User Reviews

"The Flame & The Arrow" (1950)was one of the last of the great Warner Bros. swashbucklers. From a screenplay by Waldo Salt this hugely enjoyable romp was directed with great flair by Jacques Tourneur. It was originally planned as a vehicle for Errol Flynn but by the time the picture went into production the erstwhile heroic Flynn was past his sell-by date and would be unable for the knockabout antics the part demanded (he had barely got through "The Adventures Of Don Juan" two years previously thanks to many short takes and having doubles perform a lot of his action scenes). Instead, a young and stunningly acrobatic Burt Lancaster was cast as Dardo, a sort of Robin Hood in medieval Italy fighting the oppression of the occupying Hessions.

Produced by Lancaster's Norma Productions (named after his wife) it was fully fleshed out with a splendid cast. Playing Dardo's mute friend Piccolo was Nick Cravat - Lancaster's friend and fellow performer from their circus days.The lovely Virginia Mayo played the love interest Anne of Hess. Robert Douglas is a likable rogue through most of the picture until he gets a taste of power and turns bad and Frank Allenby, looking remarkably like the Great Profile John Barrymore, played the villainous Hawk (the original title of the movie was "The Hawk & The Arrow").

Lancaster is marvellous to watch! Performing all his own stunts his high flying antics are a joy to behold. No other actor, before or since, would prove to be so agile and provide such a spirited performance! His athletic prowess is outstanding and little wonder he was Warner's first choice to play the great native American athlete Jim Thorpe in their biographical "Jim Thorpe-All American" (aka "Man Of Bronz") in 1952. Although he did a kind of follow-up to "The Flame & The Arrow" two years later with the more comical "The Crimson Pirate" it is a shame he then ceased doing this type of movie as we could have tolerated him in quite a few more of them.

Beautifully photographed in colour by the great Ernest Haller the movie has all the hallmarks of Warner's high production values. Adding greatly to the picture's proceedings is the wonderful Italianate score by Max Steiner! His ebullient music, like the picture, is a total delight especially his infectious and hum inducing main theme for Dardo scored for mandolins and orchestra and the gorgeous love theme for the scenes with Dardo & the lady Anne. There's a splendid driving battle theme too! Steiner's music was nominated for an Acadamy Award but lost out to Franz Waxman's darker "Sunset Boulevard".

The picture has transferred extremely well to disc with sharp images and fine colour resolution but quite dispensable are a Merrie Melodies cartoon and a tired Joe McDoakes short. It is also a pity that a documentary of Lancaster was not included.

Both this film and The Crimson Pirate established Burt Lancaster's reputation in the swashbuckling genre. When discussing Lancaster's career even with Oscar nominations and one Oscar for roles vastly different than who he plays in The Flame And The Arrow, I find it fascinating that so many still refer back to these films and label Lancaster a swashbuckling star like Errol Flynn.

Taking place in medieval Lombardy, the province is part of the Holy Roman Empire and they have a particularly evil Hessian provincial governor in Frank Allenby, known as "the Hawk" for his partiality to falconry and for his rapacious designs. Five years before, Allenby just took for himself the bored wife of Burt Lancaster played by Lynne Baggett leaving him to raise their son Gordon Gebert.

Now however Allenby at Baggett's suggestion comes in and takes Gebert away from a wounded Lancaster. Up to this time Lancaster has lived isolated in the mountains. Now he finally decides to join the rebels in revolt against Allenby and the Empire. Nothing like a little child stealing to provide motivation.

Before taking up acting Lancaster and his partner Nick Cravat were circus performers and his natural abilities in that direction made producers want to cast him in films like The Flame And The Arrow. But Lancaster knew his talent and always tried and succeeded in getting better parts. He never did want to have the career of Errol Flynn.

Burt also gets the opportunity to romance Allenby's niece Virginia Mayo who is being offered to a recently impoverished count Robert Douglas in the hopes of peace and unity. Douglas however is working an agenda all his own in The Flame And The Arrow. Mayo is curiously enough the mirror image of Baggett. She's bored with court life and finds certain attractions among the peasants especially the lusty and charismatic Lancaster.

And Burt has the charisma going full blast in this film. As well he would have to, otherwise why would the peasants be following him. It's an expansive part and no one could be as expansive as Burt Lancaster when the part called for it.

The Flame And The Arrow holds up well today. It should as it has a universal theme of a man protecting his child.

Lively, colorful period romp in the Warners’ style made in the wake of ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1948) – featuring the same villain, Robert Douglas, no less – but actually fashioned after their most successful swashbuckler, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938).

