Ah, Captain Blood. Swords, sand, and piratical shenanigans. Let's do this. The Fight Master Vol 1 Issue 1: mds.marshall.e... Buy my book: books2read.com/juststabmenow (or try your local Amazon/bookstore)
Welcome in! If you’d like to buy my book it’s on Amazon, on books2read.com/juststabmenow or (probably) available to order in your local bookshop. In the meantime, enjoy some swashbuckling shenanigans ⚔️ (And if you enjoyed the Yes, Minister reference, then you are especially welcome 😂)
Hi, asking again if you have seen the Japanese movie Uzumasa Limelight? I think you would like it. It is about an old Japanese stuntman, who specializes dying in swordfights, teaching a young actress to perfom swordfights, and the changing times in the film indrustry. You can find it on RU-vid if you haven't watched it yet
it just occurred to me that this book production was close to backwards. the promotion came before the writing, and the becoming an international bestseller came before the release.
And incited a bunch of fan fiction before it was ever a book! And I love the chaotic nature it came about so much. Jill deserves every success from it and I’m so glad thousands of us agree.
Hi, I'm one of those HEMA bros. A note for the rest of the HEMA bros. Yeah we could score on Jill, but she could choreograph a stage performance that two TRAINED (ya know, people who work hard at their craft?) actor-combatants could perform off written notation without mistakenly putting a feder in somebody's eye-socket. Different skillsets, just accept it and stop competing with people on the internet who don't share your arena.
I also do armoured medieval combat and a couple other other martial arts, and I have the highest respect for stage combatants. I've done enough dance and attempted enough katas to realize I am TERRIBLE at being choreographed. It's competely different skills than actual combat, and though most of my medieval combat is done for an audience (we're a relatively small group and we haven't figred out how to "score" matches without people gaming the system and sniping for hits that might not make sense in a real fight, so we let the audience decide if it's not evident to the combatants and the marshall), something choreographed would probably be a better show than us just trying to smash each other around. How to fight and potentially hurt people is a COMPLETELY different set of skills from how to fight and NOT hurt people. Doing a two-person kata with boken (wooden pactice swords) on the mats in the dojo is far more terrifying to me than going up against someone twice my size while I'm protected by my armour if I zig instead of zag because I'm trying to remember to do THE thing instead of just reacting and doing A thing.
I did a bit of amateur stage stuff (Renn fair shows, mostly) and one of the big things our instructor/manager taught was "telegraphing." You always did your best to telegraph the next move so your stage partner would know where you were going next. In a HEMA fight, this would get you chewed to pieces because your opponent would be able to read your moves and counter. HEMA and Stage Combat are not the same beast, and if you mistake the actor for a real fighter, then they've pulled off the illusion well.
I have fenced on sand after being accustom to fencing on grass and hardwood. My calves burned for a week afterwards. I totally respect the "I hate sand" stance.
I only recently noticed that the good-guy/bad-guy etiquette in these movies is almost the complete opposite of what we have now. The good guy always looks smiley and unruffled, and the bad guy is frowny and menacing. Nowdays, the smiley one in a fight is likely to be the mentally unbalanced villain, and the frowny one is the good guy, who takes the violence seriously while not caring for it much. And yet again, I'm surprised both by how much of a hottie Rathbone was, and how little I realized it before now. Although to be fair, no one looks sexy in a deerstalker cap. BTW, I'd take your lizard brain over most people's sworn testimonials. It's pretty trustworthy in this case.
@@NemisCassander I'm not sure ... I can read it both ways. Either it's the antihero thing or else they're trying to show that, while the hero is prepared to engage in violence, they don't enjoy it.
Hey now, that was awfully well-said! And I agree about Basil Rathbone, looks like he was about 43 when the movie came out, the breeze in his hair did a lot for him. Basically an athlete as well.
