Errol Flynn Movies

Want to know the best Errol Flynn movies?  How about the worst Errol Flynn movies?  Curious about Errol Flynn’s box office grosses or which Errol Flynn movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Errol Flynn movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place.

Even though I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable movie buff, I knew very little about Errol Flynn before researching and writing this page. I basically knew two facts about Errol Flynn. One, he is the most famous Robin Hood of all-time and two, he made some pirate movies.

After a month of reading numerous books, checking out websites and watching a few documentaries on him, I am now much more familiar with the life and career of Errol Flynn. I would highly recommend checking out the Errol Flynn Blog for even more information on the life and times of Errol Flynn….just follow this link….The Errol Flynn Blog.

Errol Flynn (1909-1959) was born in Tasmania. As a child he used to play with a wooden sword that his parents told him had belonged to Fletcher Christian. Many times he would play on his grandfather’s boat…acting out Douglas Fairbanks pirate movies. This training would come in handy when he turned his attention to acting. He would appear in his first film when he was 24. By the time he was 26 he had already secured his first starring role in a big budget movie, Captain Blood. Captain Blood was a huge success and turned Flynn into a star. At 28 he turned into a superstar with his performance as Robin Hood in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood.

From 1935 to 1950 Flynn was one of the most successful actors in Hollywood. However his “playboy lifestyle” began to catch up with him. Starting around 1950 his movie career started to stall as his off screen lifestyle started to impact his health. He would regularly smoke at least a pack of cigarettes a day and drank heavily. Problems with his liver and heart eventually led to a fatal heart attack in 1959.  Errol Flynn has 64 acting credits from 1933-1959. In the table below Ultimate Movie Rankings ranks 50 of his movies in 7 different sortable columns.  Television roles, cameos, and shorts were not included in the rankings.

Errol Flynn in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn in 1938’s The Adventures of Robin Hood

Errol Flynn Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Errol Flynn Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Errol Flynn movies by co-stars of her movies
  • Sort Errol Flynn movies by adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Errol Flynn movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)… **** If the domestic totals are the same as the worldwide totals…then worldwide totals are unknown
  • Sort Errol Flynn movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Errol Flynn movie received.
  • Sort Errol Flynn movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Blue link in Co-star column takes you to that star’s UMR movie page
Henry Daniell and Errol Flynn in 1940's The Sea Hawk
Henry Daniell and Errol Flynn in 1940’s The Sea Hawk

10 Possibly Interesting Facts About Errol Flynn

1. Errol Flynn was the first actor to play Fletcher Christian in a film that had sound. He played Christian in 1933’s The Wake of the Bounty…..later Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson would play the same part.

2. Errol Flynn and the Perry Mason connection. One of his first Hollywood movies was The Case of the Curious Bride…which was one of the first ever Perry Mason movies. Flynn got to play the corpse. Later Flynn would co-star with Raymond Burr in Mara Maru….Burr would later go on to fame playing Perry Mason on the television series.

3. Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland were one of the screen’s most popular couples. They would appear in 9 movies together from 1935 to 1943. Olivia de Havilland is still very much alive as she approaches the century mark.

4. Errol Flynn was married 3 times in his life. His first marriage to Lila Damita produced a son named Sean. His second marriage to Nora Eddington produced two daughters named Deirdre and Rory. His final marriage to Patrice Wymore produced one daughter named Arnella.

5. His son Sean, followed in his dad’s footsteps and has 10 IMDB credits to his name. His most famous movie role was in The Son Of Captain Blood (1962). The Son of Captain Blood was a sequel to the movie that made Errol Flynn famous, Captain Blood(1935). Later Sean Flynn turned towards a career as a freelance photojournalist. Sadly, Sean Flynn went missing while on assignment in Cambodia in 1970.

6. The saying …”In Like Flynn” became popular when Flynn was tried for statutory rape in 1942 but was acquitted….during the very high profile case, comedians of the day started to use the saying and it caught on.

7. His drinking was legendary.…he would inject oranges with vodka and eat them during his breaks so no one would know he was drinking on the set….during a play in the late 1950s his assistant would stage alcohol throughout the set, so Flynn could drink while performing.

