THE FLAME AND THE ARROW at HOLLYWOOD TEEN MOVIES

TITLE: The Flame And The Arrow
CLASSIFICATION : PG
YEAR OF RELEASE : 1950
DIRECTOR : Jacques Tourneur
STARRING : Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Robert Douglas, Aline MacMahon, Frank Allenby, Nick Cravat, Lynn Baggett, Gordon Gebert, Norman Lloyd, Victor Kilian, Francis Pierlot, Robin Hughes.
TAGLINES:
* No adventures so stirring since screen adventure began!
* "The woman goes with me", he shouted and a thousand flames lighted his way...!
* The challenge is hurled from the ramparts! He'll fight to the death for the love of his life!

ABOVE LEFT: This fantastic foreign movie poster of "The Flame & The Arrow" is available to buy. Click the poster for details.
BELOW: A great still from "The Flame & The Arrow" featuring Burt Lancasteris in action is available to buy. Click the still for details.

"The Flame & The Arrow" in an enjoyable action adventure in the tradition of Robin Hood. The film moves at a rollicking pace, with loads of action, spectacular swordplay and a number of incredible acrobatic stunts performed by Burt Lancaster himself. Lancaster and his sidekick Nick Cravat were both circus acrobats before they became actors and in this film they dazzle audiences with their leaps and vaults. In "The Flame And The Arrow", Lancaster & Cravat play Dardo and Piccolo, two swashbuckling freedom fighters that must do battle with the villainous overlord Count Ulrich ('The Hawk') as a result of Lancaster's son being taken. "The Flame And The Arrow" is good old-fashioned swashbuckling at its best. There is enough action, romance and excitement in this film to keep even today's more demanding audiences entertained. The key elements that put this swashbuckler one notch above many of the others are, the spectacular stunts, the magnificent cinematography and the absolute charm of the two stars (Lancaster & Cravat). The are no computer generated effects to worry about, just pure excitement and over-the-top stunts, this film is amazing to look at, it is the real deal, an adventure yarn, for everyone, young & old, male or female.

A merrie olde tale... with an acrobatic twist!

Fans of stalwart screen swashbuckling found a hero to match the mighty legends of Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Errol Flynn when Burt Lancaster took a medieval Hessian castle - and the moviegoing public - by storm in The Flame And The Arrow. Lancaster's brand of flamboyant derring-do may be the most exuberant, braggadocio fun since the movies learned to talk. The Flame And The Arrow is an exciting Robin-Hood-like yarn set against the castle battlements and banquet halls of medieval Lombardy, where Lancaster (as Dardo the Arrow) leads the peasantry in revolt against a vile Hessian warlord (Frank Allenby) and wins the hand of a lady-fair (Virginia Mayo). The heroic, straight-ahead plot is the perfect framework for the film's glorious Technicolor array of mamoth sets, elaborate costumes, vivid pageantry - and dazzling displays of Lancaster's nimble athletic artistry. With his former circus partner Nick Cravat (who, as in The Crimson Pirate, does a delightful comic turn as Lancaster's mute side-kick), he puts on a rollicking display of acrobatic roughhousing, complete with flips, human pyramids and trapeze work, that leaves his earthbound enemies looking like 90-pound weaklings.

The Flame And The Arrow is scorching, hit-the-bull's-eye entertainment. And most especially it's Academy Award winning tough guy Lancaster at this romping, stomping, whomping best!

The Flame And The Arrow(1950) VHS
Rousing adventure saga set in medieval Italy stars a swashbuckling Burt Lancaster as the leader of a rebel army tangling with Hessian troops whose leader (played by Robert Douglas), has welcomed Lancaster's ex-wife (Lynne Baggett) into his arms. Things get really nasty when Lancaster kidnaps Douglas' niece (Virginia Mayo). With Nick Cravat, Norman Lloyd. 88 min.