Just so...so bad

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It's all in the execution; great stunts, supporting cast (Piccolo in particular), beautiful maids-in-waiting, and a Max Steiner score. I saw it as a boy on TV in B/W, and loved it. I still do.

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.

There may be swashbuckling galore but the story line is so convoluted.Burt Lancaster shows his trapeze skills which would serve him well years later in a film with that very name-Trapeze. He does this after the film comes to a resolution.The problem here is the writing as the film's plot is ridiculous. Hessian conquerors of Lombardy have the head leader of the former running off with Lancaster's wife in the film. They had had a child together and the boy grows up with his father until the mother returns with the Hawk to claim the child.From that point on, it becomes tit for tat. Virginia Mayo, niece of the hawk, is kidnapped by Lancaster's band and of course she falls for the Lancaster character during this nonsense. Her uncle had sent the Marchese to marry her, only to imprison him when he refuses to pay his taxes. Of course, there is treachery on the part of the Marchese in this very ridiculous, inane film.

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...