By the Sword

Normally, I like Leonard Maltin and can sympathise with his reviews but he seems to have watched a different film here entirely. It is not really a revenge story, "by-the-numbers" or otherwise. There is a man with a mission here but cheap vengeance isn't his goal. The leads do an excellent job of portraying antagonistic personalities coming slowly to the boil in the claustrophobic world of the fencing salon as the characters evolve. And they do evolve.

As for Errol Flynn doing it better, that is a fatuous comment in the extreme. Apart from his swordfight on the beach with Basil Rathbone in "Captain Blood", his fencing always looked very stagy to me. The last fight in "By the Sword", by contrast, is the single most vicious fencing combat I've ever seen. It is the only time I have ever had the impression that the combatants actually intend to kill one another. A brilliantly choreographed sequence.

I thought this movie was very good for several reasons. The first was that the plot was woven very well around a sport that does not receive much attention, fencing. I know very little about fencing but this was a good introduction. It is almost an artform, and the aura of the training school added another dimension. Having novices being taught fencing allowed the viewer to pick up on the basics.

Secondly was the casting. Eric Roberts in my opinion is one of the best actors going around and pairing him up with F. Murray Abraham, you really can't go wrong acting wise. The supporting cast was merely there to add to the plot and to help develop some atmosphere.

Without giving too much away, this is a movie about revenge that chips away at the start through flashbacks but builds to an inevitable but pulsing showdown. Eric Roberts plays the part of an egotistical past fencing champion and present training supremo. F Murray Abraham is a man with a hidden past, linked to fencing that you feel must come out sooner or later.

The action scenes involving fencing were admirable and while people take acting for granted, for both the afore mentioned actors to handle foils as they did would indicate they had some previous understanding of the sport.

I don't think I am giving too much away by saying F. Murray Abrahams character Max, in addition to attempting to break in as a fencing instructor is also taking cautious steps in trying to establish relationship ties after being incarcerated for a very long period.

All in all a very pleasing time filler, that also exhibited the hustle and bustle of the city it was filmed in, despite most of the action taking place inside the training school for aspiring fencers.

Okay, so some scenes in this film might make a fencer cringe, but for the average viewer there is good entertainment to be had here. The central characters do the job required to keep the action going, although Eric Roberts character is somewhat of a cardboard cutout. The script allows for little character development for his fencing master portrayal, and I suspect he has simply done exactly what the director asked. The fencing scenes are decent action,with some interesting swordplay in foreground while mental fencing goes on between the characters. The plot is fairly simple, and some of the developments in the plot do seem to a little unsubstantiated. But this is not a film to make you cry or think deeply. It is good, simple, entertainment. Watch with an open mind, and enjoy a bit of fun.

How many films are about fencing? Very very few. The Princess Bride, Three Musketeers and Zorro, etc. are often listed as such but that is not fencing. That is sword fighting. This film is about sport fencing. It is set in a real fencing club or salle, with the old school roll up grounded strips circa early 70's and includes many scenes of fencing, including group and individual lessons along with electric epee fencing. In addition, there are scenes of the armory room and the rows of stored weapons in the club. If you are looking for a film loaded with fencing, this is really it.

Sure, the fencing leaves something to be desired and the acting varies especially among the student fencers. The fencing in the movie is fairly realistic. Fencing now is more wild, faster and athletic. But nearly 30 years ago it was more controlled which is shown in the bouts. Eric Roberts, a non-fencer, does a pretty good job anyhow even mixing French commands with English in his lessons. F. Murray Abraham, who is in really good shape in this film, also impresses during a few scene where he is taking a saber lesson and epee fencing. There are a few hokey scenes and two love stories tacked on, one of which is used to help show how one how the maestro, a former champion, is grooming his top student to become like him - driven to win at all costs with no feelings for others. The brutality of Roberts during his lessons with his top students - he often wacks them with the side of his weapon's blade when they foul up - is not unheard of. This was very commonly done among the old European coaches to their students. Corporal punishment for mistakes during a lesson got the point across quickly to the students.

The fencing equipment and uniforms are correct. F. Murray's fencing outfit is a bit dated. He wears an old school waste length (pre electric scoring) saber jacket, a really old Castello or Santelli mask and brown knickers. But he does get it done. There is a funny scene if you catch it. When F. Murray is shown crossing the busy NYC street to go to work a the salle as the janitor, he is carrying a blue Adidas shoe-box. Thereafter he is shown wearing the very old style Adidas fencing shoes in nearly every scene, even while he is just the janitor in the club and later when he is coaching the new students.

It is a bit predictable with the final fight scene, but it ends well. If you want a movie that is about the sport of fencing and a lot of it. this is about your only choice. There is the foreign movie The Fencer that came out a couple years ago. Have not seen it.

Hey, so the fencing is a bit hokey. The movie is "not" about fencing, if it were we would all be asleep in 10 minutes. I have fenced on and off for over 30 years so I know a little bit about it. I would rather watch something like this than any fencing bout ever put on. So all you purists out there, lighten up. Like the movie for what it is, don't dis-like it for what it isn't. The story was not about fencing, the fencing was only a backdrop to the story.