Burt Lancaster – with his acrobatic training and cheerful countenance in full bloom – is perfect casting for the heroic role of Dardo, a kind of Italian Robin Hood (even down to displaying similar prowess as an archer); Virginia Mayo, then, makes for an ideal heroine – like Olivia De Havilland’s Maid Marian, playing a noble woman who’s gradually drawn to the outlaw’s cause. Again, like the 1938 Robin Hood film, we have two villains: Frank Allenby as a tyrant known as “The Hawk” and the afore-mentioned Douglas as a Marquis; the latter’s role is interesting in that, banished by the former for tax evasion, he manages to infiltrate Lancaster’s band (along with his smart companion, a troubadour played by Norman Lloyd) and outwardly reform – but, when the opportunity arises, proceeds to reveal their plan of attack to Allenby!

Other twists and quirks to the Robin Hood formula (the sharp script was written by Waldo Salt, later an Oscar winner for MIDNIGHT COWBOY [1969]!) are the fact that Lancaster’s wife has left him for Allenby - their spirited son has remained with Lancaster, whom he idolizes, but is eventually captured and thought good manners against his will; when Lancaster imprisons Mayo in exchange for his son’s freedom, he keeps her chained by the neck to a tree!; for no apparent reason other than that he's able to, one of Lancaster’s men uses his feet to write ransom notes, etc.; Lancaster is sent to the gallows but, here, he gives himself up rather than being captured and actually fakes his own death!; and the climactic struggle inside the castle, which the gang penetrate incognito (this time dressed-up as a band of strolling players). The obligatory swordfight between Lancaster and Douglas, then, is given a novel touch by being partly set in the dark – the only evident nod to the noir style director Tourneur is best-known for!

The film itself received a couple of Oscar nominations for Ernest Haller’s gorgeous cinematography and Max Steiner’s marvelous score (it too bears a striking resemblance to Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s unforgettable work on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD – as do the castle interiors – but this takes nothing away from the quality of THE FLAME AND THE ARROW itself!). Also worth noting in the cast is Nick Cravat as Lancaster’s mute sidekick: in the star’s days as an acrobat, he had been his partner and would often work with him in films – basically reprising his role here in Lancaster’s next swashbuckler, the seafaring THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952; incidentally, also surprisingly but vigorously helmed by an expert in film noir, Robert Siodmak). Speaking of the latter, a couple of years back I re-acquainted myself with it via a rental of Warner’s bare-bones DVD edition – but its predecessor/companion piece is, mysteriously, still M.I.A. on disc...

This is a film to watch without major pretensions and being aware that it's an unrealistic costume adventure with a lot of comedy in it. It is an all Burt Lancater vehicle of his early days when Errol Flynn was aging and the top movies swashbuckler throne was empty (Tyrone Power was looking for more serious roles). Lancaster repeated the experience two years later and very successfully too with "The Crinsom Pirate" and then he turned to westerns and more compromising roles which he did very well indeed too.

In "The Flame and the Arrow" Lancaster is side kicked by his friend and previous days circus mate Nick Cravat and both deliver their acrobatic skills while fighting tyranny in the person of mean Hessian ruler "The Hawk" played by Frank Allenby. Robert Douglas is there too in another of his accurate villain performances. The feminine presence was brought by Virginia Mayo a regular damsel in distress in costume adventures in the 50's.

I remember I enjoyed this film very much when I first saw it as a kid and so did all my friends. Perhaps today it would not be very interesting for youngsters, but in my opinion it hasn't lost its undeniable charm and I'm sure those of us who saw it back in the early 50's can remember the theatre in which we saw it some fifty years ago.

One of the more enjoyable swinging-from-the-chandelier-with-a- -sword adventures made a la Erroll Flynn. A lively pace, loads of action, a witty-if-fluffy script, an enchanting score, good performances, and above all an incredible number of acrobatic stunts make this utterly enjoyable. Lancaster had been a circus acrobat before he got into films, and managed to work every stunt he could do into the script. He even balances and poses on the top of a 20-foot pole, for real. I'm still amazed that a guy that big could be so good.

(This film also had an ongoing effect on Hollywood: At the time Lancaster's career was fading, he was typecast as a big dumb lug in the kind of Film Noir that was rapidly going out of fashion. He realized that he had to do something, and rather than rely on the studios he bought this script and produced it himself. And gave himself a whole new career, an example not lost on other actors. This was one of the films that marked the beginning of the end of the paternalistic studio system, one that showed actors that they could control their own careers. For good or ill.)

