In 1970,
Richard Lester had planned to make a movie of "Flashman", the first of
George MacDonald Fraser's novels, from a screenplay by
Charles Wood and
Frank Muir, with
John Alderton in the title role. Because of the expense, it was canceled days before shooting was scheduled to start. Four years later, after collaborating with Fraser on his two "Musketeers" movies with huge success, Lester tried to reactivate the project. He found it easier to make a movie of Fraser's second novel, "Royal Flash", perhaps because the story is a parody of "The Prisoner Of Zenda", which had been filmed several times before. United Artists went cold on the idea shortly before filming was set to begin, but Lester was able to successfully transfer the project to Twentieth Century Fox. The movie was a critical and box-office failure, and for general release in Britain it was cut from one hour fifty-eight minutes to one hour thirty-six minutes.
George MacDonald Fraser hated the film so much that he would refused to authorize any more films based on his Flashman novels in his lifetime.