8. Errol Flynn and Alan Hale Sr. (one of my favorite character actors) appeared in 11 movies together. Alan Hale Sr. was the father of Alan Hale Jr….better known as The Skipper on Gilligan’s Island.

9. The movie My Favorite Year is based on Mel Brooks’ encounter with Flynn on a television show in the 1950s….in that movie Peter O’Toole played the Flynn character. Also Jude Law portrayed Errol Flynn in The Aviator.

10. Check out Errol Flynn’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Steve’s Epic Errol Flynn You Tube Video

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143 thoughts on “Errol Flynn Movies”

  1. ISTANBUL has always received a bum/bad rap only because practically nobody has seen this TECNICOLOR-CINEMASCOPE (Flynn only made 5 in wide-screen!) Romance , which has a sober Errol Flynn in his 1957 ‘comeback’ flick; and ditto with THE BIG BOODLE (FILMED IN CUBA before CUBAN REBEL GIRLS). As for the rest of those last films, he was well into his cup–and so what?! He was fine -especially in THE ROOTS OF HEAVEN-; however a lot of his footage did not survive the final cut. SHAME ON UNIVERSAL–for not having released ISTANBUL to DVD! His other UNIVERSAL– AGAINST ALL FLAGS– has been out there quite awhile! ISTANBUL is a lot of fun. ALSO, it co-stars NAT ‘KING ‘COLE, who sings 2 great songs. ISTANBUL , along with THE PERFECT SPECIMAN are the ONLY ERROL FLYNN MOVIES NOT YET RELEASED TO HOME VIDEO!!!

    Reply

    1. Hey Steven. Great comment on Errol Flynn. I agree he is excellent in The Roots of Heaven…..he even generated some Oscar buzz for that performance. I also agree about Istanbul. The studio should get that movie out there. I have discovered that Flynn has a very active fan base. That fan base has turned this page into one of our most popular pages. So I can see a movie like Istanbul would sell some copies. I hope that movie and The Perfect Speciman make it to home entertainment in the near future. Good stuff….and it is greatly appreciated.

      Reply

  2. Good rankings.I always liked “Montana” and “Objective Burma” as well high up there.Rumor has it,Errol’s father caught him as a child,experimenting with ducks.He heard Ducks and geese have rare trait with inability to digest fatty pork.It was said it runs right through their system instantly.Well Flynns father comes out one morning,here Young Flynn has 8-10 strung together,mouth to anus..There he sat with greased string,feeding each fatty pork tied to a string,in ones mouth,out and in the next.lol.The manner I read it,I cried out laughing.Must of been a comical character.

    Reply

    1. Hey Talden a unique and strange Flynn story. The things kids do. Sounds like maybe Flynn is the origin of the gruesome movie The Human Centapede. Glad you like our Flynn rankings.

      Reply

  3. Just added Steve’s Errol Flynn Video to the page….also included my comment on his “flawed” rankings…lol.

    “Very cool….another legend getting an expanded video. I watched a ton of his movies during a 30 day time period….it was fun…but years later….the movie titles get mixed up in my “me little brain”. So my totals might not be 100% correct. Of the 50 listed…I have seen 18 of the movies or 36%. Favorites include #1 Robin Hood (of course) #2 The Sea Hawk and #3 Captain Blood. I really think Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk were heavy influences on POTC:The Black Pearl……plus you get an Orlando Bloom looking like a young Flynn. Looking at the Top 4….you and I agree on the Top 4…..now that does not happen much. Aweseome update…..liked and shared.”

    Reply

    1. Thanks for taking time to check out my Errol Flynn video Bruce, my dad was a big fan of this actor, Tyrone Power too. 18 out of 50 not too bad, my tally was 24 and Flora leads with 31. Yeah those pirate movies were a huge influence, so was Ty Power’s The Black Swan. Good that we have a nearly similar top 5, it does happen some time. Thanks for the comment, vote and share, always appreciated.

      Reply

      1. No problem….and now your video has a home on our Flynn page. As for us having the same Top 4…..all I can say is ….about time you got it right….lol.

        Reply

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