While this isn't the best adventure film I have ever seen, it might just be the highest energy film and featured stunts you just won't see in films by Errol Flynn or Ronald Coleman. That's because the star, Burt Lancaster, does most of his own stunts--having been a circus performer in a previous career along with his partner, Nick Cravat! It's obvious that he is one of the most athletic leading men in history and apart from his film, TRAPEZE, it's the most incredible stunt-work you'll see him do on film. A couple years after making this film, Lancaster returned for THE CRIMSON PIRATE--a better film, but one that features less of the athleticism of THE FLAME AND THE ARROW. It is interesting that Lancaster's circus partner, Nick Cravat, also plays his best friend in this film and several others (such as THE CRIMSON PIRATE). Some of their stunt-work together is truly amazing.

As far as the plot goes, it's a reworking of the Robin Hood story, but this time it's set in Lombardy (a region in North-central Italy that includes Milan) and the invaders are Hessians (from the region around Frankfurt, Germany). Apart from that, the story elements are very, very similar. Even the part played by Virginia mayo is a copy of Maid Marian from Robin Hood. However, despite being a bit recycled, the film is exciting and fun--if also a bit like "fluff". Good old fashioned, but not especially deep fun, it's a must for Burt Lancaster films--he's dynamite.

I honestly feel if anyone is does this film down for it's jovial nature then they surely are missing the point. I wasn't around at the time of its release, but I would have been surprised if the makers had marketed it as a searing swashbuckler for the ages. The film is fun, it tells a fun tale, and yes it's in the Robin Hood arc of plot structure, but ultimately it's a tale well worth watching due to the extended dexterity of its stars.

I would think that tagging this film "The Acrobatic Peasant Vs The Horrible Hessian Lord" would serve it about right, the cast are having fun and really the viewer should be in on the joviality unfolding as well. Burt Lancaster and his old circus performing pal Nick Cravat dazzle with flings and flops, arrows and lances, and it all works for what I term perfect Sunday afternoon entertainment.

All that and Viginia Mayo has a smile that could stop an army in its tracks, what more do you want ?, hooray ! 7/10

THE FLAME AND THE ARROW is one (1) of those films that every ten (10) years we see and are pleasantly surprised how well it holds up. It is also amazing how it appears and disappears. In the 60's it was on quite frequently, the 70's not so. American Movie Classics (AMC) showed it often in the 80's and it came out on VHS. Now it is been buried again so a new generation of viewers are going to have to wait till it comes out on DVD. I have just watched my 80's VHS recently so this is based upon it.

It is what other commentators called it ROBIN HOOD JR. That does not mean it is small or poorly made film. Instead you see the full power of a major studio Warner Brothers (WB) behind it. The props and sets many coming from larger films (Adventures of Robin Hood, Elizabeth and Essex, The Adventures of Don Juan) are quite evident and effectively integrated into the story line. Burt Lancaster's supporting cast consists of the current studio stock company, all professionals. Who knew what to deliver and did so. It had the full Three (3) Strip Technicolor process in all it's glory and finally Max Steiner's score. Romantic and rich and appropriate for such a concept. This is a super 'B' film and there is no disgrace in that. We have seen plenty of 'A' films today that are not half as well done.

It is though Burt Lancaster that is the central focus of the film. His first 'independent' production he knew if he did not carry it well it would have failed. Every time he is on the screen he is the focus of attention and fortunately he is on very often. Whether exchanging insults, engaging in acrobatics or romance he is hitting the target every time. He is ably supported by Virginia Mayo as his leading lady. A underrated actress with a attractive and strong physical presence. Lets be frank, does anyone believe that DARDO would fall for some skinny twit like Audrey Hepburn (or today Angelina Jolie) no way. We did not believe that when Sean Connery did in ROBIN AND MARIAN!

So if you can check this selection out. Your library may have a copy (mine does) on VHS. We are sure it will be out sometime on DVD. Lancaster later made another period film THE CRIMSON PIRATE. Not quite as good but still fun, but it seemed to lack the backing. polish and push that WB gave THE FLAME AND THE ARROW.

ADDENDUM; NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD.

