Damn your eyes! George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman'

Any Flashmaniacs here?

The books are like James Bond set in the 19th century -- and hilarious to boot. Flashman experiences (always against his will) The Charge Of The Light Brigade (which he somehow ends up leading!), The Sepoy Mutiny, the Taiping Rebellion, Little Big Horn and other great moments of history, all the while getting mixed up with Queen Victoria, Bismarck, Wild Bill Hickok, Lola Montez, Lincoln, The Empress of China, Oscar Wilde, John Brown the abolitionist and other such immortal personages.

My favorite book in the series is the third, Flash For Freedom (which takes place mostly in pre-Civil War New Orleans and Mississippi), but IMHO a new reader should start out with the first, Flashman. After that you can really read them in any order. There are 12 books in the series; I reread them every 4 or 5 years.

I'm not a fan of the 1975 film Royal Flash, based on Fraser's second novel in the series (a pastiche of The Prisoner of Zenda). Malcom McDowell just isn't right as Flashman, and Oliver Reed is a charmless heavy. However, Alan Bates does bring style and panache to his villainous henchman (think James Mason in the '52 Zenda). I suppose the film can make a decent intro to the character, but it's the books that matter.

 

Love the books and thought that the protagonist, Flashman, was very interesting on any number of levels including the deeply cynical view of what makes a hero.

Really great reads - I don't think that I have a favorite in the series and I had no idea that there was a film adaptation.

I was just looking at a copy of Flashman on my bookshelf, maybe it is time to read them again

 

Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night, Help) was set to direct a film version of the first novel Flashman in 1970, starring the great (and underappreicated, at least in the US) John Alderton, when financing was withdrawn at the last moment. Supposedly the principals had already assembled in Spain for shooting when te plug was pulled.

Lester would later make Royal Flash, with the IMHO not well-cast Malcolm McDowell in 1975.

There are also some BBC radio adaptations of Flashman books you might want to check out.

 

Yes! Read them all cept the last one couldn't get into it. Agree with Malcolm McDowell at the time the film came out I thought he was too silly for the role. Thought Richard Morant would have been ideal.

 

I really like Royal Flash. Some great lines in it and a fantastic sword fight.

"Poor little golden-haired Amelia!"
"Is that what his name was?"

My brother has all the books.

 

Here!

The books also give a great history lesson.

 

Flashman reminds me of that other victorian cad' Walter.

 

A fantastic series and I completely agree with your Bond comparison. However, unlike 007, our Flashy is an antihero, but we pull for him nonetheless.

Great and exciting books, but the 1975 film was disappointing. Glad I found this thread. I have all the books in print and Kindle and savoring each adventure.

 

For those who haven't seen it, here is the 1975 adaptation of Royal Flash. Do not judge the books by the movie. This is certainly one case where the book is better than the movie.

 

Walter who?

 

I've seen the film four or five times, and think McDowell was great as Flashy; to the extent the film had a casting problem, it was Britt Ekland and Florinda Bolkan as the female leads. But yes, the books are better. It's hard to choose a favourite, but At the Charge and In the Great Game are a terrific one-two punch.

 

Found this on YouTube. An audio version of the first book in the series.

 

Yes! In retrospect he is good. But, he was not how I imagined him to be compared with the books character description.

 

Fraser was a fine writer and the Flashman series were great fun. He also wrote a serious memoir of his experiences as a young soldier in WWII in Burma, Quartered Safe Out Here, which the Wall St. Journal called one of the best books ever written about WWII.

Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II: George MacDonald Fraser: 9781629142036: Amazon.com: Books

The title is a reference to the first line of Gunga Din.

 

I just bought the Kindle edition, which is currently on sale for $1.99.
https://www.amazon.com/Quartered-Sa...swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1488112123&sr=1-1

 

I really want to read these. I first came across a mention of them when researching the film and realizing that the original author was the same man who wrote the first draft of Octopussy.

A thread that mentions 007, Gunga Din and Prisoner of Zenda? This is my kind of material!!!

 

Do yourself a favor and start reading the Flashman papers. You won't regret it.

 

I have been informed that this being the SHF, we are required have a Fab Four reference in this thread.

From Magical Mystery Tours, by Brian Epstein assistant and Apple exec Tony Bramwell:

I was very eager to make the Flashman books into films. I thought if they were done properly they could be bigger than the Bond films. But so much nonsense was talked about who was going to play Flashman. Someone wanted John Alderton to play the lead, which was totally wrong. He was a kind of gentle bumbling comic, with no edge. Someone else suggested Dave Clark, which even Dave found hilarious. There were long discussions about the feel of the books, whether they should be changed in any way. I suppose they were a bit jingoistic, but that was part of what made them so different. Dinners were held with people like Dick Lester, who had made the Beatles films, John Davis, head of Rank, and Malcolm McDowell, who they had finally settled on as Flashman. I thought he was terribly miscast. I said if the right Flashman could be found, another Sean Connery, we would have a major hit. In the end someone else made Flashman, but it didn’t achieve much.​

I must say I disagree with Bramwell's opinion of John Alderton. If you've seem Zardoz or his Upstairs, Downstairs appearances you know JA definitely has an "edge".

