La Flèche et le flambeau

"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.

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¨.

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

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.

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.