utgard14 Technicolor swashbuckler with ample doses of humor. I wasn't expecting much from this film. The only classic swashbucklers I've ever really enjoyed were the Errol Flynn ones. This one always seemed very "kiddy" to me and in some ways it is. It does have an all ages appeal to it. But I tried it out because it has a great reputation and was directed by one of the premiere directors of the 1940's, Robert Siodmak. Needless to say I wasn't disappointed.The star of the film is Burt Lancaster but he's helped throughout by his real-life friend and former circus partner Nick Cravat. The two do many of their own stunts and it's very enjoyable to watch. Unusual opening where Lancaster talks to the camera seems like something that might have been shot for a trailer but then left in the movie. Rousing score and upbeat tempo throughout. Just a fun movie I would recommend to anybody who isn't a snob about the genre.

A_Different_Drummer Movies were made differently then. The stars, most of whom did not use their own names, were under contract to studios, studios run by the original "mad men" (nothing to do with advertising) and it was all about volume, not quality. The stars were expected to churn out so many "pictures" a year, and if one or more actually turned out to be memorable, that was merely a bonus. Into the mix comes Lancaster, one of the most physical actors ever to work in Tinseltown (former acrobat), a bunch of second-stringers, and voila you have the template which years later Johnny Depp would use so effectively to spoof the genre. Plot? What plot? It's about rip-roaring fun from the first scene to the last, and Lancaster delivers. He really could act, you know, but this film simply requires him to have fun and bring the audience along for the ride. One of the best of its kind. The sad thing was watching Lancaster age in the years to follow. Moreso than others of the era, he hated getting old because his work was so heavily based on his sheer physical presence.

James Hitchcock "The Crimson Pirate" is a swashbuckling adventure film which has much in common with "The Flame and the Arrow" from two years earlier. Both have a historical setting and star Burt Lancaster as the leader of a group of freedom fighters. Both films allow Lancaster to show off his skills as an acrobat (before becoming an actor he worked in a circus) and also co- star his close friend and former circus partner Nick Cravat. In both films Cravat's character is mute, although he himself was perfectly able to speak; apparently the reason was that he had a strong Brooklyn accent which the producers felt was inappropriate in a historical drama. Someone should have told the producers that any American accent- not just a Brooklyn one- would have been anachronistic in 12th century Italy, and there is no reason why a New Yorker should not have served on an 18th century pirate ship. The film is set in the Caribbean some time the 18th century. (Don't ask exactly when; this is not a film which places a high value on historical accuracy). Lancaster plays the pirate chief Captain Vallo, known as "The Crimson Pirate". He and his crew become involved with a rebellion on the fictional island of Cobra against the tyrannical rule of the King of Spain and his special envoy Baron Gruda who has been ordered to crush the rebels. Vallo also becomes romantically involved with Consuelo, the beautiful daughter of the leader of the rebels. The plot, in fact, is rather more complicated than that brief summary might suggest; Vallo starts off as a cynical double-dealer, playing Gruda and the rebels off against one another in the hope of maximising his profits, but eventually throws his lot in with the rebel cause, motivated partly by idealism and partly by love for Consuelo. There is also a sub-plot about Vallo's treacherous first mate, Humble Bellows, who is plotting to depose him as pirate captain. (For some reason Bellows always speaks a pseudo-archaic dialect, referring to everyone as "thee" and "thou", although he often gets it wrong; "thee be" instead of "thou art"). The film, however, doesn't really do plot any more than it does historical realism. The story is little more than an excuse for some spectacular (at least by the standards of the early fifties) action sequences and plenty of acrobatic derring-do from Lancaster and Cravat, who plays Vallo's lieutenant Ojo. Vallo, his men and the rebels are eventually enabled to defeat the government forces because a brilliant scientist puts at their disposal not only a hydrogen balloon (possible within the time-frame of the movie, given that the first such balloons appeared in the 1780s) but also, anachronistically, inventions such as nitroglycerine (discovered 1847), a flamethrower (first used in World War I) and a tank (ditto). I was surprised to discover that the film was directed by Robert Siodmak, as I had always associated him with more serious fare such as "The Killers" (which also starred Lancaster) and "The Spiral Staircase". He was clearly a versatile director, but on the basis of this film swashbuckling adventure does not seem to have been his strong suit. "The Flame and the Arrow" may have its weaknesses, but at least it has something approaching a coherent plot and does not descend into silliness in the way that "The Crimson Pirate" tends to, frequently abandoning both coherence and credibility, generally in order to introduce some more circus stunts from Vallo and Ojo. The denouement is something of a cheat; the heroes in a historic adventure film ought to defeat the villains by being stronger, braver or more resourceful, not by suddenly having modern weapons placed at their disposal. In the early part of his career, Burt Lancaster was sometimes dismissed as "Mr Muscles and Teeth", although this seems unfair as even in his early days he was capable of producing fine performances in serious films like "The Killers" or "From here to Eternity". "The Crimson Pirate", however, is very much one of his "muscles and teeth" films, making demands upon his athletic abilities but far fewer on his acting ones, except perhaps the ability to grin occasionally. 5/10

screenman Before the languid Johnny Depp feminised buccaneers, there was effervescent Burt Lancaster to show how it should be done.You've only got to see him in action here to realise what a discovery Lancaster was to the movie business. Strong, fit, athletic, and well-muscled without looking like a steroid-queen, whilst with a drop-dead handsome face, a smile that made wide-screen essential, and teeth to give dentists wet-dreams. Dare I say it; he was a beautiful man? And he could ACT. Just check him out in 'Seven Days In May'.Here he's at his outlandish best. More visceral than the whey-faced Erol Flynn, a rip-roaring champion of the underclass, a pirate touched with humanity. As a one-time professional tumbler and acrobat, he scorned the use of stuntmen and what you see here is largely what you get; Burtie jumping, leaping, somersaulting and swinging in a way that would leave young Depp in need of resuscitation. Even by middle-age in the later 'The Train' he hurt his leg during a jump, but just bashed-on, limping his way through the movie. What a geezer!Our hero has a perfect foil in the form of small mixed-race mute Oyo - played for laughs by diminutive Nick Cravat - and despite a mutiny, imprisonment and every kind of escapade he comes out on top, defeating the tyrant and winning the girl - a not-so-comely Eva Bartok.This is an action comedy par-excellence. It is certainly contender for No.1 in the genre. It's as worthy a watch today as it was on its first release almost 60 years ago. Surely never bettered.I defy anyone, whatever their age, not to enjoy this movie.Highly recommended.