Master of Ballantrae (1953)

[moira finnie]

Master of Ballantrae (1953) which I came across recently, is late, late in the day for that favorite bad boy, Errol Flynn but if only Robert Louis Stevenson could've met Flynn, I suspect he would've enjoyed his company, despite the filmmakers' considerable liberties with Stevenson's convoluted, rather complicated plot centering around the disastrous effect of the defeat of the rebels at Culloden on Scotland in 1746. Btw, bring this battle up sometime at a Highland Games Festival and you'll hear all about it just like it happened yesterday! Ah, the Gaels have such a way of living in the moment, don't they?

Yes, Errol's eyes have bags under their bags and occasionally he looks a wee bit drawn, but he still has a zestful way with the always absurdly wonderful dialogue that this type of adventure tale teems with...as when, after his intended (Beatrice Campbell, who could have been Deborah Kerr's icier twin) delivers a blistering assessment of his character, he comments, with relish, "What a bride she'll be!" Of course, Flynn has also been making whoopie with the local tootsie, played appealingly if inexplicably by French actress Yvonne Furneaux. I found her infinitely more interesting than the aristocratic Campbell.

Anthony Steel, who played Flynn's much younger, straight arrow brother, has little to do, though he does seethe nicely with jealousy, fealty to his lineage and walks one heck of a narrow moral tightrope throughout much of the pic. Felix Aylmer as Laird and Poppa to Flynn and Steel (cripes, mom must've been quite the looker for the lads to have won this divergent roll of the genetic dice) and Mervyn Johns both seem to have shown up largely for a fairly easy payday.

No resting on his laurels for Errol Flynn however. His rollicking screen life takes him from Scotland to the Caribbean and back again.
Flynn also finds time to be stabbed, shot, drowned, knocked unconscious and almost hanged more times in this movie than just about any other of his considerable adventure flicks.

He teams here with a rascally Roger Livesey as an Irishman hauling about 12 tons of Hibernian blarney around the seven seas. Livesey, who does look as though he's having as much fun as Alan Hale ever could in similar roles, plays one of the Wild Geese, introducing himself oh, so colorfully by claiming that "You have the honor to address Colonel Francis Burke, gentleman of Dublin, chevalier of France, and hunted refugee of a devastated ragtag army." And, faced with certain death, Livesey cites his main complaints as "Not [having] much time to remember all the girls you've known, all the laughter you've heard, all the gold you've spent, and all the plans you had to spend more. The places we've not seen, Jamie! The things that lie about the world, the fun of it!"

Jacques Berthier as an aesthetic French pirate with a longing for the finer things in life makes for an interesting foil of Flynn and Berthier's second in command, Matthew Bull, is a dull heavy as played by Francis De Wolf. One longs for a Laird Cregar to reappear on the poop deck.

With a few scenes actually filmed in Scotland, Master of Ballantrae features an all too brief scene of misty moors and Highlands before we are whisked back to the soundstage for several scenes. Veteran director William Keighley certainly maintains a brisk enough pace throughout the film, though one can't help occasionally longing for the dash of a Michael Curtiz at the height of his powers. Despite the fact that several people on the web seem to find this second rate, it was a Flynn film that I was happy to see, just for one last chance to see the great adventurer show everyone else how it ought to be done, one more time.

Does anyone else like or dislike this movie?

[pktrekgirl]

I like this film. It is true that it is Flynn past his prime. But let's face it - NO ONE can pull off absurd dialog in an action/adventure yarn like Errol Flynn.

From Captain Blood forward, he could get away with saying lines that anyone else would be laughed at for saying. One of these days I should post a thread or something: the most ridiculous lines ever pulled off by Errol Flynn.

Picture any other actor saying them and they become downright silly and lame. But Flynn pulls them off with finesse!

Something to be said for that

[moira finnie]

It's good to know that someone else enjoyed this fairly obscure Flynn movie. The only other actors who could instill this great genre with the necessary dash and brio in the sound era might have been Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone, (even though Basil was too often confined to being a malefactor most of the time).

Though each of them tried to make a valiant effort, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Louis Hayward never really made me believe the way those earlier guys did. Fairbanks was a great villain though--as evidenced by Ronald Colman version of The Prisoner of Zenda.

[pktrekgirl]

^ I never cared for Louis Hayward. I guess it's one of those purely irrational dislikes...but I just don't like him.

Now, as for Basil Rathbone, I think he is swell. But I actually LIKE him as a villain in these action/adventure films. He did an excellent job in all of the Flynn films he was in...and was actually quite alluring, in a 'bad boy' sort of way, in Captain Blood. I've seen him play villains in in other, non-Flynn, action/adventure films as well - The Mark of Zorro, The Adventures of Marco Polo, and The Garden of Allah, to name just a few...and he is excellent in all of them!

Of course, he is good in his non-villainous roles as well - stuff like The Dawn Patrol...and of course all of the Sherlock Holmes films.

But I think he is a HUGE asset in these Flynn adventure films. He was known for being the best swordsman in Hollywood, so these roles were perfectly suited for him.

