Il principe di Scozia

The exciting story of two brothers, Scottish noblemen whose family is torn apart by the Jacobite rising of 1745 , rallying all the nobles and chieftains of all the Scottish clans supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie . Bonnie Prince Charlie raises his royal standard on the 19th of August 1745 and claims the crowns of England , Scotland and Ireland in front of a gathering of Scottish nobles and chieftains . The Jacobite Rebellion has begun . During the succession debacle, the House of Stuart received the support of their Catholic subjects , while King George II of the House of Hanover had the support of the Protestants . Catholic France supported the House of Stuart's claim to the English , Scottish and Irish thrones. And there took place Bonnie Prince Charlie's defeat at Culludon . Flynn plays as the forceful Jacobite Jamie Durrister , the heir to Scottish title who sets off wearing the white cockade, the symbol of the cause , and he gets involved in a rebellion with Bonnie Prince Charlie against the English Crown , then the riot fails . Flynn heads for the west Indies where he and his partner and faithful servant (Roger Livesey) undertake several adventures . As Jamie accompanied by his new friend Irishman Francis Burke find themselves on board a smugglers ship . Both of them amass quite a fortune through piracy . As he becomes a pirate and fights against the French Capt. Arnaud (Jacques Berthier). Meanwhile, Jamie winning ways in fair ladies . Jamie eventually returns to Scotland where he finds that his brother has taken over his title as well as his longtime sweetheart . The outrageous Master Jamie is torn between vengeance and brotherhood , versus his brother Henry Durie (Anthony Steel) who has more traditional values and social wiles . The enmity between the fraternal rivals and the love, for both , of the stalwart Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell) is also a main theme .

This is an amusing rendition based on vintage book , set in 18th century Scotland , during the Jacobite Rebellion ; as the plot revolves around what happens after the brothers toss a coin to see who joins Prince Charlie and who remains to oversee the family estate . The screenplay may not be entirely correct in detail but the portrayal of the Jacobite Rebellion is both very accurate and insightful , surprisingly good for a Hollywood film . Colorful flick developing deeds about battle of Culludon and subsequent events with superb cinematography in Tecnicolor by Jack Cardiff and powerful score by William Alwyn . This classic story of romantic adventure , filmed in location , comes to life enriched by the brilliant photography , as the color of the Scotland's fields is stunning and being freely based on historical facts . A good clean fun with a legendary Scottish adventurer against the British army , the Red Coats . It is a fun adventure movie that certainly hits the mark ; being plenty of action , thrills , brilliant costumes and catching score ; all meld together under William Keighley 's fine direction along with a frankly excellent support cast . Combination of overwhelming battles , and full of villainy , romance , swashbuckler and heroism . Master of swashbuckling , Flynn could happily have found a better vehicle for his faculties than this entertaining rendition . Flynn's sword flashes as often as his smile . Well played by Errol who starred various ¨Sword and Swagger¨ films and was superstar of Warner Brothers swashbucklers . Although Errol isn't nearly at his most agile and deft style . Errol Flynn was 43 when he made this movie , but his wild lifestyle had diminished his health and made him less able to perform his own stunts , as he had in earlier films . Previously , Flynn made his best swashbucklers and played successes as ¨Captain Blood¨ , ¨Adventures of Robin Hood¨, ¨The prince and the pauper¨ , ¨Sea Hawk¨, ¨The private lives of Elizabeth and Essex¨ , ¨Gentleman Jim¨ . Flynn also performed some Westerns as ¨Dodge City¨, ¨Virginia City¨, ¨Santa Fe Trail¨, ¨They died with their boots on¨, ¨San Antonio¨, ¨Silver River¨ , ¨Montana¨. And wartime movies as ¨Objective Burma¨, ¨Norhern pursuit¨, ¨Dive Bomber¨ , ¨Edge of darkness¨ , ¨Desperate journey¨. Errol Flynn's last film for Warner Bros before he was released from his contract in 1952 , he had been with the studio for 18 years . Nevertheless, Flynn's riotous life had put him long past his peak swashbuckling days , as this movie unfortunately demonstrates it , and the 43-year-old Errol was generally felt to look too old to play the dashing young hero .

The Scottish Highlands are a treat for your eyes in glamorous Technicolor similarly to recent TV series ¨Outlander¨ . Being luxuriously shot by Cardiff who also directed some pictures and including a sensitive as well as thrilling musical score . The movie was well made by William Keighley who shot Noir Films : ¨Each dawn I die¨, ¨Ladies they talk about¨,¨ The Street with no name¨, ¨G men¨, ¨Bullets and ballots¨ ; Costumer : ¨The prince and the pauper¨; Drama : ¨Green pastures¨, comedy : ¨The bride came COD¨, ¨the man who came to dinner¨, ¨George Washington slept here¨ and adventure : ¨The Master of Balantry¨ . However , this film would be a failure and panned by critics ; it is , nowadays , best considered . The flick will appeal to adventures buffs .

