Customer Reviews

Royal Flash

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

 

 

A great satire of Victorian England and most especially Victorian era Hollywood movies. Lots of laughs in most unusual settings. Who would have guessed Bismark would make such a comic subject? Hard to imagine why this has taken so long to make it to DVD. The only thing too disappointing about this movie is that it was the only one done to date from the immortal Flashman series, certainly Flashman in Afghanistan would be very timely and on target today, but at least the author Fraser and the director teamed up again on the Three Musketeer movies. I'll be happy to challenge to a duel anyone who dares to question my devotion to the books as long as they allow my friend to load the pistols.

I guess I am one of the few Flashman readers who liked this film. I agree that Royal Flash is one of Fraser's weaker novels (probably my least favorite of the series), but I think Lester, with Fraser doing the screenplay did a good job. The two had collaborated to even greater effect with their classic adaptation of The Three Musketeers a few years earlier, and must have jumped at the chance to work again. It is too bad they did not start with the first novel, but I imagine it would have required a huge budget, whereas Royal Flash is mainly about personalities.

I thought Malcolm McDowell made a splendid Flashman. I think he looked the right proper Victorian gentleman/soldier, and he excelled at depicting Flashy as the craven poltroon he was. His opening monologue, as he tells the students to do their duty, while flashbacks show what a coward he was, perfectly depicts the character. I think McDowell even resembles some of the original cover illustrations for some of the paperbacks, and I sort of imagine his voice when I read the novels. I know Fraser imagined Errol Flynn in the role, but Flynn died in 1959, and his like has really not been seen in films since his death. Malcolm McDowell in his youth really specialized in playing smirking anti-heroes who seemed to have some depth underneath but really, they didn't.

I also liked the use of the Wagner music. The film is set (more or less) during the time Wagner composed in Bavaria, and I thought his heroic music was a good counterpoint to Flashy's cowardice. The supporting cast is a dream, with Oliver Reed (as Bismarck), Florinda Bolkan (as Lola Montes), Britt Eklund and Alan Bates. It is beautifully shot in Bavaria with authentic castles making it a sumptuous production.

What is wrong with the film? As many said, the plot is scarcely more than a rewrite of the classic novel The Prisoner of Zenda. So, there are few surprises here (though this treatment is decidedly bawdier). Also, Lester cannot resist"one joke too many" in all the scenes, putting in as many sight gags and sotto voce mutterings as he can. What worked in A Hard Day's Night and The Three Musketeers seems like overkill in this film. The material was already witty and clever enough and did not need so much "help" from Lester.

As to the DVD itself: there is nice little feature that gives an overview of the character of Flashman, and how Fraser researched and wrote the novels, etc. There is a feature on adapting Flashman to the screen, and you can listen to the music score on an isolated track. I thought the picture looked a bit "soft", but that could be the way it was shot in the 70's, or else, they could not find better print material. However, it is more than acceptable.

Two great actors, Macolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Time After Time) and Oliver Reed (Tommy) are at their best in this hilarious movie. It's based on Otto von Bismarck's rise to power in Germany and a not-so-heroic English hero Thomas Flashman (McDowell).

Flashman, who gained fame after being found unconscious draped in the Union Jack, had actually been trying to tear it down to appease Afghani invaders. The movie begins with his near escape from a gambling risqué house (in true Victorian style, the women daringly showing their petticoats). After goading Bismarck into a hilarious boxing match in which Bismarck is beaten silly by one of "the lower orders." Bismarck swears to remember Flashman as Flahsh laughs gleefully at the mayhem he arranged. Later Bismarck lures and then kidnaps Flashman into posing as German count because the real one has caught "Cupid's Measles" and can't attend his own wedding. In humor typical of the movie, Flashman is captured after the woman he expects to sleep with is replaced by an overweight stranger. After momentary surprise, Flashman says "well, since you're here," and proceeds with the task until stopped.

Flashman makes a hilarious cowardly hero as he barely manages to shine after a cowardly or vice-inspired act. Particularly funny and original is the poking fun of Victorian morals. The movie also has some good scenery, including and a beautiful segment with Wagnerian overture at the beginning of a hunt ("have the doggies found the boar yet"). A great and underappreciated actor, Oliver Reed does an excellent job of the very serious Otto von Bismarck. It's only too bad that more movies like this weren't made. Flashman serves as the perfect anti-hero type that we so miss from the screen these days.

Royal Flash is more than just a slapstick romp with plenty of laugh-out-loud scenes. It is that--but it's also a well-crafted and humorous look at history which can be taken at face value or viewed as a rather cynical commentary on the nature of power and fame. It's a clever depiction of the possible (if improbable) backstory for Otto von Bismarck's rise to power by way of a sly retake on Anthony Hope's books, The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau. Instead of a True Blue Victorian Hero, you get an ignoble Victorian anti-hero. Unlike many comedies filmed in the '70's, such as Altman's M.A.S.H., Royal Flash wears well and still has the power to make one laugh without being embarrassing. It also still has the power to make a person think about the nature of politics and power without being unduly heavy-handed about the whole thing. The film stands on its own. You don't have to be a fan of George MacDonald Fraser's wonderful Flashman books to enjoy this film, but it's likely you'll want to read a few of them afterwards.

