Main Cast: Errol Flynn, Roger Livesey, Anthony Steel, Beatrice Campbell, Yvonne Furneaux
Release Year: 1953
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
Errol Flynn buckled his last swash in The Master of Ballantrae, playing out the final film of his Warner Brothers contract in this high seas adventure, liberally adapted from the Robert Louis Stevenson yarn. Flynn plays Jamie Durrisdeer, a Scottish heir, who fights for freedom against the British. When the rebels are defeated, Jamie must flee to the West Indies with Col. Francis Burke (Roger Livesey), an Irish soldier of fortune, in order to escape capture. After battling pirates, Jamie puts together a small fortune and returns to Scotland to marry his true love, Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell). But Jamie's hopes are dashed when he finds that Lady Alison, thinking that Jamie was dead, is now engaged to his brother Henry (Anthony Steel), who may have betrayed Jamie to the English. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Definitely not one of Errol Flynn's greatest films, The Master of Ballantrae is nevertheless a perfectly acceptable little swashbuckler. Tellingly, Ballantrae is a scant 90 minutes long, and this is part of the problem: it tries to tell far too much story in too little time. (The story it tells, by the way, bears only a surface resemblance to the Robert Louis Stevenson novel that is its source). By cramming so much plot into so small a running time, Ballantrae ends up sacrificing character, as well as logic. There's no time for details, and all is sketched in with the broadest strokes, with dialogue seemingly only used as a way to get from one event to the next. This does, however, make for a very fast-paced film, and if one is going to make a swashbuckler that has no time to really create characters, it's good to have Flynn in the lead role, bringing his own well-established character to the film. Flynn's best days were behind him by the time he made Ballantrae, but even if his leaps are not so spry or his reflexes as lightning-quick, he still handles a sword with flair and economy. Anthony Steel is colorless as Flynn's (too young) brother and Beatrice Campbell lacks charisma, but Yvonne Furneaux is good and Roger Livesey is quite memorable. Better than anything or anyone, however, is Jack Cardiff's photography, which adds as much color and excitement as one could possibly desire. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Felix Aylmer - Lord Durrisdeer; Jacques Berthier - Arnaud; Mervyn Johns - MacKellar; Charles Goldner - Mendoza; Ralph Truman - Maj. Clarendon; Francis de Wolff - Matthew Bull; Gillian Lynne - Marianne; Moultrie Kelsall - MacCauley; Charles Carson - Col. Banks; Jack Taylor; Stephen Vercoe
Credit
Ralph W. Brinton - Art Director, Patrick Crean - Choreography, Margaret Furse - Costume Designer, William Keighley - Director, Jack Harris - Editor, William Alwyn - Composer (Music Score), Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision, George Frost - Makeup, Jack Cardiff - Cinematographer, Harold Medford - Screenwriter, Herb Meadow - Screenwriter, Robert Louis Stevenson - Book Author
