge luxury yacht was "crewed by hand-picked Nazis" and which sported a large 360 degrees searchlight, which was used to "guide Nazi U-boats to British merchantmen"


Higham is a liar and a grub. If he is sane, he could not believe this drivel himself.

It's been some time since I have read this book. At first, it seemed believable. However, the more I got into this book the more I realised it was pure hogwash. For a start, not one person comes forward to say "I had sex with Flynn". If not, why not? The answer, methinks, was summed up by Flynn's old pal 'Iron eyes Cody'; when he said that Flynn was SUPERSTRAIGHT.

If you're already an Errol Flynn fan you know the history of this book. If you're a new Flynn fan, looking for a biography about his life, avoid this load of crap by all means! It's just an author making shocking facts up to sell books with no truth to them whatsoever. 'The Spy Who Never Was" discredit's pretty much all of the Higham book entirely. Check out, first, "My Wicked Wicked Ways" ,the autobiography, "Inherited Risk", and then "Real Life Rouge" that comes out in Feb.2010. (hopefully)

Charles Higham's so-called biographies are filled with rumors printed as truth (and many of the rumors seem to be created by Higham, himself).

The fact that his books sold well for a week when released, but are never republished speaks for their worth.

"The best ammunition against lies is the truth, there is no ammunition against gossip. It is like a fog and the clear wind blows it away and the sun burns it off." - Ernest Hemingway