The Story of William Tell

Errol Flynn is mostly remembered for his role in The Adventures of Robin Hood. 15 years later, his "wicked wicked ways" had finally taken their toll: he had become an alcoholic and his looks were fading rapidly. According to Maureen O'Hara who worked with him on Against All Flags, he had to inject booze in oranges because the director forbade drinking on the set.
Flynn also broke his ankle during the shoot and on the next film, he collapsed and doctors announced he would die right there. Miraculously, he survived. But he ended his contract with Warner Brothers after a falling out with Jack Warner. He stayed in Europe, and decided to put all his money into an independent production which he would co-produce with Italian funds.
He asked famous cinematographer Jack Cardiff who had worked on his last film if he would take his first directing job and surrounded himself with friends like actor Bruce Cabot (whom you may remember from King Kong) who happened to be without a job at the time.

Jack Cardiff & Errol Flynn

The film would be The Story of William Tell, in which, once again, Errol would wear his famous tights, Orson Welles and Gina Lollobrigida would co-star. Cinecitta was briefly considered but an entire village was built in Courmayeur, in the Italian Aoste valley.

Soon, Orson Welles left the project, and Gina Lollobridgida was replaced by Antonella Lualdi (A then-unknown Sophia Loren tested for the part but was rejected by Flynn). On June 14, 1953, shooting began on the troubled production. The new Cinemascope format had been licensed from 20th Century Fox and the film would be in color.
Unexpectedly, 2 months into the production, the Italian producers bluntly announced that they had no intention of honoring their part of the contract. Cardiff and the crew went right on filming without salary for another six weeks, trusting Flynn to find another backer. Unfortunately, Flynn was ruined, and he found out that the man who handled his affairs in the USA had made debts in his name before he died.

As if this betrayal wasn't enough, his friend Bruce Cabot left and sent his lawyers to Flynn for failure to pay him for his performance in the film. They seized all of his assets down to his wife and kid's clothes.
About 30 minutes of the script were apparently shot and the footage survives although only brief segments were ever shown with some of Jack Cardiff's behind the scene color footage.
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That's all for today folks!