Into the West: Errol and Cuddles Tame a Town "full of men who look as if they'd step on baby chickens"

Errol Flynn was on the downside of his movie career when Warner Bros. put him back in the saddle again for 1945’s San Antonio. There was a time when scriptwriters tried to explain Flynn’s accent when he was cast in a Western. In Dodge City, he played an Irish soldier of fortune who journeyed to the American West. By 1945, though, he had already starred in four previous Westerns, so no explanation was required. It’s really a nod to Flynn’s versatility and charisma that he could attract audiences in swashbucklers, war films, Westerns, comedies, and even the occasional serious fare (e.g., That Forsyte Woman).

San Antonio is a mid-tier Warner Bros. effort that benefits from a solid cast, sturdy production values, and a splash of Technicolor. Still, it’s obvious that it was never intended to be a blockbuster Western in the mold of the studio’s earlier Dodge City and They Died With Their Boots On. In fact, the main theme is the same one composed by Max Steiner for Dodge. The screenplay, penned by Alan LeMay and W.R. Burnett, lacks originality and can’t supporting the film’s running time of 111 minutes.

Set in 1877, San Antonio opens with Charley Bates (John Litel) tracking his good friend, Clay Hardin (Flynn) to Mexico. Hardin left Texas after a gang of baddies burned his ranch, stole his cattle, shot him, and left him for dead. Rather than wallow in his misfortune, Hardin has sought out a tally book that links wealthy Roy Stuart (Paul Kelly) to the large-scale cattle rustling scheme. He returns to San Antonio to expose Stuart. Along the way, he meets a singer (Alexis Smith) and her entourage (Florence Bates and S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall).

Admittedly, there are some bright spots in San Antonio. Alexis gets to warble the Oscar-nominated “Some Sunday Morning” in a saloon musical number. Part of the climatic gunfight takes place at night, in the shadows of the Alamo (the film was shot at Warners’ Calabasas Ranch near Burbank). Indeed, the interior sets, which also earned an Oscar nomination, pop out in vibrant color. It’s interesting, too, to have two villains (Kelly and Victor Francen) who try to get the goods on each other while keeping an eye on Flynn.

However, the film’s overall entertainment value hinges on its cast and they prove most capable. Errol and Alexis don’t generate a lot of sparks, but they exhibit a natural rapport which probably accounts for why they were paired so often (their best film being Gentleman Jim). Cuddles Sakall and Florence Bates are in top form in supporting roles played mostly for laughs. In a stagecoach scene with Alex and Errol, they have the following exchange when Florence—anxious to get Alexis married—inquires about the marital status of Errol’s character.

Cuddles (to Florence): “You were very rude. He wouldn’t marry you anyway.”

Florence: “I wasn’t asking for myself.”

Cuddles: “Don’t ask him for me either.”

It’s the kind of silly exchange that only Cuddles Sakall could make genuinely funny with his unique way of delivering dialogue. He and Errol teamed again for the following year’s entertaining comedy Never Say Goodbye with Eleanor Parker.

After San Antonio, Errol Flynn made three more Westerns. Montana reteamed him with Alexis Smith and Cuddles Sakall, but was a low-key affair. His leading lady in Rocky Mountain, Patrice Wymore, became his third and final wife. The most interesting of the trio was Silver River, which provided Errol with a juicy role as an unlikable silver mine owner in an offbeat variation of David and Bathsheba.

(Both Cuddles and Florence Bates have been profiled as Underrated Performers of the Week at the Cafe. Click on their underlined names to read the tributes to them.)

12 Days of Christmas: Barbara Stanwyck Hosts a Christmas in Connecticut

Happily married housewife,

Mother of one precious baby,

Loves to cook with a passion

In a beautiful Connecticut farmhouse

Author of Smart Housekeeping column

The above profile of Elizabeth Lane, smartly played by Barbara Stanwyck, sounds pretty awesome. Yet the only elements of truth are contained in the last line and even this is fraught with lies because every recipe published in Lane’s column is taken from her friend, professional chef Felix Bassenak, delightfully portrayed by S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakall.

The problem with building an existence on deception is that it can catch up to you at the most inopportune moment. For Lane, this happens when the magazine owner decides that she should play hostess to both a war hero and himself for Christmas in her fantastic farmhouse, with her fabulous family, and delectable dining.

The comedy of errors begins with a frenzy here! The hero, Jefferson Jones, played by Dennis Morgan, turns out to be a handsome and caring young man who finds himself attracted to what he thinks is a married woman with a young baby while Lane is equally smitten with Jones.

Some humorous scenes include when different babies are dropped off at the farmhouse to pass for Lane’s made-up child, one a blonde boy and the other a brunette girl. There are a number of attempts at a marriage between Lane and John Sloane (Reginald Gardiner)--a fellow who does care for her, is hosting the farce at his Connecticut farm, and is acting as the husband/father--but something always interrupts the effort.

Barbara Stanwyck is quite fun in this role, though it bears a strong resemblance to her work as Ann Mitchell, in Capra’s Meet John Doe. Christmas in Connecticut ends predictably but fans would expect and want nothing less.

Again, this movie was disastrously remade in 1992 and is reported to being remade even as I write, this time with Jennifer Garner.

Everything Hunky Dunky: "Cuddles" Sakall is the Underrated Performer of the Week!

Carl, the head waiter in Casablanca. Restaurant owner and master chef Felix in Christmas in Connecticut. Music store owner Otto Oberkugen in In the Good Old Summertime. S.Z. Sakall amassed an impressive resume of supporting roles during his brief 15-year stint in Hollywood.

He was born Eugene Gero Szakall in Budapest in 1884. When he went into acting, he took the stage name Szoke Szakall and starred in a string successful Eurpean musicals and comedies. He left for the U.S. at the outbreak of World War II. All three of his sisters died in Nazi concentration camps.

He made his Hollywood debut as S.Z. Sakall in the Deanna Durbin-Kay Francis musical It's a Date. He quickly gained attention for his supporting roles in The Devil and Miss Jones (as Charles Coburn's butler), Ball of Fire (as one Gary Cooper's fellow scholars), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (as the naive backer of one of George M. Cohen shows). He was 59 when he played Carl in Casablanca, a role he almost turned down.

In The Film Encyclopedia, Ephraim Katz wrote of Sakall: "Fractured English, flabby jowls, and an excitable personality were his stock-in-trade in a long list of endearing portrayals." That endearing quality earned him the nickname "Cuddles" and, by 1945, he was sometimes billed on screen as S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall.

Sakall appeared in three films with Errol Flynn: the Westerns San Antonio and Montana and the comedy Never Say Goodbye (one of my favorites among his films). He played three characters named Felix (Christmas in Connecticut, My Dream Is Yours, and Painting the Clouds with Sunshine). For me, his finest hour was as Barbara Stanwyck's befuddled friend and "ghost cook" in Christmas in Connecticut, who announces "catatroph!" when things are bad and "everything hunky dunky" when they're good.

S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall's last film was an adaptation of the operetta The Student Prince in 1954. He died of a heart attack the following year.