Just how obedient was Oscar winner Burt Lancaster? The man was a hell of an actor. He was powerful in dramatic films, and in film noir and suspense, and even in comedy. He was so superb and heartfelt in Field of Dreams (Widescreen Two-Disc Anniversary Edition) . And, because of his circus background, it’s not too surprising that he would display a decided flair for swashbuckling. Which now leads us to one particularly neglected swashbuckler. In 1950, 2 years before the sublime The Crimson Pirate, THE FLAME AND THE ARROW was released, a rollicking adventure film starring Burt and his sidekick and long-time circus buddy Sever Cravat. This one’s where they first unleashed their heady heed of athleticism and acrobatics.
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The situation? In the twelfth century, northern Italy is suffering under the iron rule of the occupying German forces. But, in the mountains of Lombardy, the fires of rebellion are level-headed being stoked. We are introduced to the dashing, free-spirited Dardo (Burt Lancaster), a savvy huntsman and deadly archer (he’s nicknamed “the Arrow”), whose wife had years before abandoned him for a life of ease and riches with the fearsome Hessian ruler, Count Ulrich, also called “The Hawk” (Frank Allenby) . When Dardo, showing off for his son, shoots down Count Ulrich’s hawk, Ulrich takes Dardo’s son in retaliation. This act sets off the events which would ultimately transform Dardo into a leader of a peasant uprising against the Hessian invaders. Along the blueprint, he also takes hostage and romances the sparkling noblewoman Anne de Hesse (Virginia Mayo), who is Ulrich’s niece. This, in the midst of several unPC scenes of Dardo chaining up the Lady Anna. With another possible villain, the Marchese Alessandro (Robert Douglas) lurking in the wings, Dardo looks to be up against it. This unbiased might call for a bit of chandelier swinging…
I’m a bit puzzled as to why this film isn’t more well known. Yes, it borrows quite a bit from Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition) even as it holds to its tongue-in-cheek nature. And, moral, it doesn’t quite equal the polish, exuberance, and irresistible charm of Burt’s later, more lauded THE CRIMSON PIRATE. But THE FLAME AND THE ARROW does offer its fill allotment of lighthearted brio, vivid medeival pageantry, and, for its time, magnificent action sequences. Perhaps, ultimately, the success of one and the forgetting of the other may simply reach down to THE FLAME AND THE ARROW not being a pirate movie.
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Burt Lancaster was definitely one of our most physical and agile American actors. He had that masculine magnetism going for him, abetted by his blinding, razzle-dazzle, con man’s smile, his unruly shock of hair, and that rugged frame. And he had that bigger than life personality. Without a doubt, and with apologies to the delicate Virginia Mayo, Burt is the distinct centerpiece of this film. Your eyeballs can’t benefit but track him as he smiles engagingly, waxes passionate, and performs with zeal his feats of daredeviltry. And, with him, honest about step by step, somersault for somersault, and stunt for stunt is his partner Slit Cravat. Yes, they did their occupy stunts.
I’ve always been a fan of Crop Cravat, and this from only having seen him prominently in two films. Here, Slit Cravat plays another of his nonspeaking roles in Piccolo, faithful friend of Dardo’s. It must be celebrated that Slash Cravat isn’t restful in actual life. It’s unprejudiced that he had such a pronounced Brooklyn accent, which he was never able to shake off, that giving him lines in a period section would’ve been ruinous for the picure. Anyone steal Tony Curtis’s gruesome Brooklynese in The Unlit Shield of Falworth (”Yondah lies the castle of my foddah.”)? Another trivia about Nick: he played the gremlin on the airplane hover of the classic Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which starred a crazed William Shatner.
Directed with flourish by Jacques Tourneur, with rousing music serene by the ever trusty Max Steiner, and an Oscar nomination for best cinematography, THE FLAME AND THE ARROW doesn’t deserve anonymity. I admire swashbucklers. And, while Lancaster hadn’t made but a handful in this genre (again, mostly because he was so talented he could and did dip his fingers in many other film genres), I count him as one of my accepted buckler of swashes. I saw THE FLAME AND THE ARROW when I was a kid and, dang, did I appreciate its notice of chest-thumping action and acrobatics. Aid then, I was very remarkable bowled over by Burt Lancaster and his trot. I was never gladder than when I found out THE FLAME AND THE ARROW was finally coming out in dvd. This one’s more gritty than THE CRIMSON PIRATE, but there’s enough mirth, romance, and derring-do to create this a must catch for me. If CRIMSON PIRATE is a five star flick, then this one’s unprejudiced below. Let’s call it, four and a half stars.
By the device, for those with more padding in the wallet, this movie is also in Burt Lancaster: The Signature Collection (The Flame and the Arrow/Jim Thorpe-All-American/His Majesty O’Keefe/South Sea Woman/Executive Action) . If you’re a gigantic fan of Burt Lancaster, you might as well accept that one.
When I was a kid, “The Flame and the Arrow” was a staple at the Saturday matinee and I’m ecstatic to behold after 50 years, the film has not lost any of its wit or excitement, as noteworthy of a treat for adults as it is for children. It features Burt Lancaster, with the design of a Greek statue, at his handsomest and sassiest, those pearly whites glistening for the camera, and the fine Virgina Mayo, who also comes across as being carved from the finest Carrera marble.
Among the treats are watching the bouncing, athletic Burt go through his circus routine with sidekick/trainer Prick Cravat, with whom he started out early in his career as a trapeze artist.
The spot is lifted straight out of Robin Hood/William Express memoir, but who cares about such trifles when there are such comely men, blooming women, not to mention slimy hard-hearted villains, and magnificent scenery to appreciate? As can be said of so many grand films from the Golden Age, “they objective don’t design ‘em like this anymore!”
Top notch entertainment for young and stale alike. Add this one to your library and relish it with your children - and if you don’t have children, stare it with friends.
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