Flynn's life has never been successfully dramatised. This is the attempt of writer John Lonie and director Michael Carson.
Who is the blonde young thing in 1950 Jamaica when we meet Errol (played by Terry Donovan) about to flash back? Is it meant to be Beverly Aadland? But she didn't come along until 1958.
It seems to be full of historical errors. Like he went to New Guinea
several times, some on his own boat; there's no mention of his writing;
the New Guinea adventures are compressed. Was this how he got cast in Bounty - by pretending to be someone else.
Interesting cast - Chris Stollery plays young Errol, Nell Schofield from Puberty Blues is his fiancee Scott, Timothy Conigrave whose life was immortalised in Holding the Man is Flynn's friend Cooper-Smith, Janette Cronin is a friend of Scott, Rhys McConnochie is Scotty's dad.
The plot concerns Flynn's engagement to Scotty, him taking off to New Guinea and having adventures, then coming home and being cast in In the Wake of the Bounty.
You never get the sense that Flynn likes Scotty so it's hard to care about their relationship. What's the point of Flynn and his mate Cooper-Smith? He's just there for exposition, really.They avoid a lot of drama. We don't meet Flynn's parents (surely that would be more interesting). Or Hans Erben. They do have Flynn arrested in New Guinea. That's something.
I enjoyed the New Guinea sequences, and liked seeing depictions of Charles and Elsa Chauvel (unbilled) and the recreation of In the Wake of the Bounty. Production values are very high.
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