''Cuban Rebel Girls'' or ''Assault of the Cuban Rebel Girls'' is a 1959 semi-dramatic documentary

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

, and the final on-screen performance of

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

. He stars with his underage girlfriend,

Beverly Aadland Beverly Elaine Aadland (September 16, 1942 – January 5, 2010) was an American film actress. She appeared in films including '' South Pacific''. As a teenager, she co-starred in the Errol Flynn film'' Cuban Rebel Girls'', and had a relationsh ...

. The script was written and narrated by Flynn, who was sympathetic to the

Cuban revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...

being led by

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

in its early phase. In his memoir Flynn called it "an interesting side venture... I spent many days with Fidel just before the Batistans quit."

Plot

Errol Flynn arrives in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

on behalf of the

Hearst Press Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televis ...

to do a series of articles on the revolution of Fidel Castro. He notices some changes in Cuba caused by the rebellion. He checks into a hotel and is contacted by one of Castro's agents, a female, who takes him to a beach resort. He meets a young man who offers to take Errol behind the lines to meet Castro. Flynn flies his own plane, meets the rebels, and files several articles, including one of the Cuban Rebel Girls. The movie then goes into the story of two American girls, Beverly and her friend, Jacqueline, whose brother Johnny (Beverly's boyfriend) is fighting for Castro in Cuba. The two girls decide to visit Cuba. They take $50,000 raised by American friends of the revolution to be used to buy guns. They visit

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

and then fly to Cuba. They join the revolution with the soldiers of Castros army and go on rebel attacks where Beverly gets with her boyfriend, who is shot on one of the raids and left behind. After being captured the girls reunite with Johnny at the victory parade in Havana and Errol Flynn closes the film with a short speech on the bravery of the rebels.

Cast

as Himself *

as Beverly Woods *John McKay as Johnny Wilson *Jackie Jackler as Jacqueline Dominguez *Marie Edmund as Maria Rodriguez *Ben Ostrowsky as Raoul 'Ben' Dominguez *Reynerio Sanchez *Andrés Fernández *Esther Oliva *Tod Scott Brody *Allen Baron *Clelle Mahon *Ramon Ramierez

Production notes

* Also known as ''Assault of the Rebel Girls''. * In opening credits: "Our thanks to the New Army of Cuba, whose help in creating this picture was invaluable." *After making the film, Beverly Aadland got into a brawl with Flynn's second wife,

Nora Eddington Nora Eddington (February 25, 1924 – April 10, 2001) was an American actress and socialite. She was best known as the second wife of actor Errol Flynn. Eddington appeared in several minor film roles. Background and early life Born in Chi ...

, at Aadland's birthday party in a night club. Nora later said this was because she took exception to Aadland referring to Flynn as "elderly".

Release

Rights to the movie were bought by Joseph Brenner Associates. Brenner described the film as "an authentic and non political background drama."

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said "Flynn and his associates provide little that is entertaining, artistic, or informative in this largely static, jerry-built independently made adventure ... Mr Flynn cannot be blamed for giving the appearance of being very, very tired throughout these phlegmatic proceedings." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said the:

Only interest this picture could possibly have is that is happens to be the last performance by the late Errol Flynn before the movie camera. That, and the fact that it gives the public a chance to see Beverly Aadland for the first time. Both are disappointing ... The storyline is weak and poor direction and editing merely add to the confusion. The remainder of the cast is inconsequential and their acting, if it can be called that, is on a par with the over-all production, which is uniformly bad. It is a sad ending to one of the most flamboyant actors of our times.

'' FilmInk'' magazine wrote that the film "compels interest mostly by virtue of showing Aadland in a lead role, Flynn on death's door, and the weirdness of such a pro-Castro film (even though he wasn’t a confirmed commie then) coming from a Hollywood movie star."

References

*Flynn, E. ''My Wicked, Wicked Ways.'' G.P. Putnam's Sons 1959, Pan Books 1961 in association with William Heinemann Ltd, 5th Printing 1979. *Thomas, T., Behlmer, R. & McCarty, C. ''The Films of Errol Flynn.'' Citadel Press. 1969.

External links

* *{{TCMDb title, 493047
Review of film
at ''The New York Times''

1959 films 1950s English-language films Ethnofiction films 1959 adventure films Films shot in Cuba Works about the Cuban Revolution Films about the Cuban Revolution American docufiction films Cuban Revolution in fiction 1950s American films