“Became pirates, because what else can you do?” An excellent question. I ask myself that all the time. And I don’t think a lizard brain could write Just Stab Me Now. But just for science, why don’t we do another experiment? 😂
@ErnestLordGoring Well said! I seconded you by trying to open her eyes to the possibility of saving up for her own ANGEL INTERCEPTOR...which may well take more than one additional experiment!
'Lizard brain' is actually a common colloquial term referring to one's instincts or primal feelings. Used as though people have several 'brains' or manners of thinking. Big brain=complex logic / Monkey Brain=short term gratification / Lizard brain=Run or Eat
@@classicslover Hello Classic! Yes, I suspect she’d have to challenge Brandon Sanderson to afford an Angel Interceptor. *However*, a sequel would probably raise enough to buy Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward’s Rolls Royce…
@ErnestLordGoring Excellent idea!!! I could see Jill in that!!! = ) Trying to guess how many people are wondering what the heck we are talking about. =)
A quote from David Niven I would be shocked if you don't know. "You always knew where you were with Errol Flynn. He'd always let you down". Long live your "vibe".
In the great movie "My Favorite Year", Peter O'Toole, who plays a Flynnesque character, Alan Swann, riffs off this when he tells the protagonist-Mark Linn-Baker, "You know what they say-'You can count on Alan Swann, he will always let you down'."
@@tonyjanney1654 I met Mark Lynn-Baker. He was washing pots and pans in the Yale Law School dinning hall. Even then, he said he was going to make it in Hollywood.
Interesting. I read Nivens’ “Bring on the Empty Horses”. He devoted an entire chapter to Flynn, even made the end note about him. He certainly didn’t gloss over his alcoholism or penchant for young girls, but other than that, it seemed from Nivens’ view that they were great friends.
Listening to Peter Blood try and explain why he bought Arabella was…even more awkward than the bit where she tried to explain why she bought him 🤣 It’s not even a played straight “miscommunication” because they KNOW they’re messing it up, they just don’t know how to fix it.
Today I Learned: I wouldn't mind being almost hit by Jill... Mostly because it means I have found acting work somewhere and now could call myself an actor
Jill uses a great maximum flex by sponsoring her own video with her own book - very well done young lady - so far I have only brought two copies of the book and I am looking forward to her selling the film and TV rights - it would be great if her hard work paid off so much it paid for her house.
@@LaMarcheFutilé101 I don't think people would take you seriously with that name. ... and people underestimate Piratical Shenanigans at their peril! Bwahahaaaa!!! ☠
It is the mark of a kind author to say “do this free thing, and if you didn’t like it, don’t buy my book.” Thank you. …for my part, I did enjoy, and I did purchase. And i enjoyed your book very much, even though i am not usually a reader of romance.
I was on the beach this morning. Walking is difficult enough. I was thinking to myself that doing martial arts forms on it would be grueling, but rewarding. I can't imagine how difficult a fencing duel would be. Sand , as you said, is unrelenting.
Having spent many holidays on beaches as a kid, and later some kenjutsu training on sand, it burns your legs out incredibly fast. It's not for the faint hearted at all.
@@shenencalhar I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, primarily due to my soft spot for Maureen O'Hara in action movies, and thoroughly enjoyed it
the way I tackled with Glee when I saw that little snippet from Yes Minister. it's nice to him not the only person who likes to watch strange BBC comedy
Alright - now it is time to review the films and sword fights of Douglas Fairbanks - the man who originated the Hollywood action hero and the popular sense of the swashbuckler. And he was a man gifted with genuine grace.
This movie isn't the pure cheese of the Sea Hawk or the Adventures of Don Juan, but it's still some fine cheese, and I love it. Thanks for tackling it!
Errol Flynn was an overindulgent drinker & a horndog toward women. There was an expression, in that time, “in like Flynn”. It is clear that he & Olivia de Havilland had a long term relationship. When she spoke of him in later life, died in 2020 at age 104, it was with affection.
