Olivia DeHavilland

[6] In 18th century Italy, an orphan boy comes of age with the help of nuns and a kindly mentor, falls in love, gets embroiled in the slave trade, and fights for his inheritance in this adaptation of Hervey Allen’s sprawling novel. Anthony Adverse looks and sounds great, with immense sets, period costumes, and a rich score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Some of the supporting …

[6] Olivia de Havilland won her first Oscar for this sudsy soap opera about a woman who gives up her infant son and spends the rest of her life trying to reconnect with him. The melodrama may be an acquired taste, but no one can steal audience sympathy better than de Havilland. I went with it, happy ending and all. In a neat (and slightly …

[7] Errol Flynn plays General George Custer in this romantic (though not very historically accurate) panache of the accomplished Civil War general who met a celebrated fate at Little Big Horn. Despite the liberties taken in the script, it’s a fun mini-epic of a movie with a lot to offer the Gone with the Wind crowd. Flynn gives one of his better performances here, opposite Olivia …

[8] Warner Brothers caught lightning in a bottle when they took a chance on a relatively unknown Tazmanian actor and cast Errol Flynn as Peter Blood in the Oscar-nominated crowd pleaser Captain Blood. Flynn became an instant star with his magnetic performance as an English physician forced into slavery, who would later lead a band of fellow slaves to piracy on the high seas. Captain …