The Flame and the Arrow

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

100%

TOMATOMETER

Reviews Counted: 7

61%
liked it

Audience Score

User Ratings: 253

All Critics | Top Critics

Average Rating: N/A
Reviews Count: 0
Fresh: 0
Rotten: 0

Average Rating: 3.5/5

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Movie Info

The first of actor Burt Lancaster's filmic associations with partner Harold Hecht, The Flame and the Arrow finds Lancaster cast as Dardo, an Italian Robin Hood battling the occupying Hessian troops. Dardo's stake in the matter becomes personal when his former wife Francesca (Lynne Baggett) moves in with Hessian leader Allenby (Robert Douglas). Francesca demands that the Hessians reclaim her son from Dardo; in retaliation, Dardo kidnaps Anne (Virginia Mayo), Allenby's niece. Allenby responds to this by taking several locals as hostages. This can't go on forever, so Dardo surrenders to Allenby and resigns himself to be hanged. Dardo's cronies, an acrobatic troupe headed by Nick Cravat (Lancaster's former circus partner and lifelong crony), rescue all the good people and wipe out the bad.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama
Directed By:

Jacques Tourneur
Written By:

Waldo Salt
In Theaters:

Jul 9, 1950 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Oct 23, 2007
Runtime:

88 minutes
Studio:

Warner Bros. Pictures

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Cast

Burt Lancaster
as Dardo Bartoli

Virginia Mayo
as Anne de Hesse

Robert Douglas
as Marchese Alessandro de Granazia

Aline MacMahon
as Nonna Bartoli

Nick Cravat
as Piccolo

Gordon Gebert
as Rudi Bartoli

Lynne Baggett
as Francesca

Frank Allenby
as Ulrich

Norman Lloyd
as Troubadour

Victor Kilian
as Apothecary

Francis Pierlot
as Papa Pietro

Robin Hughes
as Skinner

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Critic Reviews for The Flame and the Arrow

All Critics (7) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)

Tourneur, working with a script by Waldo Salt, turns the medieval action-adventure tale into a symbol of the French Resistance in the Second World War and locates its roots in class warfare.

May 13, 2013 | Full Review…

Richard Brody
New Yorker
Top Critic
Fun swashbuckler with inventive touches.

Jul 6, 2010 | Full Review…

Michael E. Grost
Classic Film and Television
Has Burt as acrobatic as you'll ever see him.

Dec 30, 2008 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Early Lancaster in Errol Flynn-type Robin Hood role; great acrobatics, comedy, action.

Mar 22, 2008 | Rating: 4/5

Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
...the actor's first big adventure frolic, and it comes off rather well. (Burt Lancaster Signature Collection)

Nov 11, 2007 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

John J. Puccio
Movie Metropolis
Lancaster swashbuckles with irresistible energy ...

Aug 18, 2006 | Rating: 4/5

Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Directed by Jacques Tourneur, this entertaining Burt Lancaster's Errol Flynn-like swashbuckling adventure was desrervedly nominated for some technical Oscars.

Jul 5, 2005 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com