☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Flame and the Arrow (1950) – J. Tourneur
Fun swashbuckler with Burt Lancaster in
the Robin Hood-styled role (presumably meant for then broken-down Errol Flynn)
demonstrating his real acrobatic talents after a few years in films noir at the
start of his career. Here, he is an
Italian rascal drawn into fighting the Hessians after his wife leaves him for
the evil Ulrich the Hawk and they kidnap his son. Virginia Mayo plays the Hawk’s niece who
inevitably falls for Dardo (Lancaster).
Naturally, there are lots of fight scenes in the castle including some
swordfighting and Lancaster’s partner from his days as an acrobat (Nick Cravat)
plays a key role as a mute (apparently because his Brooklyn accent was too
thick for period pieces). The director
was Jacques Tourneur who worked across many genres (starting with Val Lewton in
horror but making excellent westerns and war pictures as well as Night of the
Demon, an all time great, later in his career) and doesn’t miss a trick in this
one. In the end, we have nothing more
than a rip-snorting genre picture that knows its audience, winks a few times,
and offers a lot of cheeky and bravado entertainment -- and often that’s enough.
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