CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

grantss Mostly quite silly and hammy. There's only one good reason to see this...Set in medieval times, Lombardy in northern Italy is under the rule of the Hessians. A man, Dardo Bartoli, emerges to defy the rulers.The movie is essentially Robin Hood set in Italy, and not a good adaptation either. Quite unoriginal and predictable central plot and quite silly sub-plots.Performance are quite hammy. You wouldn't know Burt Lancaster would go on to become one of the biggest actors in the world he is so unconvincing. Fortunately, there is one performer that stands out: Virginia Mayo. She is stunningly beautiful and puts in the best performance of the movie. She's the only reason to watch this movie.

Lee Eisenberg Warner Bros. continued the Robin Hood tradition with "The Flame and the Arrow". Jacques Tourneur's movie casts Burt Lancaster - sporting what looks like a Buddy Holly hairdo - as Dardo, a freedom fighter in medieval Lombardy. Rallying his people to expel despot Ulrich (Frank Allenby), Dardo - a man of seemingly limitless wit - used some Roman ruins as his operations base. He and his mute friend Piccolo (Nick Cravat) employed lots of cool acrobatics in their raids on the castle.There was one thing that looked very unrealistic, although it may have been accurate: Dardo's love interest Anne (Virginia Mayo) wears pants in some scenes, and even wears shorts in some scenes. I can't imagine that any woman in medieval Europe would have worn pants, let alone shorts. But maybe she really did dress like that. Whatever the deal was, Virginia Mayo is as hot here as she was in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".Anyway, this is the sort of classic action flick that makes one keep wanting more. Silly at times, yes, but impossible not to like. Exactly the sort of film that people behind the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies would have loved to spoof (and they made a number of cartoons parodying this genre). Really good.

Spikeopath I honestly feel if anyone is does this film down for it's jovial nature then they surely are missing the point. I wasn't around at the time of its release, but I would have been surprised if the makers had marketed it as a searing swashbuckler for the ages. The film is fun, it tells a fun tale, and yes it's in the Robin Hood arc of plot structure, but ultimately it's a tale well worth watching due to the extended dexterity of its stars.I would think that tagging this film "The Acrobatic Peasant Vs The Horrible Hessian Lord" would serve it about right, the cast are having fun and really the viewer should be in on the joviality unfolding as well. Burt Lancaster and his old circus performing pal Nick Cravat dazzle with flings and flops, arrows and lances, and it all works for what I term perfect Sunday afternoon entertainment.All that and Viginia Mayo has a smile that could stop an army in its tracks, what more do you want ?, hooray ! 7/10

MartinHafer While this isn't the best adventure film I have ever seen, it might just be the highest energy film and featured stunts you just won't see in films by Errol Flynn or Ronald Coleman. That's because the star, Burt Lancaster, does most of his own stunts--having been a circus performer in a previous career along with his partner, Nick Cravat! It's obvious that he is one of the most athletic leading men in history and apart from his film, TRAPEZE, it's the most incredible stunt-work you'll see him do on film. A couple years after making this film, Lancaster returned for THE CRIMSON PIRATE--a better film, but one that features less of the athleticism of THE FLAME AND THE ARROW. It is interesting that Lancaster's circus partner, Nick Cravat, also plays his best friend in this film and several others (such as THE CRIMSON PIRATE). Some of their stunt-work together is truly amazing.As far as the plot goes, it's a reworking of the Robin Hood story, but this time it's set in Lombardy (a region in North-central Italy that includes Milan) and the invaders are Hessians (from the region around Frankfurt, Germany). Apart from that, the story elements are very, very similar. Even the part played by Virginia mayo is a copy of Maid Marian from Robin Hood. However, despite being a bit recycled, the film is exciting and fun--if also a bit like "fluff". Good old fashioned, but not especially deep fun, it's a must for Burt Lancaster films--he's dynamite.