Other retelling about this popular novel are : TV movie 1984 by Douglas Hickox with Michael York , John Gielgud , Ian Richardson , Timothy Dalton , Nickolas Grace , Finola Hughes , Ed Bishop , Brian Blessed , Nick Brimble ; TV series , 1975 , with Brian Cox , Julian Glover , Brigit Forsyth , Fulton Mackay and TV series , 1962 , with John Breslin ,John Cairney ,Hilary Thomson .

There are some problems with this version of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, not least of which is the changing of the ending and parts of the story to make it more appealing to the juvenile appetite. Psychological complexities are minimized here, so that what you're getting is an adventure yarn about greed and jealousy. It could have been a lot more.

Yet there are compensations. Jack Cardiff's photography is really eye-catching, and Mr. Livesey carves a nice bit of ham from his role. Flynn himself seems more interested in the proceedings than at any time since before the war. He is out of condition, and lacks physical vigor, but a clarity of eye indicates he may have had some inkling of what this could have been.

Made to utilize Warners Brothers frozen assets in England, the film is not Stevenson, but is but no means a bad way to pass part of a rainy afternoon.

During the 1950s, Errol Flynn was a full-fledged alcoholic who was just counting the days until liquor would eventually take his life. As a result, he looked extremely old and puffy in these films and the overall energy level of the films were very low. Sadly, like Alan Ladd, his career was cut very short because of the drinking.

Despite this, MASTER OF BALLANTRAE is one of only a few shining moments in an otherwise drab decade for Flynn. Now this isn't to say the film is great and I am sure that had Flynn made the film ten or twenty years earlier it would have been better (as often he looked a bit drunk and immobile), but it still was enjoyable and held my interest.

The film is based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novel by the same name--a story very similar to another famous work by Stevenson, "Kidnapped". Like this other tale, they are set in the period immediately following the defeat of the forces of Bonny Prince Charlie after the Battle of Culloden. This time, Flynn plays a brother forced to leave his homeland because those loyal to the Prince were being rounded up and executed. I am actually glad the film left Scotland, as the pirate sequences were exciting (even if the Tortugas look nothing like they do in the film--there are no mountains on these barren islands off the Florida Keys).

In addition to a sluggish but acceptable performance by Flynn, he was very ably supported by Roger Livesey--the only actor in the film who really came off as exciting or three-dimensional.

Flynn, though pickled and clearly the worse for wear, gives a fine performance here. In fact, his haggard features compliment his role as a defeated war veteran. You`ll see little of the humour and athletic prowess of Flynn`s early movies, but it`s a grand experience none the less. The supporting cast are fine, especially Livesy. But the leading lady is not up to Flynn`s standard. Olivia should have made a comeback for this one. That said, Flynn does engage in some obviously stunt-doubled sword play. However, he is neither as humorous, mischevious or as boyish as he was before. 8/10

Errol Flynn's 1950s work has always been taken for granted as being inferior to the star's output during his period of glory (1935-45); personally, I've always liked AGAINST ALL FLAGS (1952), which is forthcoming on DVD from Universal: now that I've caught up with this one, I can safely say that it too emerges as a very adequate addition to his string of popular swashbucklers.

The appeal of the film is actually two-fold: apart from being a typical Flynn vehicle, it's based on a classic adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson; incidentally, not having read the original, I was surprised the narrative took the star from the highlands to (the more familiar territory of) the high seas – where he's involved with many a colorful character, at least three women, and even a usurping sibling. Perhaps to account for Flynn's age (he was 44 at the time), his character isn't quite as agile as in earlier adventures – given that he's wounded some three times during the course of the film; that said, as already mentioned, his attraction to females remains undimmed (though, in perhaps another sign of maturity, he never actually strays from his devotion to fiancée Beatrice Campbell) – ditto his wit, especially when it becomes necessary to put-down some gruff and pompous adversary.

This lively costumer is competently helmed by Keighley, a regular throughout Flynn's heyday, and deals with the 18th century struggle by the Scots to break free from British rule and elect Bonnie Prince Charlie as their sovereign. Besides, the film is boosted by an array of British players (including Anthony Steel as Flynn's over-eager brother, Felix Aylmer, Mervyn Johns, Ralph Truman, Francis de Wolff and, especially, Roger Livesey – cast against type as the star's fun-loving Irish sidekick, a role usually filled by Alan Hale); the Warners DVD I watched, then, really does justice to the film's gorgeous color cinematography (courtesy of the great Jack Cardiff).

Ultimately, while no classic, THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE is a pleasant romp and, at this stage, I wouldn't mind checking out the rest of Flynn's ventures in similar vein: actually, I only have three more to go – THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN FABIAN (1951), CROSSED SWORDS (1954) and THE DARK AVENGER (1955) – but their low-profile (and, in the case of the first two, their European backing) doesn't augur well for the films' imminent availability...