You really have to do 1940's "The Sea Hawk." While Flynn still doesn't fence as well as Rathbone or Power, he has improved since his earlier films. And The Sea Hawk is arguably his best swashbuckler film And he's less swarmy. (Opinion.) It's based loosely (very loosely!) on another Sabatini novel, "The Sea Hawk." Actually the only thing they kept from the Sabatini novel was the title... main character is changed from out and out pirate to a privateer for Elizabeth I. And Basil isn't in it...Flynn's two major fencing foes are a young Gilbert Roland (a really good actor) and a somewhat older Henry Daniell. But the choreography is splendid...and there's more Korngold music so the movie is worthwhile regardless of the story. Oh, and Flora Robson plays Elizabeth to perfection. And there's a monkey...how can you go wrong?
And my wife loved it so much for our wedding she and her professional seamstress sisters designed Elizabethan Court dresses (patterns from scratch) with her in pearl encrusted French silk (two trains, one 18 feet long for the wedding and one 3 feet long for the after ceremony dancing) and three ladies-in-waiting bridesmaids in Black, Purple and Royal Blue velvet and embroidery. Males in White Tie and Tails (I got to wear my medals!) and off to honeymoon. Six days short of nine months later our first son was born...and Christened "Geoffrey" after Flynn's character, Geoffrey Thorpe. (My wife adored Errol Flynn...vibes!)
There is an attack in Italian style foil fencing called Passata Sotto which sort of involves stepping offline and attacking. Italian style wasn't quite as popular in America as French but I am sure the top level fencing masters were aware of it. Captain Blood's finishing move looked very similar to the concept. Great video, I love these reviews of movie fights!
I'm curious, why was going offline not done in French style? Is it a result of the restrictions of Olympic fencing? Edit: for the second question mark.
@@eldorados_lost_searcher French fencing might have offline attacks, I just learned under a gentleman with an Italian style background and he definitely showed a few! It was interesting because he was in his 70s when I trained under him and the folks that taught him had been in their 70s and 80s when he was receiving his lessons. Essentially, he represented probably close to a 150 years of fencing and his style reflected a mindset towards fighting with sharps or not having modern fencing scoring systems. Distinct parries and definitive attacks were emphasized so judges wouldn't miss your scores. I think stepping offline and thrusting your opponent made it very clear who hit whom. Staying online is probably slightly more efficient and when you are more concerned with simply hitting the opponent faster and not worried about the judge missing a score, stepping around is just as necessary! I am not an expert so this is just my opinion and I definitely defer to anyone with more knowledge! :)
Jill knows Yes, Minister 😊. Also, said it before the thumbnail is a fantastic example of the half good half evil character. The foil perfectly divides the two halves.
Good gravy, I think the cover of that journal you flashed had a counter to the Verdadera Destreza "Mysterious Circle" style of Spanish swordplay. I recall Tony DeLongis complaining at length that he had worked it and the counter-counter to it into a fight in Queen of Swords but the director over-ruled him and replaced it with a cliché circle-disarm. From memory you're supposed to lock blades then step forwards in a sort of Fitzsimmons shift, grab the opponent's wrist, and then pass your blade behind your back and stab him. The counter is just a paintbrush-circle from the captured wrist.
@@weswolever7477 If you were a man of wit and letters. Of wit, you have none. As for letters, you need but 3 to write you down: A-S-S. Ass. Love that movie. Took me a second.
Flynn and De Havilland did simmering sexual tension in 11 movies making them the most paired romantic couple in the history of Hollywood. I would still like to see Jill look at the fight between Tyrone Power and George Sanders in the Black Swan or the classic one between Ronald Coleman and Douglas Fairbanks Jr in The Prisoner of Zenda
@@JillBearup Rathbone has a tendency to do this in his other fights too, but he's usually good at making it look like he's trying to psyche out his opponent. But banging away for 10 seconds straight just looks ridiculous.
