The Flame and the Arrow (1950)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writer:

Waldo Salt (written by)

Release Date:

9 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance

Plot:

Dardo, a Robin Hood-like figure, and his loyal followers use a Roman ruin in Medieval Lombardy as their headquarters as they conduct an insurgency against their Hessian conquerors.

Plot Keywords:

Rebel | Rescue | Niece | Betrayal | Acrobat

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Dardo Bartoli
Virginia Mayo	...	Anne de Hesse
Robert Douglas	...	Marchese Alessandro de Granazia
Aline MacMahon	...	Nonna Bartoli
Frank Allenby	...	Count Ulrich aka The Hawk
Nick Cravat	...	Piccolo
Lynn Baggett	...	Francesca (as Lynne Baggett)
Gordon Gebert	...	Rudi Bartoli, Dardo's Son
Norman Lloyd	...	Apollo, the Troubador
Francis Pierlot	...	Papa Pietro
Robin Hughes	...	Skinner
Victor Kilian	...	Apothecary Mazzoni

Also Known As:

The Hawk and the Arrow (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:A (1950) | UK:U | Finland:K-12 (1972) | Finland:K-16 (1951) | West Germany:12 (nf) | France:U | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Norma-F.R. Productions

Trivia:

Nick Cravat, who plays Piccolo, was an acrobat who was teamed with Burt Lancaster before Lancaster became a star. He appears in many of Lancaster's movies. In this one, and in The Crimson Pirate (1952), he plays a mute. The reason was that his thick Brooklyn accent, which he could not lose, would have been wildly out of place in such period pieces.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The outlaws' pet bear cub is a Malayan Sun Bear, of which there could have been none in medieval Italy.

Quotes:

Skinner: ...we're civilized and the art of civilization is doing natural things in an unnatural way.

Enjoyable swashbuckling

One of the more enjoyable swinging-from-the-chandelier-with-a- -sword adventures made a la Erroll Flynn. A lively pace, loads of action, a witty-if-fluffy script, an enchanting score, good performances, and above all an incredible number of acrobatic stunts make this utterly enjoyable. Lancaster had been a circus acrobat before he got into films, and managed to work every stunt he could do into the script. He even balances and poses on the top of a 20-foot pole, for real. I'm still amazed that a guy that big could be so good.

(This film also had an ongoing effect on Hollywood: At the time Lancaster's career was fading, he was typecast as a big dumb lug in the kind of Film Noir that was rapidly going out of fashion. He realized that he had to do something, and rather than rely on the studios he bought this script and produced it himself. And gave himself a whole new career, an example not lost on other actors. This was one of the films that marked the beginning of the end of the paternalistic studio system, one that showed actors that they could control their own careers. For good or ill.)