Certainly one of the more underrated actors around, IMO.

Now, as for Tyrone Power...I don't know. I like him very much in his non-action/adventure roles - things like The Eddie Duchin Story, Nightmare Alley, Witness for the Prosecution, In Old Chicago and the like. But I've only seen one of his swashbucklers, (The Mark of Zorro), and frankly, I was not hugely impressed. Maybe it was just my imagination...or maybe I was just expecting more after all of the hype I'd heard about him....but he just seemed of awfully small stature to be playing that role. I have no idea how tall he was...but I never got that 'larger than life' feel from him like I do from Flynn. I never felt that 'total command of the screen' feeling. He was certainly a handsome man and a good actor...but I just wasn't mesmerized by him like I am with Flynn in those sorts of roles, where Flynn takes total command of the screen.

I agree with you about Doug, Jr. I loved him in The Prisoner of Zelda (although as you might imagine, the bulk of my attention was fixated on Ronald Colman ) ...but for the most part, I think my favorite of his films are the romantic comedies and light dramas. He was very good in one 'hard' drama - Success at Any Price...but most of the time I prefer him in stuff like Having a Wonderful Time or Union Depot.

[MissGoddess]

Sadly, I missed this one. I will look for it on dvd, if possible. I don't mind seeing Errol "past his prime", his looks always remained interesting, if dissolute and weary.

I agree with PK about Louis Hawyard--I have yet to warm to him in anything.

I love Tyrone Power, as a swashie, too, but I have always felt that he does give the appearance of being a little on the slight side (I've read he was 5'10"). He was not bulky or muscular, so it's his charisma that has to carry the conviction he will save the day.

[pktrekgirl]

^ This film is out on commercial release, Miss G. So you should be able to grab a copy.

Glad it's not just me with regard to Louis Hayward. He is just one of those actors I can't get excited about. *shrugs*

I hope that I will like Ty in some of his other swashbucklers (which I have yet to watch). It wasn't that I *disliked* him in THE MARK OF ZORRO. But rather, I was not as impressed as I expected to be, given how, on another board I post on, a small group of girls vote him 'the best' at quite literally EVERYTHING. Best lover, best kisser, best swashbucker...blah, blah, blah.

Good grief, you'd think Tyrone Power hung the moon!

And we ALL know Gary Cooper hung the moon, so that position is clearly ridiculous!

[mrsl]

pktrek girl:

Try to catch Tyrone Power in Captain from Castile, Son of Fury, the Story of Benjamin Blake, The Black Swan, or Prince of Foxes. Trust me, he's yummy in all of them. Zorro doesn't give him the chance to shine like his others because he's always behind that dumb mask, or hiding from anyone seeing him, including the audience. It's like I said in my thread under General Chat, because of certain stars belonging to other studios, we've missed a whole lot of great performances from folks we hardly know, unless we have FOX (which I don't, but I recall a lot from when I was younger and they were all on the afternoon, or Friday night movie).

Anne

[ken123]

pktrek girl:

Try to catch Tyrone Power in Captain from Castile, Son of Fury, the Story of Benjamin Blake, The Black Swan, or Prince of Foxes. Trust me, he's yummy in all of them. Zorro doesn't give him the chance to shine like his others because he's always behind that dumb mask, or hiding from anyone seeing him, including the audience. It's like I said in my thread under General Chat, because of certain stars belonging to other studios, we've missed a whole lot of great performances from folks we hardly know, unless we have FOX (which I don't, but I recall a lot from when I was younger and they were all on the afternoon, or Friday night movie).

Anne

I prefer the yummyness of Miss O' Hara in " The Black Swan ", I think that Linda Darnell was yummy in " Zorro ".

[MissGoddess]

^
Good grief, you'd think Tyrone Power hung the moon!

And we ALL know Gary Cooper hung the moon, so that position is clearly ridiculous!

Mais, bien-sur!

[mrsl]

Ken123:

With a handle like yours, I would expect your response, but in any case to each his own and I don't care, as long as you liked the movies.

Anne

[stuart.uk]

Miss G

Louis Hayword did impress me in a couple of movies. to me he was the best Simon Templar, even better than George Sanders and certainly Hugh Sinclair, before Roger Moore made the part his own and put them in the shade. his first Saint was The Saint In New York in 1938 and has in common with Roger's The Saint Sees Throught It-1962 where Templar actually falls in love, only as in both films she's killed by a bullet when trying to help the hero. Hayword's second and last Saint, The Saint's Good Friday-1953 was filmed in the UK and had a strong British feel about it with local actors in the cast.

i also liked his version of The Man In The Iron Mask and The Son Of Monte Cristo

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched this film years ago when I was going through an Errol Flynn phase in my youth I epxected to watch it behind my hands and find him clumsy or an embarrassment but he was delightful, I do agree with the eye bags under the eye bags but he was still full of zest.

I read that Errol found it an embarrassment to be an actor, he never respected his talents and would rather have been an intellectual. Yet he was the best there was at the swashbuckler roles (with the possible exception of Doug Snr). It's such a pity because no one else had as much panache to carry out these roles.