Dardo (Burt Lancaster) The Arrow , a Robin Hood-like outlaw in Medieval Italy under power of Federico I Redbeard leads his gang of mountain freedom fighters versus a mercenary warlord , Count 'The Hawk' Ulrich (Frank Allenby who provides personable villainy) who has seduced his spouse Francesca (as Lynne Baggett) and abducted his child . Dardo , his pal Piccolo (Nick Cravat) and his loyal followers and local rebels use a Roman ruin as their headquarter , and all of them fight against their tyrannical overlord carrying out an astute insurgency . Later on , Dardo kidnaps Hawk's niece and then it happens the usual romantic interludes with lovely hostage Anne (Viginia Mayo) and subsequently to battle the Hessian conquerors .

This is a joyous adventure movie with spectacular acrobatics , action-filled , including thrills , fights , duels , marvelous outdoors , a cast of thousands as well as Lancaster and Cravat performing their own stunts adding interest to the ordinary swashbuckling . Deemed by many to be one of the best adventure movie laced with comedy and enthusiastically paced . Burt Lancaster was a great actor as well as big on athletic prowess and highly enjoyable to watch on-screen . Here Burt spectacularly runs , rides , shoots arrows , bounds and leaps . This top-notch adventure established the handsome Burt as the natural successor to Douglas Fraibanks Sr , Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Errol Flynn in Warner Brothers' swashbucklers . It also strengthened his credentials as a leading man and not just another swashbuckling hero , from then on he started to get much wider range of characters . Lancaster teamed with his ex-circus colleague Nick Cravat , long-time acrobatic partner appeared with Burt in nine films . Cravat according to reports was as strong as a bull , he may have been short on stature but he was a real acrobat . In this film and The Crimson pirate (1952), Nick played characters that were mute and this was because he spoke with a very thick Brooklyn accent that he could not shake , and it would have been wildly out of place in such period costume dramas . Before his Hollywood acting carrier Nick Cravat also worked in the circus with Burt in a Rolla-Bolla duo act known as the Saxons . He partnered with Lancaster in a perch-pole balancing act where Nick , as bottom man , balanced Burt forehead atop a ten foot perch-pole . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Frank Allenby , Aline MacMahon , Lynn Baggett , Norman Lloyd as Apollo The Troubador , Victor Kilian as Apothecary and the British Robert Douglas , once a national fencing champion . And uncredited Richard Farnsworth as an outlaw . ¨The flame and the arrow¨ (1950) was 11th biggest grossing movie in the world for the year , recouping several times its original cost to the surprise of the studio . It displays a colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Ernest Haller . And a thrilling and evocative musical score by the classic composer Max Steiner .

This derring-do film was professionally directed by the underrated filmmaker Jacques Tourneur , though the present-day he is better considered . Jacques directed all kinds of genres , such as : Western : ¨Great day in the morning¨, ¨Stranger on horseback¨, ¨Canyon passage¨, ¨Wichita¨ ; Terror : ¨Curse of demon¨, ¨I Walked with a Zombie¨, ¨Leopard man¨ , ¨Cat people¨, ¨Comedy of terrors¨ ; Film Noir :¨Out the past¨, ¨Berlin express¨, ¨Experiment perilous¨ , ¨Nightfall¨ and Adventure : ¨The giant of Marathon¨ , ¨Tombuctú¨, ¨Martin the gaucho¨ , ¨Anne of the Indians¨ and ¨The flame and the arrow¨.

A fine show of acrobats! A fable for fun!

Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat indulge themselves in long leaps and vaults, pirouetting in mid-air, swinging on tapestries and chandeliers, and baffling the tyrant Ulrich with their tricks... Plenty of action!

The film is a flamboyant spoof of the Robin Hood genre, set against the castle battlements and banquet halls of medieval Lombardy... Ideally cast opposite Lancaster's swashbuckling Dardo were Virginia Mayo as the obligatory lady-fair, and Robert Douglas and Frank Allenby as the suavest of villains...

To play his mute sidekick, Piccolo, Lancaster engaged his old friend and circus partner, Nick Cravat. The result was a joyful team... Together they battled spearmen with blazing torches, and leaped around castle balconies...

"The Flame and the Arrow" is a colorful adventure film with a great closing shot: Lancaster swinging in a series of circular movements on metalwork high above the courtyard of an old castle...

Lancaster's acrobatics boosted his box-office value, and so did another swashbuckler, 'The Crimson Pirate.'

...I saw this movie, with my little brother Paul, when it first came out in Lebanon, in Beirut, 47 years ago... I was ten, and today I still remember each Technicolor frame, because it was so enchanting and beautiful… It was such a particular time for the kids we were...

