Short film starring and directed by Errol Flynn that should be a treat for his fans. Filmed in 1946 but not released for six years (!), the short basically follows Flynn on his yacht, the Zaca, as he takes his father and some scientists from the Scripps Institute out sailing, looking for specimens of marine life. It's all in color, shot on 16mm, and looks very nice despite not having been restored (at least not the version I saw on TCM). There's nice travelogue-type footage and footage of ocean wildlife, but I think the parts that are likely to appeal to most fans are the personal elements. There are some corny staged scenes, such as Flynn falling from a helicopter into the ocean trying to get a picture of a whale, but this type of stuff is harmless and even funny to me so I didn't mind. The entertainment value something like this will have today is limited to how much appeal Flynn has for you, I think. I'm a fan so I liked it. Seeing Flynn outside of a movie set, in his own element and interacting with "regular" people is interesting to me. It's not often you get to see Errol Flynn and his dad, after all.

This is "Cruise of the Zaca", an American documentary short film directed by and starring Errol Flynn, who is mostly known today for his Robin Hood film and was a big star back in the day. This film here is from the last decade of his life and the writer is Owen Crump, an Oscar nominee. Here Flynn tells us about an expedition by sea and all he encountered during the journey, be it humans, animals or just the nature in general. But I must say this film, which is a bit shorter than 20 minutes, had little to offer in terms of nature documentary value and this is the only area of the film I was somewhat interested in. It may be a good watch for Flynn fans to see one of his rare works behind the camera, but everybody else can definitely skip it. Nothing memorable to see here and I give it a thumbs down. Actually the scene where they were jumping around the animal on one occasions was pretty embarrassing.

Filmed in 1946-47 with more than one "cruise", this two-reeler's great Pacific and Caribbean scenery apes anything seen in other contemporary travelogues. Errol Flynn and marine biologist Pop obviously enjoyed all of this traveling and critter-collecting, highlighted with Flynn splashing with the California gray whales. Humorously, the love 'em & leave 'em Errol was separated from Nora Eddington by the time this short was released, so she appears on screen mostly as a "friend", with the study of smelly fish and crabs preventing any on-screen "romance" and a Garden Of Eden tour very chaste.There's little question that Warner Bros. put more gusto into their docu-shorts than most other studios. (Quick history lesson: Since about 1935, the popular success of MGM's Traveltalks and Paramount's Popular Science launched a boom in Hollywood "educational shorts". These were SO much cheaper to crank out than even the jazz band musicals, the only "entertainment" shorts Universal and Fox were making by this time, and could be shot in any color process for practically peanuts.) Warner's "Sports Parades" were often less "sports" and more National Geographic sight-seeing; this studio also made plenty of animal titles like "Smart As A Fox". Fittingly, after the "live-action short subjects" were phased out in 1957, this same studio took over four installments of the ever popular Bell Science series with Dr. Frank Baxter. Unfortunately, little was done with the print shown on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD DVD. Hopefully, Warner Home Video is gradually working on its impressive short subject collection and a "restored" Zaca will be made available, along with other hard-to-see travelogue curios like "Jungle Terror" and "Charlie McCarthy And Mortimer Snerd In Sweden".

I recently saw The Cruise of the Zaca on You Tube, and I must say it was quite interesting. This cinematic short subject gives the movie viewer a nostalgic look at the "real" Errol Flynn as opposed to the "reel" Errol Flynn. Generally speaking, I despise the term "comfortable in his own skin" but I must say that is exactly what Mr. Flynn is in this short film. One can't but help but see his love for the sea and adventure as he sails the seas with his father (Theodore Flynn) and former wife (Nora Eddington). The feature last about 20 minutes and some of the film subjects include a Gray Whale and a local native dance. It certainly is a credit for Flynn's fans to have the opportunity to see Flynn as the "real life" adventurer he was.