Customer Reviews

Escape Me Never [VHS]

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

 

 

Ok, ok. I'm in the minority here, but I loved this film! Watching it brought out my emotional side. I cried and cried and cried. I thought Errol Flynn and Ida Lupino were great. Though reviewers mock the weak screenplay and melodramatic acting, I thought the film was sweet and very enchanting!

Flynn and Lupino were the best of friends before the making of this film. Yet during its filming, they became romantically involved, which I thought played so well for the characters they portrayed. There was a spark between them that was undeniable! Lupino herself said that "the extra gleam in her eyes" was due in part to her off-set fling with Flynn.

Eleanor Parker was beautiful and her counterpart, Gig Young, were both decent in their supporting roles. The spotlight, however, does shine brightly on its two major stars. The ending is a little unsatisfying, though. The epiphany of Flynn's character is disbelieving; he didn't do much groveling for my taste! Throughout much of the film he acts horrid and irresponsible. However, he's forgiven albeit a little too easily!

"Escape Me Never" is not highly regarded as their best picture, but I still think it's worth a shot. If you're a softie like me, then you'll be crying your eyes out. As a testament, my eyes are still stinging hot and dry from all the tears I've shed. Also, there's wonderful music as well with some very romantic pieces by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Ida Lupino Lupino as a peripatetic soul makes this an interesting if not disturbing film. A rather caddish Errol Flynn marries Lupino as he struggles with his composing all in an effort to win over Eleanor Parker the fiancée of his brother (Gig Young). The acting is good at times but the plot defies credibility yet it does entertain. This film contains another outstanding score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

I think this is one of Errol Flynn's greatest movies. He first makes you love his character, hate his character, then in the end allows you to forgive. I recommend this movie highly. Forget Me Never is sappy, but it is sappy in a good way. You laugh, you cry and before you know it, the movie is over. It has a complete storyline that is on the same level as The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Elisabeth Bergner stars as an impish Venetian waif, Gemma, who becomes the abused wife of an errant English genius. His treachery and their indigence combine to replace the childlike Gemma with an adult who retains the wisdom but none of the vivacity of the Venice gamine. Now largely overlooked, Elisabeth Bergner remains among the greatest actresses in cinema history, as legendary as Garbo. Miss Bergner's handful of screen portrayals in English (she had been a German stage and film star in the late 1920s) were produced in Britain and directed by her husband Paul Czinner. It was her performance in Escape Me Never that had critics hailing her as another Eleonora Duse. In every actress worth remembering, there is always some inscrutable, timeless look about the face and a uniquely alive manner of voice, gesture, and expression. Elisabeth Bergner had these qualities and she understood the power of the camera. She knew exactly how to throw the proper reflections into its eye, for there hasn't been such a totally visual actress on the screen since her departure. She was a gamine, unearthly, a bit amoral, but with a fabulous range of expressions and mercurial shifts in temperament that one never tired of watching.

Ida Lupino tries really hard to inject some life and energy into this story of two brothers who fall in love with the same woman. Lupino is the poor single mother who loves one of the brothers, Errol Flynn, a free spirit who composes music. Gig Young is the other brother, and rich girl Eleanor Parker is the object of both brothers' affections. The story is too complicated to summarize in a few sentences, with the locale shifting across Europe. However, the story is never credible, and neither are the actors. Flynn was no longer cutting much of a dashing figure by this point in his career, and he brings no depth or conviction to the character at all. Parker never seems like the type of woman who could inspire anything, while Young barely registers as the other brother. Lupino goes for it, as she did with pretty much every performance, but with this script and ill-defined character, there's not much she can do than appear continually overwrought. By the half way mark of the movie, I couldn't have cared less what happened to any of them. There is some good music, but the story and characters do not flow nearly as well as the orchestrations. This film is a disappointment.

Overly maudlin tearjerker that can't be saved despite highly photogenic and charismatic stars Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker and Gig Young, who are unable to generate life in this lackluster vehicle. Flynn and Young star as Sebastian and Caryl Dubrok, two estranged "night and day" brothers with the only thing in common being composers--one established, the other aspiring. Caryl is responsible, wealthy and successful, but a stuffed shirt; Sebastian on the other hand is charming but penniless and irresponsible. For support he performs in a weak act with the equally poor Gemma Smith (Lupino), who is also his lover. Complications arise when Caryl's beautiful, cultured fiancee Fionella MacLean (Parker) discovers an unmarried woman named Gemma and a child are staying with a composer named . . . Dubrok. Not knowing of Sebastian's existence, she assumes the worst and breaks their engagement and finds refuge at an Alpine resort, where Sebastian and Gemma are performing. Fionella unknowingly falls for her former fiancee's brother and he for her, with over-the-top consequences. Not recommended unless you're a big fan of these stars or having nothing to do. Drawbacks are the weak story, uninspired direction, fake-looking European sets and bad casting--particularly Lupino's wounded doe role since she's most effective as tough tarts. Ironically but unsurprising enough, she steals the show since she gets to emote a lot with her character's abundant suffering. The only redeeming factor is the great Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score.

It's not a comedy but if you don't laugh, you will be wondering why you continued to sit through this till the very end. Errol Flynn carried this film most of the way with his usual charm but even he can't perform lazarus on such a bad written screenplay. Peter Godfrey didn't help either. Perhaps he had fallen asleep while directing this piece. Having said that, it has a great cast of actors and actresses. Lupino is a good actress but I felt she was badly miscast in this film. What a pity though because the idea was good and it had potential.

This is an intriguing and beguiling Errol Flynn film. Errol Flynn puts the viewer through a gamut of emotions and flexing loyalties for his character. Perhaps a flawed film, it remains intriguing for what Errol Flynn did with his character. Errol Flynn demonstrates a great range of histrionics and an unusual and much deeper talent for his craft.

Despite the impassioned tribute to Elisabeth Bergner below, this is not the little heartbreaker's version of this particular story. In this glossy Warners remake, the adorable little gamine is played by Ida Lupino, who scampers about in what has to be her worst performance. This is one of the duds ("Never Say Goodbye" and "Cry Wolf" are the others) that Errol Flynn made in the late forties trying to extend his range, and which instead killed off his career as a major star. Don't even think about buying it.

This film is underated. Although I must admit that the script is a little dumb, on the comdemy that is, it was filmed well and the sets do not look fake, although they are. What I do not understand is why Flynn goes from Lupino to Parker and back again. He eyes most of the women in the picture, that is not really bad but it shows what we all think he was. The profomances are excellent and the cast is great. The Ballet is good and the Korngold score is a real plus! Malton should have given it ** out of ****.