Interesting Insight from the late Olivia de Havilland:

Co-starring in swashbuckler movies, as the female, romantic lead thereof--even with the divine Errol Flynn as chief swashbuckler--doesn't give a young actress much to do. This is true of most sorts of adventure tales written about, basically, the exploits of men, by men and for men. It is pluperfectly so, and in spades, about the "histories, real or feigned" written by an ex-soldier for the delight and edification of his growing and grown sons--which was, of course, the LOTR.