It's something I've always loved on the stage and to get a chance to do it in film, and this was all choreographed by a man named Al Cavins, he and his father before him were responsible for all the really great fencing in Hollywood films ...
...
BH - Now, did you ask him, here I go immediately then... did you ask him who was the best of all the ones that he coached?
RA - Yes, I did, of course.
BH - And who was that?
RA - Guess.
BH - Flynn.
RA - Basil Rathbone.
BH - Was it?
RA - Yes. Basil Rathbone, he said, was the great.... Flynn was wonderful, had tremendous style, again, but could only do three or four beats at a time, you know, bump bump bump, one two three four one two three four (miming fencing). He said Basil Rathbone could do seventy, he could go on and on and on, he could just, he remembered... because you know, when you're doing a fight like that, it is, it's like a dance, but it's dangerous, because if the other person forgets and you're assuming they're going to be there for it, you can slash them. The blades are not sharp, but they're pointy....
BH - But they have a point, yes.
RA - You can put someone's eye out, like that (snaps fingers).
BH - No, thanks!
RA - Anyway, Basil Rathbone was the best, was the great one.
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