"The Flame and the Arrow" takes the story of Robin Hood and transfers it from England to Italy. The scene is set in twelfth-century Lombardy, at a time when that area was subject to the rule of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The villain of the piece is Count Ulrich the Hawk, the cruel German overlord of Lombardy. The Robin Hood figure is Dardo Bartoli, a hunter and skilled archer who leads a group of rebels against Ulrich after being outlawed, with the mute Piccolo the equivalent of Little John. There is also another villain, the Marchese Alessandro di Granazia, and a Maid Marian figure in Anne of Hesse, a beautiful German aristocrat who takes the side of the Italian rebels and falls in love with Dardo.

The film which obviously inspired this one was the Errol Flynn version of "The Adventures of Robin Hood", made twelve years earlier. Burt Lancaster, who had previously been a gymnast and a circus acrobat, was an obvious choice to play Dardo, the sort of swashbuckling role which Flynn had made his own in the late thirties and forties. (Lancaster was to go on to play similar roles in other films such as "The Crimson Pirate"). Here, he gets plenty of opportunity to display his athletic talents, doing all his own stunts, many of which (such as the scene where he swings from the chandelier) were clearly inspired by "Robin Hood".

Unlike Robin Hood, who is normally portrayed as a Saxon nobleman leading his people against their Norman oppressors, Dardo has a personal reason for resenting the German rulers of Lombardy. His wife Francesca has left him in order to become Count Ulrich's mistress, and much of the plot concerns Dardo's attempts to rescue his son Rudy, whom Ulrich has kidnapped. I felt, however, that the film did not make enough of the Dardo/Francesca/Ulrich triangle. Francesca is a minor figure who plays little part in the action, and Dardo's climactic duel at the end of the film (paralleling the one between Flynn and Basil Rathbone in "Robin Hood) is with the secondary villain Granazia, not with Ulrich, who is portrayed as being too cowardly to face his rival man-to-man.

Burt Lancaster was a much more versatile actor than Errol Flynn; I could not, for example, imagine Flynn in "The Birdman of Alcatraz" or "Lawman" or "The Train". (Or if he had made a version of "The Train", it would have had had Labiche leaping from carriage to carriage across the roof of the train, fighting hand-to-hand duels against the Nazis in a desperate attempt to rescue the priceless artworks). Within his relatively narrow range, however, Flynn ruled supreme, and for all his athleticism Lancaster never quite brings to his role the panache and charisma that Flynn brought to his in "Robin Hood" and similar films.

Unlike some reviewers, I did not see the film as a "spoof" of the swashbuckling genre, a type of film which was always characterised by a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek tone. It was, however, a genre with its own conventions, and "The Flame and the Arrow" was clearly intended to fall squarely within those conventions, not mock or parody them as, for example, Mel Brooks did in "Robin Hood- Men in Tights". Although it is enjoyable enough it is not, however, among the best of the genre- certainly not when compared with films like "The Adventures of Robin Hood". 6/10

Story is about 12th Century Lombardy under the iron heel of German Overlord Count Ulrich "the Hawk', but guerrillas resist. The plot begins five years before this time when Ulrich steals away the pretty wife of Archer Dardo who has no interest in joining the rebels. But this changes when his son is take from him. Burt Lancaster plays Dardo and Virginia Mayo plays his wife Anne. What steals away from the movie are the real actual acrobatics of warfare in those days. Fantastic circus performers show their skills. Lancaster, himself, was a circus performer, and certainly shows his muscular skills in this! Great fun!

Set in a little-remembered historical setting, the 1950 Warner Bros. swashbuckler "The Flame and the Arrow" finds its star, Burt Lancaster, showing off his great acrobatic prowess for the first time on screen. Since his spectacular debut in 1946's "The Killers," Lancaster had been featured in a run of moody, dramatic and noirish thrillers, but here, in his 10th picture (not counting his cameo appearance in 1947's "Variety Girl"), Burt finally seemed to be having some fun on the big screen. Appearing in color for the first time, big Burt here plays a character named Dardo Bartoli. A single father who lives in the Lombardy region in what we must presume to be the mid-12th century (the period when the Lombard League was formed to oust the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his Hessians, who had captured Milan in 1158 and burned it in 1162), Dardo has more than ample reason to be aggrieved with the Hessian Count Ulrich, aka The Hawk (hissably portrayed by Frank Allenby). Dardo's ex-wife had earlier "taken up" with the count, and his young son Rudi is soon kidnapped and ensconced in the count's well-guarded castle. Thus, accompanied by his friend Piccolo (Lancaster's boyhood pal Nick Cravat), the two attempt a rescue, but must ultimately content themselves with the kidnapping of the count's luscious niece, Anne of Hesse (beautiful-as-always Virginia Mayo), in the hopes of an exchange. But complications, both logistical and romantic, naturally ensue....

