''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 type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

, and the final on-screen performance of

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

. 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 () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

being led by

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

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, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

on behalf of the

Hearst Press Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

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 in 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 is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of 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 con ...

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, 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'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 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 ''FilmInk'' is an Australian film magazine published by FKP International Exports. It was founded by current publisher Dov Kornits and Colin Fraser in July 1997, in Sydney. The magazine has been through many changes over the course of its exist ...

'' 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 English-language adventure films