This film was Flynn’s first Hollywood production. When he began shooting he was hesitant and almost nervously shaking. His trade craft quickly improved. Warner Brother even reshot some scenes with the more confident Flynn.
I could beat you in a fight, and probably most of the folks who come out of the woodwork to claim they could beat you in a fight...but I can be absolutely certain you could make a fight look far far more entertaining and visually appealing than I ever could. because I may have decades of learning to fight, all I know about stage combat has come from your exceptional videos.
I remember watching a video that included a sword match, kendo I think it was. It was some circling, a couple probing swing. And then swing swing, point. It was exciting and interesting, but not entertaining.
That's a fair pick. I prefer the 30/40's movies to the 80/90's shows but it could certainly be reasonably argued in either direction. I can't help but picture Rathbone when I think of the character but Brett certainly put quite the stamp on it.
@@swampert564I love both but I think Brett is more true to the source material and I probably give them the win by a nose, likewise Nigel Bruce was a delightful Watson but both Burke and Hardwick gave him a more faithful turn. Basil Rathbone was great at everything, including his guest starring roles on Jack Benny's radio show
As glad as I am that Jill took the time and considerable effort to write the book (which I loved), I'm _SO_ happy that she's making these videos again. Jill, you're awesome. Keep being awesome.
I still think "One Crisis at a Time" is the better title for the book - my immediate reaction to something being labelled "Just Stab Me Now" is to think it must be terrible (for some reason) - but that's my only negative about the book (which has resided comfortably on my Kindle Fire for some months now). I second Jill's recommendation to watch the video(s) first as a try-before-you-buy - that's always good sense - but, while the book does, unsurprisingly, have many scenes that are familiar from the video(s), it does also add a fair amount, so it's worth getting in its own right, not just as a way to show financial appreciation to the creator.
Jill, if you are looking for old movie fights to review (and enjoy), you might like Quentin Durward (1955) with Robert Taylor playing Sir Walter Scott's title character. Quentin Durward is a Scottish knight serving the French king in late medieval France. Several good action scenes and a climactic sword fight with the physical villain (as opposed to the political ones). The fight ranges through a church in a town that's being sacked. It ends at the top of the belltower with the two men swinging past each other on the bellropes. It's been several years since I saw it, but I think the church is also on fire by then, just to add a little extra urgency to the situation...
"Stop trying to reason my lizard brain out of something it didn't reason its way into" perhaps my favorite way of telling people on the internet to knock it off
If you can contain your skin-crawlies about Flynn (entirely reasonable, that dude was quite the notorious character to put it lightly), it would be cool to get a video about The Sea Hawk. It's another fun swashbuckling pirate movie (privateer technically). It doesn't have Basil Rathbone but the always nice to see Claude Rains is in it. The sword fight at the climax is a classic one too. It's also directed by Michael Curtiz like this one and Adventures of Robin Hood. Unrelated to that, I'm reasonably sure that I could not in fact beat you in a fight.
@@ghost307 Considering that Flynn allegedly threatened Curtiz with a sword when he saw that Curtiz had had the safety sleeves on the swords removed, I'm not sure if I'd classify their relationship as professional.
Honestly as far as Flynn doing crazy shit goes, threatening Curtiz for making the movie more dangerous seems down right reasonable. Obviously wildly unprofessional from either of them but I digress.
Everyone should have walked off the set until the actor stopped treating a deadly weapon as a toy. Deadly weapons should ALWAYS be treated as deadly weapons. I'm looking at you, Alec Baldwin.
I had intended to hit the like button sooner, but I rewatched the vid for "Just Stab Me Now" first. (I'm in Chapter six now--it was a busy weekend--and it's even better than I'd expected.)
Would love for you to do an analysis of the 1970's Three Musketeers (the one with Michael York). I grew up on the Flynn/Rathbone style of fencing and was shocked by what appeared to be "real" sword combat in this film.