"The Flame and the Arrow" is a film that seems to be not as highly regarded as Lancaster and Cravat's follow-up swashbuckler, 1952's "The Crimson Pirate," which, in the interest of complete honesty--and to my own personal embarrassment--I must admit to not having seen. Still, the duo's initial outing has much to offer to the fun-loving fan of Saturday matinée-type entertainments. Lancaster and Cravat--who had formed the Lang and Cravat acrobatic team in the 1930s and performed extensively in circuses and nightclubs--get to show off their physical stunts here in various action situations, and although the two were hardly youngsters at this point (Burt was 37; Nick, 39), they are still remarkably impressive. No need for stuntmen with these two around, that's for sure! The film throws in a number of rousing combat scenes, and concludes with one of the great unsung swordfights in screen history, between Dardo and the traitorous Marchese Granazia (a nicely ambiguous performance from Robert Douglas); just look at how ferociously Burt swings his sword around in this scene! Virginia Mayo, a year after her terrific performance as James Cagney's moll Verna in "White Heat," looks absolutely sensational here in supersaturated Technicolor, and famed character actors Aline MacMahon and Victor Kilian are just fine in smaller roles. But this is most assuredly Burt's picture all the way, and his manifest joy in playing a physical-action character in a period swashbuckler is quite contagious. With that flashing grin and million-dollar set of teeth, no wonder all the girls in Lombardy seem to have a major thang for him! And thus, how little sympathy the viewer has for Dardo's wife, Francesca (Lynn Baggett), who would give up this man, as well as her cute son (appealingly played by young Gordon Gebert), in order to live with the evil but wealthy count!

"The Flame and the Arrow" was directed by the great Jacques Tourneur, the French-born filmmaker who is perhaps best remembered today for his 1940s RKO horror films--"The Cat People," "I Walked With a Zombie" and "The Leopard Man" (all made for producer Val Lewton)--as well as for the cult item "Curse of the Demon"; here, Tourneur demonstrates that he could be just as skilled and effective in another, nonhorror genre. Finally, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the lovely score that has been provided here by the renowned Max Steiner, who had previously contributed to such "minor" films as "King Kong," "Top Hat," "Gone With the Wind," "Sergeant York," "Now, Voyager," "Casablanca," "Mildred Pierce," "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and, again, "White Heat," in addition to a few hundred others (what an amazing career!). A classy affair from start to finish, "The Flame and the Arrow" is very much your standard Hollywood adventure fare, but done to a turn by a cast and crew that obviously took great pride in their craft; truly, a rousing entertainment for audience members of all ages.

Warner Bros. continued the Robin Hood tradition with "The Flame and the Arrow". Jacques Tourneur's movie casts Burt Lancaster - sporting what looks like a Buddy Holly hairdo - as Dardo, a freedom fighter in medieval Lombardy. Rallying his people to expel despot Ulrich (Frank Allenby), Dardo - a man of seemingly limitless wit - used some Roman ruins as his operations base. He and his mute friend Piccolo (Nick Cravat) employed lots of cool acrobatics in their raids on the castle.

There was one thing that looked very unrealistic, although it may have been accurate: Dardo's love interest Anne (Virginia Mayo) wears pants in some scenes, and even wears shorts in some scenes. I can't imagine that any woman in medieval Europe would have worn pants, let alone shorts. But maybe she really did dress like that. Whatever the deal was, Virginia Mayo is as hot here as she was in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".

Anyway, this is the sort of classic action flick that makes one keep wanting more. Silly at times, yes, but impossible not to like. Exactly the sort of film that people behind the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies would have loved to spoof (and they made a number of cartoons parodying this genre). Really good.

An entertaining swashbuckler with Burt Lancaster as a sort of Continental Robin Hood, who with his band of not always merry men (and women) rails against the strictures of the rich evil count who controls the district with an iron fist. In one of a number of unusual plot strands, Burt's son by the Count's daughter becomes the focus of a kidnapping which sets up the climactic finale when the castle is stormed and as you'd expect, almost every wrong, (bar the fate of the boy's mother) is righted.

