Too Much, Too Soon

When the book was published, The New York Times called it "an extremely skillful piece of work, a craftsman's product aimed at a mood and a market that spell big business. It is a book for the mass audience... as an artisan, Mr Frank is no slouch."[10]

The Washington Post thought the book "fails to touch the heart even though it spins a recognizably sad story."[11]

Louella Parsons said the book "told too much too loudly."[12]

The Cincinnati Enquirer describes the tale as “sordid,” “pathetic,” “outrageous,” and “oddly admirable.”[13] Moreover, the New York Herald Tribune lauds the narrative’s emotional appeal, going as far to label those who downplay the potent emotion as “heartless or hypocritical.”[13]

By the time the book came out Diana Barrymore tried to reactivate her acting career and was seeing a psychiatrist but had not given up drinking.[9]

Originally, Carroll Baker, who had just made a big impression with Baby Doll (1956) and was under contract to Warners, was to star as Diana.[21] Fredric March was mentioned as a possible John Barrymore.[22] However, Baker refused to play the role, and Warner Bros put her on suspension[23] and refused to let her make The Brothers Karamazov (1958) at MGM.[24]

Natalie Wood, also under contract to Warners, was mentioned as a possibility for the lead,[25] as was Anne Baxter.[26] Finally in August 1957 it was announced Dorothy Malone, who had recently won an Oscar for Written on the Wind would play Diana Barrymore.[20] Malone never met Diana Barrymore.[27] (She was invited to the set but declined.[28])

Gene Wesson was mentioned as auditioning for the part of John Barrymore.[29] Jo Van Fleet was discussed for the part of Michael Strange.[30]

By September 1957 Errol Flynn had signed to play John Barrymore.[31] Errol Flynn was a friend of John Barrymore's and the film was the first he had made for Warner Bros in a number of years.

Flynn flew back into Hollywood to make the movie and was arrested only a few days later for public drunkenness, stealing an off duty policeman's badge and trying to kiss a girl. Flynn denied he was drunk and was released from jail on bail after an hour.[32]

Warner Bros recreated John Barrymore's yacht and house for the film. A Hollywood mansion that used to be owned by Madge Kennedy and Pola Negri was rented for the latter.[33]

A number of characters in the movie were fictionalised due to legal reasons – for instance first husband Bramwell Fletcher was turned into "Vincent Bryant".[34] Real names were used for her last two husbands, despite their unsympathetic portrayals – John Howard had been arrested on white slavery charges[35][36] and Robert Wilcox was dead. Howard later became a car salesman and threatened to sue Warner Bros.[37]

Ray Danton, who played Howard, a tennis professional, received tennis coaching from Tony Trabert.[38]

Flynn said "it would have been easy for me to simulate Jack Barrymore's physical characteristics for I can do, with the lifted eyebrow, an imitation about as good as anyone else’s." However he wanted to:

Delve into his inner self, not to imitate him ~ that was too easy. I wanted to show a man with a heart, a man eaten up inside - as I knew him to be in those final days when I was close to him - a man full of regrets and all ready to die, but with one last thing to live for, the love of his daughter, Diana, his desire to get back her love. I determined that I would stay away from the least suggestion or imitation of manners. That would have been deadly wrong. The only concession I made to that was to try to look like him. To facilitate that, the studio put a tip on the end of my nose which aided in conveying his profile.[39]

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote that the film was "not bad, just ineffectual... undaring and even unsurprising. Gone is most of the endless soiled linen that aggressively flapped through Miss Barrymore's best-selling autobiography – and, with it, it's left wallops, perhaps the book's only real substance... Mr Flynn steals the picture lock, stock and keg. It is only in the scenes of his savage disintegration, as the horrified girl looks on, that the picture approaches real tragedy."[40]

The Los Angeles Times called the film a "depressing affair, one that never should have been considered... it doesn't stick to the facts... it is not good storytelling, either in structural form or characterisation... For all his capturing of John's surface mannerisms, some of the physical appearance and, most effortlessly, his way with a bottle, Flynn is not the great profile and great actor of our time. I resented him in the part."[41]

The Washington Post called Too Much, Too Soon "a sorry film" in which Errol Flynn's performance "may seem to have at least dazzling vitality, but it's about as dishonest a portrait of the volatile actor as you're likely to find."[42]

The Chicago Daily Tribune called Too Much, Too Soon "a sordid, unattractive tale, poorly written and badly acted".[43]

Filmink magazine wrote that "Flynn never had Barrymore’s reputation as a great actor but he’s perfectly cast – full of charisma, charm and sadness, with a beautiful speaking voice and fondness for the bottle... the actor really tried on this one and you can tell. Everything he does is memorable... It was his best film of the decade." [44]