Did you hear that Christopher Lee was almost wounded because Oliver Reed was going at him without regard to the choreography, and Lee was hampered by his eyepatch?
@@eldorados_lost_searcher To quote one of the other swordsmen (it might have been Christopher Lee, but I have a feeling it was one of the stuntmen) in that film "Oliver Reed fights for keeps"
@@weswolever7477 Same; I think I saw it at the base movie theatre at RAF Lakenheath when it made the AFEES circuit. Loved the choreography because we had never seen such "visceral" sword fights before. I have tried to find a copy to see how time has changed my memory but the film has been remade so many times...
Getting all of this perspective on how sword fighting was in dramatic Hollywood movies really puts the comedic yet exciting fighting of The Court Jester into perspective. Thank you for the awesome education! 🤩
I read the book by Rafael Sabatini in the Marines. I was stunned by the fact that the book was exactly as the movie, but longer. It's like 3" thick! This is one of my most favorite movies.
12:13 This is how you get Olympic fencers who come over to the SCA or HEMA. Their blade mechanics tend to be scary good, but step off line and they get super confused for the first several times until they adapt. 😁
I agree with your lizard brain. Something is just off with Errol Flynn. Like a cross between a used car salesman and a lawyer. There's no logic behind it at all, but you just feel like he must be trying to con you out of something. I can enjoy his films, but he's not someone I would care to ever actually meet, even if it were possible.
He was quite the character to put it lightly. At best a skeevy, womanizing, hard partying lunatic and probably far more shady than that if anything. He certainly was a fun performer though.
LOL...in real life your "used car salesman" was conned by his ex-wife and "friends" like Bruce Cabot financially like there was no tomorrow, so your "lizard brain" is way off. You don't like the guy's style, that's ok, but don't invent things because by all records Flynn was extremely trusting and generous with his friends and that cost him a lot in the end.
The Sea Hawk and The Adventures of Don Juan. Two movies cut from the same cloth. One has a Goonies connection. There's a little of Don Juan, in every man. And, since I am Don Juan, there must be more of him in me.
Oh my gosh, Yes, Minister! I never missed an episode of that on my local public television stations BritComs segment when I was teen. Such a nice little addition.
I totally agree w/your vibes on Errol Flynn. I much preferred Tyrone Power. That fight in the Mark of Zorro is so wonderful. And Power could act, as opposed to Flynn. Have you talked about the fight scene in Scaramouche?
If you are looking to make these wonderful film fight scene analysis videos a regular part of your channel, might I suggest the duel between Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Ronald Coleman in the 1937 "Prisoner of Zenda". For fun, you could compare it to the Tony Curtis/Ross Martin homage to this scene in Prisoner of Zenda in "The Great Race".
I lived very close to that filming location near Laguna beach. The spot is called Monarch cove, or Three Arches. When I was there in 03, it looked very much as it does in this clip. Very little change. Having been there I can see how the edits were made during the duel. It’s a beautiful beach…
Bought the last copy of Just Stab Me Now from my local Dymocks last week. Finished it already and love how you fleshed out both stories 🙂 The commentary on the Errol Flynn movies has been great to watch, keep the content coming! The Yes, Minister reference was also a nice touch!
Jill, Please, please, please WATCH THE PIRATE MOVIE FROM 1982!!! I want to see your take on their parody of the great fight scenes in the movie. Also, can you rate the armor in Deerstalker Production's 1 for All. It's a series of comedy sketches based on the tropes and memes we love that come from Dungeons & Dragons. THEY EVEN HAVE A FEW MUSICAL NUMBERS!!!
Thank you for your break down of the Captain Blood beach fight scene! I have thoroughly enjoyed your reviews of cinema sword fight scenes. I look forward to seeing more of these.
Very nice video. Since watching _V for Vendetta_ I've been mildly curious about _the Count of Monte Cristo (1934)._ Maybe that's a good B&W movie with sword fighting scene(s) to analyze?