Perhaps too many similarities from the legend of Robin Hood are employed for the story's own good, but familiarity breeds content as Dardo escapes death at the gallows, falls in love with the beautiful Virginia Mayo, engages in a do-or-die sword fight near the end and generally runs, jumps and swings about everywhere like the trained acrobat he was. At his side is his faithful, mute sidekick Piccolo, played by Nick Cravat, although quite how Burt makes sense of the latter's bowdlerised sign language is a mystery to me.

What I liked about the film was that Dardo isn't the gold-plated hero you'd expect. He's at times stubborn, misguided and in his early scenes with the tit-for-tat capture of Mayo as a pawn to get back his son, occasionally cruel. He's also insensitive to the claims of his son's mother on the boy and also has a kiss for every woman with whom he has even a passing acquaintance, but in the end this lovable rogue, played with great verve by a tousle-haired Lancaster, wins the day and I suppose the audience's affections.

The action is colourful if occasionally underpowered, the sets are fine, especially the castle interiors. Lancaster claimed to do all his own stunts but that seems very unlikely given the evidence and editing seen here, nevertheless it's his drive and energy which keeps the action moving. Mayo is fetching in her elaborate robes although her character seems too feisty to suddenly capitulate to Dardo's less than magnetic charms. Robert Douglas as the dashing but double-dealing Marquese and Frank Allenby as the tyrannical count are both very good in support.

I'm still scratching my head a little as to the relevance of its title to the film itself other than to advertise its action-packed credentials, but as swashbuckling entertainment, this lively movie was a fun, undemanding watch.

Although I gave both movies the same vote,I think that Crimson Pirate has more to offer.

Anyway,"the Flame and the Arrow" still remains a very entertaining movie with great action sequences. The acting is also very good,especially by one of my personal favorites Burt Lancaster(Dardo) and Nick Cravat(Piccolo),who both clearly enjoy their role and that's why they did it again in "the Crimson Pirate".The acrobatic sequences are sublime and really done by both actors,since they were old acrobat buddies.

Like Steve Macqueen would do later on on a bike,Lancaster is the hero who can show his acrobatic skills.Especially the last sequence of the movie shows that. Another great part of the film is the presence of the always beautiful Virginia Mayo,in my opinion the most beautiful actress ever together with Grace Kelly.

The story is not very hard to follow,which makes it more entertaining to pay attention to the several great action sequences,like the first attempt of Dardo to rescue his son and the final battle,which is maybe a bit chaotic.

Still,it has some weird and sometimes even unexplainable moments.For instance,when young Rudi is captured by Ullrich's men he laughs in the camera where he should be crying. And there is a very strange sequence near the end of the movie when the circus master looks at the bear and there is a guy with a wooden leg(!!) standing in the corner,absolutely weird!

Overall,a very entertaining medieval period movie! 9/10

This is one of a set of adventure spoofs that turned Burt Lancaster's career around in the early 1950s. It is usually seen as a first try at what would be more successfully done in THE CRIMSON PIRATE (1952), but it also should be seen in the film HIS MAJESTY O'KEEFE as well. Unlike the other two O'KEEFE is not a costume picture set in an earlier century, but it is set in the Polynesian archipelagos, so it has a different setting from THE KILLERS or I WALK ALONE. Lancaster could dominate the setting where acrobatics were the key to centralizing attention to his role (in the film noirs he could be a muscle man, but the brains in those film plots belonged to slicker characters: Albert Decker, Kirk Douglas, Dan Duryea).

Lancaster's first costumer is set in the Italy of the 13th Century when the Germans were ruling parts of the north (not the Austrians who ruled in later centuries, but the Germans from what is now Germany). This is the period of the warfare of the Guelfs (the German party) vs. the Ghibbelines (the Italian party). It was actually a pretty thick civil war, and Robert Douglas's equivocal position with the German invaders shows something about the level or political high wire walking that had to be done (and Douglas is not doing it too well - he can't afford to because of the tax demands of the invaders).

The history of the Italian city states in the Renaissance is far from covered in motion pictures (outside of Italy, of course). Besides THE FLAME AND THE ARROW one has to think of those Shakespeare films set in or with Italy in the background (ROMEO AND JULIET and OTHELLO come to mind). There is DECAMERON NIGHTS (three stories by Bocaccio from THE DECAMERON - with Louis Jourdan and Joan Fontane enjoying themselves). The silent film ROMONA gives the story of Savanerola's reform of Florence (via George Eliot's novel) to us. The Borgias got covered by BRIDE OF VENGEANCE and PRINCE OF FOXES, and the papacy of Julius II was covered in THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY.

