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Royal Flash

Wynter from , 18th August, 2009

'So, the last thing I have to tell you young fellows is this: play up and play the game, honour your queen and country, mind what your masters tell you, say your prayers each night, keep your minds and your bodies clean, take a cold bath each day, and you’ll find you can always look the world in the eye like an English gentleman.' …and so starts Royal Flash. Mirroring and roundly piercing the pomp of Patton (1970), Harry Flashman stands before a giant Union Jack addressing the boys of Rugby School (the very same institute he was ejected from in Tom Brown’s School Days) as a decorated war hero. Of course we soon learn that instead of guarding the flag at Piper’s Fort our hero was trying to give it way but then those are the kind of details best left unmentioned. First published in 1969, George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman took the villain of Thomas Hughes’ novel and thrust him head-first into the pages of history. Clashing with giants of the era such as Lord Cardigan, Flashman’s adventures see him take part in the First Angl0-Afghan War (in particular the disastrous Retreat from Kabul) and, despite showing utter cowardice and sheer rottery at every turn, return to England a popular hero and the toast of society. By 1975 a further four novels (an incredible number when you consider the research poured into each one) had offered up such diverse subjects as the Cawnpore Massacre, the Atlantic Slave Trade and the Charge of the Light Brigade but it was Royal Flash, published in 1970, with its historically infused take on The Prisoner of Zenda (Flashy himself would claim that Anthony Hope had plagiarised his life), that became the basis for the only screen outing of England’s finest anti-hero. Directed by Richard Lester and adapted by Fraser himself, it should come as no surprise to find that Royal Flash is identical in style to the pair’s previous collaborations, The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974). Just as those films’ mixture of knockabout comedy and contemporary sexual mores (i.e. plenty of bonking) dragged Dumas’ characters into the modern era, the same template proved just right for Flashy and presents a world only one step further into parody than Tony Richardson’s masterpiece The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) (incidentally, in his book The Hollywood History of the World, Fraser condemns Richardson’s film for blackening the name of historical persons via imagined adulteries). Like its predecessors, Royal Flash also contains numerous sword fights and stunts as well as luscious art direction, impressive vistas and a steady enough directorial touch to carry off both tiny, but perfectly pitched, character moments and laugh out loud sight gags. Okay, so there are some missteps (Malcolm McDowell’s Flashman is truly unpleasant until he finds himself in real danger and Lester’s less subtle comedy leanings sometimes irritate) but luckily such distractions disappear around the twenty minute mark when the story really gets going. Alongside McDowell, the likes of Oliver Reed, Alan Bates, Britt Ekland and Joss Ackland give it their best, whilst one time ‘future stars’ of British TV fill out the rest of the cast giving the film a feeling of both past and present, a celebration and mockery of all that is ’stiff upper lip’ British. Royal Flash is a fine film that seems to have slipped through the cracks somewhat. I know quite a few people who read the Flashman books but even some of the more dedicated fans seem surprised when a film is mentioned… the funny thing is that Royal Flash isn’t even one of the best of the series. Flashman has crossed the globe and met, fought and stood beside the very best and worst people of the time… come on BBC and ITV you’ve got the bonnets and britches why not give Toby Stephens a call? Go on, you know you want to. Heck, maybe they are worried that stories about wasting British lives in Afghanistan have no relevance…

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