This article examines the sensational 1942–43 trial of Hollywood’s leading man, Australian actor Errol Flynn. One purpose of this article is to track the trial’s course and social reverberations offering valuable insights into a critical historical precedent to the recent #MeToo movement. The article’s other purpose is to place the trial story, centred in America’s ‘film colony’ of Hollywood, in the context of Flynn’s backstory in Australia’s colonies of Papua and New Guinea, a period of Flynn’s life that ended only nine years before his trial. This article connects Flynn’s sexual experiences in New Guinea, especially his celebration of sex with very young New Guinea girls, with Hollywood’s sexual exploitation of teenage girls, a culture exposed by Flynn’s trial but ultimately condoned by a court in wartime America. The article interrogates Flynn’s role in circulating ideas about sex with underage girls and their implications in the past and present.

本文探讨了 1942-43 年对好莱坞男主角、澳大利亚演员埃罗尔·弗林 (Errol Flynn) 的耸人听闻的审判。本文的一个目的是跟踪审判的进程和社会反响，为最近的#MeToo 运动的一个重要历史先例提供宝贵的见解。这篇文章的另一个目的是将以美国好莱坞“电影殖民地”为中心的审判故事置于弗林在澳大利亚巴布亚和新几内亚殖民地的背景故事中，这是弗林一生中仅在审判前九年结束的一段时期。这篇文章将弗林在新几内亚的性经历，特别是他庆祝与非常年轻的新几内亚女孩发生性关系，与好莱坞对少女的性剥削联系起来，这种文化在弗林的审判中暴露出来，但最终在战时的美国法院得到了宽恕。