I saw this ages ago, and I still remember being in pain the next day, from laughing so hard! My ribs literally ached, but it didn't stop me from gathering half a dozen friends and watching it again. Everything about it is a delight! Ironic, farcical, satirical comedy in the hands of masters. Everything is a joke: there are sight-gags, musical jokes, genre jests, and the movie mocks even itself, as well as the movie it's spoofing (The Prisoner of Zenda). Superbly acted, masterfully directed, by the best who could be picked for the job. Wish they'd release it again, or at least distribute it on dvd!

Simply put, this was not a very good film adaptation of the novel, even though author George MacDonald Fraser wrote the screenplay. Too, casting Malcolm McDowell (light colored hair/blue-eyes, 5' 8" tall, and weighing 140lbs dripping wet) as the bluff rogue Flashman (black hair and black moustache/dark brown-eyes, 6' tall, and weighing in at 13 stone = 180lbs) was totally wrong. GMF said he thought Flashy should be played by someone like the late Errol Flynn "...with his impudent swagger, athletic grace, and matchless style." (Fraser's THE HOLLYWOOD HISTORY OF THE WORLD p.54) Perhaps Liam Neeson.

I was surprised that this was more of a Benny Hill type of slapstick and sightgag film, which accounts for it being a box office flop, than a swashbuckling comic rework of the old Anthony Hope PRISONER OF ZENDA story. So many good actors gone to waste, except for Oliver Reed's performance as Otto von Bismark which was super. Perhaps I expected too much, especially after viewing GMF's splendid screenplay adaptations of THE THREE MUSKETEERS/THE FOUR MUSKETEERS.

I understand that the folks who filmed the SHARPE TV series are interested in doing a FLASHMAN series for British TV. I can only hope they do; hopefully, as polished as the BBC/HBO ROME TV series. How they'll get away with it right under the noses of the PC Police is beyond me. Anyway, don't waste your time viewing "Royal Flash." Read the novel instead.

As a long-time fan of the 'Flashman' book series, I was pretty disappointed to see what a hack job had been done with this, especially when considering the high caliber of some of the actors used. It is apparent throughout that a lack of money available for production, as well as a very tight filming schedule really hampered the final result. But more to the point, out of all the many adventures of Flashman, why the heck did they choose this one, which is nothing more than a hasty 'rewrite' of 'The Prisoner of Zenda??' While amusing as a book (the charm of the Flashman series is that Flashman is always somehow involved in all of the major historical events of the latter part of the 19th century; think 'Forest Gump' with sex and fancy uniforms. 'The Prisoner of Zenda' has been done many times, so I can't think what the producers and directors were thinking of when they produced this, especially when they hoped that they be able to produce sequels! Extremely bad planning, and a waste of a lot of quite brilliant material! I can only hope that one day, another filming group will 'rediscover' Flashman and do the job properly! Are you listening Hollywood???

I am forced to cast my vote with those who regard this movie as a failure.

To me, the film fails on two counts. The first failure relates to the general approach. How in heaven's name did G. M. Fraser, the author of the wonderfully amusing black comedy novels about that magnificent anti-hero of anti-heroes, General Sir Harry Flashman, come to write such a feeble, would-be action comedy and lowly farcical screen adaptation for this movie?

The other failure, and vastly the worse of the two, is the utterly appalling miscasting of Malcolm McDowell as Harry Flashman. The Flashman of the books, a man who cheerfully admits to no virtues whatsoever, is widely admired as a staunch and true hero of Little Vickie's Empire entirely because he looks just like a hero ought to look. Malcolm McDowell most emphatically does not. He looks like ... well, Malcolm McDowell.

First-rate books, third-rate movie. Too bad and two stars.

This film is terrific fun and deserves wider recognition. Part period comedy, part swashbuckler, part slapstick, this film is wholeheartedly enjoyable. Malcolm McDowell is terrfic as the cowardly hero of the Afghan campaign who is reluctantly recruited to pose as a Prussian nobleman. Oliver Reed as Otto von Bismarck and Alan Bates as his Hungarian aide are also in top form. As for the ladies, Florinda Bolkan and Britt Ekland are not only luscious but add to the comic mayhem. My only quibble is Richard Lester's direction is not up to his usual high standards but, hey, you can't deliver "A Hard Day's Night" or "Petulia" every time out. Interestingly, this was a period of great productivity for Lester. During the space of a few years he delivered this film, "Juggernaut", and the two Musketeer films. "Royal Flash" definitely falls into the buried treasure category.

I'm glad that some viewers like it. I did too, and after finally seeing it after so many years of trying, I am surprised at the terrible rap the movie has acquired. What's really missing, something that lends weight to the novels, I think, is the voice of the older, wiser, brutally honest Harry. Otherwise, what's to criticize? Sexy women, swordfights, scenery, costumes. And there is one really great turn: Oliver Reed as Bismarck. He deserved his own miniseries.