À l'abordage

In his one and only film done for Universal Studios Errol Flynn plays a king's spy, an officer in the British navy sent to infiltrate the pirate lair on Madagascar and put their harbor guns out of commission. The head pirate Anthony Quinn doesn't trust him as far as he can throw a yardarm. But he does interest lady pirate Maureen O'Hara who is letting her hormones get control of her judgment.

This was probably a script that was meant for Jeff Chandler and possibly Rock Hudson or Tony Curtis, but they were all probably occupied so Flynn got the nod, loaned out from Warner Brothers by Jack Warner.

The story of Against All Flags has Flynn and two other crewman pretending to be deserters from a merchant ship and eager to join Quinn and fight as he put it Against All Flags, save the Jolly Roger. On one of the pirate raids the daughter of the Mogul of India played by Alice Kelley and her Scottish nursemaid Mildred Natwick. Only Flynn realizes who she is and that knowledge adds to his mission as he tries to keep her from harm's way. Kelley is a bit of a dim bulb and her failure to forget she's a princess puts the whole enterprise in danger.

No one will ever mistake this pirate film for Flynn's screen triumphs in Captain Blood or my favorite Errol Flynn film, The Sea Hawk. No great production values went into this film, you can really recognize the phoniness of the sets to easily.

As this was done tongue in cheek it gave the players a chance to indulge in a bit scenery chewing. Especially Anthony Quinn who digests a whole dining room set. Flynn gets by on his usual charm and O'Hara looks like a dominatrix in those skin tight thigh high boots she had to wear.

Still Against All Flags is entertaining and the fans of the principal players will enjoy it.

If you like pirate films, you shouldn't miss this one. "Against All Flags" is not a great film of the genre, but it is entertaining and enjoyable.

It has all the ingredients. Battles at sea, the hero, the villain, the hero's romantic interest, the final sword duel, good settings and color and special effects are very good too (don't forget we are in the early 50's).

I think the cast helps a lot if not for outstanding performances (there are not very demanding roles) but for actors that were symbols in this kind of movie. Errol Flynn -probably the all time swashbuckler- was aging here but he still had his unique screen presence. Maureen O'Hara was often casted in adventure films and her undeniable beauty was always welcome. And Anthony Quinn -not a major star back then, but a classical villain- was on his way.

Pure pirate adventure; no more, but no less.

By 1945, and after a string of solid WWII propaganda pieces, Errol Flynn’s hold over U.S. box office had started to decline so, in spite of the increased burden of waning looks, he embarked on a series of films pertaining to that genre which had earlier made his name: the swashbuckler. The first of these was a good one actually – ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1948) – but it also proved to be his last big-budget Hollywood starring vehicle. The rest of his sword-wielding days were spent wandering all over Europe: in England for KIM (1950), THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1953) and THE DARK AVENGER (1955), in France for ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN FABIAN (1951) and Italy for the aborted THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL (1953) and the little-seen CROSSED SWORDS (1954). However, Hollywood did beckon him one last time to his old seafaring ways – albeit for a modestly-budgeted Universal picture rather than a Warner Brothers ‘A’ production to which he had been accustomed when at his peak…

Still, the glorious Technicolor cinematography leaps off the screen here and, while an older and flabbier Flynn may look like the pale shadow of his former self, his red-headed leading lady Maureen O’Hara has a field day as a tomboyish buccaneer leader who deep down craves romance and wants to be treated like a lady. Anthony Quinn was still a few years away from his larger-than-life starring vehicles, so here he is typically seen as the baddie – the pirate captain Roc Brasiliano, a role he attacks with gusto. Like THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (1954) – a viewing of which preceded this one – AGAINST ALL FLAGS takes me back to my cherished childhood days of constant TV viewing when vintage Hollywood movies were the order of the day on both the local and neighboring Italian channels.

For all I know, this might well have been the very first pirate movie I’ve ever seen and I cringe at the thought of today’s generation of youngsters supposedly believing that the grossly overblown PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN trilogy is what buccaneering is all about! As I said earlier, AGAINST ALL FLAGS might not be the finest pirate yarn ever brought to the screen but it’s a solid example of this prolific genre all the same. Nowadays, the amorous persistence of the child-like Indian princess (Alice Kelley) towards her pirate captor Flynn may strike one as being awfully silly but the rest of it – despite clearly not scaling the heights of THE SEA HAWK (1940) and THE BLACK SWAN (1942), to mention the finest seafaring ventures of its respective stars – is briskly paced and reasonably engaging. Incidentally, the film would later go on to be remade as THE KING’S PIRATE (1967) with Doug McClure!

For what it’s worth, the unprecedented box office success of that unappetizing modern franchise is most probably what induced reluctant movie studios to dust off their catalogue swashbuckling titles and release them on DVD and, as a matter of fact, AGAINST ALL FLAGS itself was the one gem in a poorly-thought out “Pirates Of The Golden Age Movie Collection” set from Universal which also consisted of obscure dross like BUCCANEER’S GIRL (1950; with Yvonne De Carlo), DOULE CROSSBONES (1951; with Donald O’Connor) and YANKEE BUCCANEER (1952; with Jeff Chandler)! Value for money, perhaps but, so far, I have only acquired the Errol Flynn flick from other sources; even so, if the mood strikes me in future, I might wish to lay my hands on similar marine adventures like Edward Dmytyk’s MUTINY (1952), the afore-mentioned YANKEE BUCCANEER and PIRATES OF TORTUGA (1961).

"Against All Flags" is every bit the classic swashbuckler. It has all the elements the adventure fan could hope for and more for in this one, the damsel in distress is, well, not really in distress. As Spitfire Stevens, Maureen O'Hara is at her athletic best, running her foes through in defiance of the social norms of the period. Anthony Quinn rounds out the top three billed actors as the ruthless Captain Roc Brasiliano and proves to be a wily and capable nemesis for Brian Hawke (Flynn). For the classic adventure fan, "Against All Flags" is a must-see. While it may not be in quite the same league as some of Errol Flynn's earlier work (Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk, for instance), it is still a greatly entertaining romp.

A featherweight plot and dubious characterizations don't make any difference when a movie is as fun to watch as this one is. Lively action and spectacular stunts - for their day - give this movie some real zip. And there's some actual comedy from the ripping chemistry between the two leads. Quinn makes a good villain also, although his role is completely overshadowed.

But don't be fooled by Maureen O'Hara's tough broad role, this is as sexist as any Hollywood movie of this era. You might be able to forgive that because of the time in which it was made, but it's still hard to get past. For all the heroism and gruesomely adult off-screen situations, this is still little more than an adolescent good time.