 

I don’t think we’ll ever get another Flashman film and I’m fine with that. In today’s hyper sensitive PC world a Flashman movie would be so watered down, tamed, and ruined. I have the books, they’re wonderful, and “I feel fine”.

"When all other trusts fail, turn to Flashman." — Abraham Lincoln

 

Non pc seventies, fun books for most.

 

https://www.amazon.com/White-Rajah-Nigel-Barley/dp/0349116733

Sir James Brooke was an extraordinary 'eminent' Victorian, whose life was the stuff of legend.His curious career began in 1841 when he was caught up in a war in Brunei which had started because a party of local Dayaks had refused to furl their umbrellas in the presence of the Sultan. Brooke was an opportunist who, with the Sultan's backing, made war on the Dayaks tribespeople and eventually found himself ruling over Sarawak - a kingdom the size of England - as a result. How he achieved it is a romantic, sometimes horrifying story. Brooke is someone that George Macdonald Fraser would scarcely dare to invent. Errol Flynn wanted to play him in a movie, seventy years after his death and his dynasty is remembered throughout South-East Asia.​

James Brooke - Wikipedia

Sir James Brooke, Rajah[note] of Sarawak, KCB (29 April 1803[1] – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Kingdom of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.

Brooke was born and raised under the Company Raj in India. After a few years of education in England, he served in the Bengal Army, was wounded, and resigned his commission. He then bought a ship and sailed out to the Malay Archipelago where, by helping to crush a rebellion, he became governor of Sarawak. He then vigorously suppressed piracy in the region and, in the ensuing turmoil, restored the Sultan of Brunei to his throne, for which the Sultan made Brooke the Rajah of Sarawak. He ruled until his death.

Brooke was not without detractors and was criticised in the British Parliament and officially investigated in Singapore for his anti-piracy measures. He was, however, honoured and feted in London for his activities in Southeast Asia. The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was one of many visitors whose published work spoke of his hospitality and achievements.​

...

Fictionalised accounts of Brooke's exploits in Sarawak include Kalimantaan by C. S. Godshalk and The White Rajah by Nicholas Monsarrat. Another book, also called The White Rajah, by Tom Williams, was published by JMS Books in 2010. Brooke is also featured in Flashman's Lady, the 6th book in George MacDonald Fraser's meticulously researched The Flashman Papers novels; and in Sandokan: The Pirates of Malaysia (I pirati della Malesia), the second novel in Emilio Salgari's Sandokan series.

Brooke was also a model for the hero of Joseph Conrad's novel Lord Jim, and he is briefly mentioned in Kipling's short story "The Man Who Would Be King".

Charles Kingsley dedicated the novel Westward Ho! (1855) to Brooke.

In 1936, Errol Flynn intended to star in a film of Brooke's life called The White Rajah for Warner Bros., based on a script by Flynn himself. However although the project was announced for filming it was never made.[20]

In September 2016, a film White Rajah based on Brook's life will be made in Sarawak with the support of Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari of the Government of Sarawak, with writer Rob Allyn and Sergei Bodrov as its director. The Brooke Heritage Trust, a non-profit organisation, would serve as the film's technical advisors, with one of them being Jason Brooke, the current heir of the Brook family.​

 

This got me thinking of what other books others would recommend that are similar to the Flashman tales. The Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell fit well in this genre being set during the Napoleonic Wars with loads of action. Richard Sharpe isn’t the cad and scoundrel Flashy is, but still lots of good page turning excitement.

What other books would you recommend?

 

Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC, KCB, KCIE

Source: Rob's Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC KCB KCIE

 

I love the Flashman series and my one regret is that GMF didn't get to write one that put Flashman in the US Civil War.
Has anyone read the Brigadier Gerard stories by A.C. Doyle? As I recall, the Complete Brigadier Gerard was funny, on par with the Flashman books. This is from an ACD website:

The young and dashing Brigadier Etienne Gérard of the Hussars of Conflans, “gay riding, plume tossing, debonair, the darling of the ladies, is by far the most entertaining character created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The Emperor Napoléon is quoted as saying of him “if he has the thickest head he also has the stoutest heart in my army.” In other words this impeccably dressed young Hussar is both a figure of fun and a soldier of great courage.

Napoléon sends him on horrendously dangerous missions of “disinformation,” certain that his devoted Brigadier will be made prisoner and surrender the documents he was entrusted with. Lo and behold, Gerard is so brave and so lucky, that he beats all the odds. During his adventures, he is often helped by smitten maidens who succumb to his charm.

George McDonald Frazer cited Brigadier Gérard as a major inspiration for his own fictional comedic adventurer Harry Flashman, and wrote the introduction to a 2001 collection of Gérard stories

 

I have not read any Brigadier Gerard stories, but just reserved both the Adventures and Exploits of Brigadier Gerard from my local library. They look great and fit the bill of what I’m looking for. Excellent recommendation. Now, about this Doyle chap. Is he any good or written anything else worthwhile?