The last film has Michaelangelo in center stage with the Pope, courtesy of Charleton Heston and Rex Harrison, but it also had an actor playing Raphael briefly. Leonardo has yet to get on film (for some unknown reason he is not seen fit for characterization in a film biography). St. Francis of Assisi has managed to get into one film: BROTHER SON, SISTER MOON, wherein the imperious Pope Innocence III (Alec Guiness) admits that meeting St. Francis only brings him a sense of shame for his other-worldliness. Considering that Innocence III was the most powerful Pope of all time (he humiliated the Holy Roman Emperor once) that is a statement slightly hard to believe. Yet it is one of the few scenes dealing with Renaissance Italy on screen, and the only notable appearance of that Pope.

THE FLAME AND THE ARROW deals with Lancaster's attempts to reclaim his son, whom his first wife has taken to live with her in the castle of the ruling German Prince. Lancaster is assisted in his attempt by Virginia Mayo (his new love interest - his first wife has become the Prince's mistress), Nick Cravat, assorted villagers. Douglas occasionally seems willing to work with Lancaster and his band of freedom fighters, but when his own interest is at stake is willing to sell them out. The end comes in a battle by the locals against the invaders, wherein Lancaster has to take care of both Douglas and the German Prince. It ends quite excitingly.

My choice of the odd quote: Norman Lloyd, who usually played villains on screen (SABATEUR) had one of his funnier parts here. Always slightly smarter than most people, Mr. Lloyd sees a chance to turn a feast for the local German troops and the Prince into a brouhaha. A band of strolling actors are there for entertainment, and one of them has accidentally gotten into the way of a soldier who had some duty that has to be done now. The soldier picks the poor actor up and throws him against some scenery. The other peasants and actors are shocked and dismayed by this act of violence. Quietly, Lloyd goes over to the chief actor of the company and whispers the above line. Within moments a full scale, uncontrollable riot has begun. Nothing like messing with an actor!

This was a blatant take off on the Robin Hood tale, complete with a Frier Tuck imitation, a Little John copy, another Maid Merrian, Alan-a-Dale, etc. The picture had nice props and some good acrobatics from Lancaster and his band of merry men, but the idea that a group of men armed only with sticks and rocks can take on city hall wears a bit thin. An all-right movie, but I consider it an action/adventure tale geared more towards children than adults. The action scenes were were not well choreographed, and the story was corny.

It is the best movie from my childhood. I love the 1950s and thats family movies. Burt Lancaster is one of the greatest movie stars and he plays perfect in this family action movie. He was (is) my Idol and of course Virginia Mayo is beautiful, soft and romantic and I love her too. Nick Cravat has always been one of my favorites. The Manus script is very good when we think about the replies and words. There is not a moment of dead, boring time in the hole movie's duration. Italian People like each other and fight together against the occupation force. It is a light family action with love, sympathy and honor. So I'm very glad now when I can watch this film again with DVD quality. I miss these great and lovely Stars very much.

The Flame and the Arrow is a classic Saturday matinée swashbuckler that doesn't try or pretend to be anything else, and as such it's one of the best of its genre. This 1950 technicolor feature rises above B status because of its incisive direction by Jacques Tourneur, a veteran Hollywood genre film maker best remembered for the noir classic Out of the Past and the horror classic Cat People, and also because of the spectacular athletics of an astonishingly youthful Burt Lancaster.

There's also an effective sound track by major film composers Max Steiner; Virginia Mayo as the love interest stands around very prettily, which is about all you expect the female love interest in a movie like this to do. It's the sort of film you might have thought was the best movie ever made when you were fifteen years old, and can still enjoy fifty years later. It's available in various DVD releases; I saw it on the Turner Classics DVD, which was an OK transfer of a rather muddy print; this film should really be remastered and put on Blu-Ray.

More swashbucklers came out of Hollywood in the late '40's-early '50's that any movie fan could be excused for not being able to tell them apart. "The Flame and the Arrow" must've looked like old news even when first released, though it does have Burt Lancaster and Virginia Mayo, and enough breathless matinée-idol pizazz to make it a middling time-filler. The original script (by Waldo Salt, of all people) chronicles the war between Italy and Germany in the 12th Century, with lots of action giving Lancaster the opportunity to utilize the acrobatic skills he learned before becoming an actor. Most of the acting is very broad (and loud), but the picture does look terrific in gorgeous Technicolor. Mildly diverting fare. ** from ****