Royal Flash

Over the past few months, I've become a huge fan of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman novels, a wonderful collection of comic historical epics, with loveable, cowardly rogue Harry Flashman cutting, conspiring and cowering his way from one end of the 19th Century world to another. This being spring break, it was only natural that I deign to view Richard Lester's adaptation of Royal Flash (1975), Flashy's only screen endeavour to date.

My reaction is mixed. As a standalone film, it's well-made and very entertaining. As an adaptation of Flashman, however, it's more problematic. I suppose that the uninitiated layman will get more out of it than Flashy fanatics, as it does scant justice to our favorite anti-hero.

Captain Harry Flashman (Malcolm McDowell) is a freshly-minted hero after word of his exploits in Afghanistan reaches England. Flashman spends his time boozing, gambling and whoring, running afoul of German Count Otto Von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) and the seductress Lola Montez (Florinda Bolkan). Flashy begins a passionate affair with Lola, but after embarrassing her, he's summoned to Bavaria for a twisted revenge. Bismarck's goons - including Rudi Von Sternberg (Alan Bates) - kidnap Flashman and force him to pose as the prince of a small German duchy, marrying the beautiful but frigid Duchess (Britt Ekland), as part of Bismarck's plans to unite Germany. Things don't go according to plan, and Flashy finds himself fending off Bismarck's henchmen and a gang of anti-German separatists.

Royal Flash is one of the weaker Flashman novels, its plot a plain steal from The Prisoner of Zenda: its main appeal for a filmmaker is the lack of huge battle scenes that mark the other installments. Richard Lester worked with Fraser on the hugely successful Three Musketeers films, and Royal Flash features those films' mixture of broad, bawdy humor and swashbuckling action. To Lester's credit, it must be said the film is entertaining and often funny. As an adaptation of Flashman, however, it leaves a lot to be desired.

The novels deftly mix Flashman's biting, self-deprecating narration with his heroic posture, and the books' appeal is largely based on such. Little of this comes through in the film, which is sorely missing a narration track: only the opening, where Flashman's old school mate (Michael Hordern) speaks of Flashman's heroism over a flashback, approaches this, and we're left with a frustratingly one-dimensional character. Flashman's gormless wife Elspeth gets only a passing mention, and the biting wit of the novels is replaced with bawdy slapstick, with the historical context largely glossed over. The result is disappointing; the movie is funny enough in its own way, but it's much more Lester than Fraser.

Still, Lester marshalls the production well. The swordfights and battle scenes are deftly staged, both exciting and funny, particularly the final showdown between Flashy and Rudy. The movie's erratic pace is a bit hard to swallow, but otherwise it has few technical flaws. There's a lot of nice location work and sumptuous art direction to boot, though the movie betrays a fairly limited budget in its crowd scenes. Ken Thorne delivers a lively score with a fun mixture of original music and period tunes.

Malcolm McDowell is less-than-ideal casting as Flashman. Besides looking nothing like the novel's physical ideal of Victorian manhood, without the novel's narration McDowell merely comes off as a vulgar cad, lacking the dashing aspects and wit necessary for the part. The supporting cast is generally fine. Oliver Reed (Gladiator) and Alan Bates (Gosford Park) are a fine dastardly duo, Florinda Balkin is wonderfully seductive, and Alistair Sim (The Ruling Class), Michael Hordern (Where Eagles Dare) and Lionel Jeffreys (The Nun's Story) have amusing cameos. Britt Ekland (The Wicker Man) is badly wasted in a glorified bit part. Bob Hoskins (Nixon) has a walk-on early in the film.

Again, I doubt people with little or no familiarity with Flashman will take issue with Royal Flash; it's a fun, if lightweight, movie on its own terms, and it's a decent enough way to pass 103 minutes. Still, we can hope that a more faithful film maker could still take up the Flashman mantle.