The Dark Avenger (1955)

Fantastic!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

There is a DVD of this movie that shows its excellent wide screen color cinematography. Another big plus factor of this movie is its basis in historical fact. The Black Prince, portrayed by Errol Flynn, was a real person, the Prince of Wales in old England of the 1300's. He really did marry a noblewoman named Joan, here portrayed by Joanne Dru. Many of the characters portrayed in this move were real, such as the King of France who is correctly mentioned as a prisoner of England, and the Dauphin of France who was suddenly forced by circumstance to rule in his father's absence. But the big ultimate winner of all the warfare was French hero Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable of France, who is portrayed in this film. Although depicted here as losing a battle, du Guesclin really did eventually regain almost all of France from the English and other assorted groups. These characters are chronicled more fully in a fine book called "The Distant Mirror" by noted historian Barbara W. Tuchman. The book also documents the constant wars, castle sieges, attacks, counter attacks such as those presented in "The Warriors". Believe it or not, these guys really did run around in a bloody, crazy, messy hundred years of warfare all over France and parts of Italy and the Habsburg Empire. And the English did have a claim on Aquitaine and fought for a long time to retain it.So the movie is not just swashbuckling for its own sake. For me, understanding that the circumstances and that the major figures presented here are historical adds a new perspective to what you might be tempted to call "just another swashbuckler". The only failing that I perceive to all this is that not much time can be allowed for character development (hence the Tuchman book for reference- its well written but really long).Errol Flynn's acting is good as it always was throughout his career, but alas he is too dissipated to be able to swash many buckles, although he or his double do participate in some action scenes. Dru is not effective in her part which is only secondary to this film's story, but Peter Finch and others including a young Christopher Lee do a fine job in supporting roles. Yvonne Furneaux steals the movie from all these stars with a lovely fun performance.So this film has a lot of action in a true historical perspective, is well made and features good wide-screen cinematography. I can't pigeon-hole this as "just a swashbuckler" because it is a historical film at the same time, and you can't just say "its another late Flynn" because in his late films he grew as an actor and still tried to deliver a performance while suffering the severe decline of his health related to alcoholism and heart failure."The Warriors" lacks depth but is overall a pretty good action movie.

It is set during the 14th century, in the Hundred-Year War . Edward IV (the pudgy Errol Flynn) served as the king's representative in Aquitaine , where he and his cousin Joan of Kent kept a court which was considered among the most fashionable of the time . It was the resort of exiled kings such as James IV of Majorca and Peter of Castile . Prince Edward of Wales is the son of King Edward III (Michael Hordern) of England and he also is the heir to the English throne . This moving film deals with the rebel French knights led by the nasty Count De Ville (Peter Finch) who resent his power in French Aquitain and scheme to kill Edward IV . Then , there takes place the Prince Edward's brave rescue of the widow Lady Joan (Joanne Dru) and his children from the clutches of the villainous count and his hoodlums . Swashbuckling/historic movie with the old hero Errol Flynn who proves still some his feats , as fighting , batting , and sword-play against the evil enemies , but he buckles his way gallantly through this stirring actioner . Also the last Errol Flynn to see along with ¨Against all flags¨, ¨Master of Balantry¨ and ¨Crossed swords¨.The picture is partially based on real events ; the true facts were the followings : The English army occupies French Aquitaine , but rebel French knights vow to continue the war and oust Prince Edward of Wales, English ruler of French Aquitaine . He served as the king's representative in Aquitaine, where he and Joan kept a court which was considered among the most fashionable of the time. It was the resort of exiled kings such as James IV of Majorca and Peter of Castile . Peter of Castile, thrust from his throne by his illegitimate brother Henry of Trastámara , offered Edward the lordship of Biscay in 1367, in return for the Black Prince's aid in recovering his throne. Edward was successful in the Battle of Nájera , in which he soundly defeated the combined French and Castilian forces led by Bertrand Du Guesclin. However Peter did not pay fully and refused to yield Vizcaya , alleging lack of consent of its states . Edward retreated to Guienne by July . Edward lived in a century of decline for the knightly ideal of chivalry . On one hand, after capturing John the Good, king of France, and Philip the Bold, his youngest son, at the Battle of Poitiers, he treated them with great respect — at one point he gave John permission to return home, and reportedly prayed with John at Canterbury Cathedral. Notably, he also allowed a day for preparations before the Battle of Poitiers so that the two sides could discuss the coming battle with one another, and so that the Cardinal Périgord could plead for peace. However, some argue "he may have been playing for time to complete preparation of his archers' positions . The Black Prince returned to England in January 1371 and died on 8 June 1376 , at 46th years old , after a long-lasting illness that was probably amoebic dysentery contracted ten years earlier while campaigning in Spain .The motion picture shot in England was professionally directed by Henry Levin , though has some flaws and gaps . Levin began working as director assistant and dialogue expert and subsequently graduated to direction features , and turned out movies in just about every genre over the next decades ; shooting entertaining pictures but more and less completely familiar and derivative stories . His heyday was in the 1960s , when he turned out several bright , fun and frothy sex comedies , notably : Come fly with me (1963) and Honeymoon hotel (1964) . He made several adventure movies as Genghis Khan , The wonderful world of Grimm Brothers , The bandit of Sherwood forest , The return of Montecristo and his greatest success : Journey to center of earth . Although Levin's forte was light comedies , one of his most interesting films were two dark , brooding westerns The Lonely Man (1957) and Desperados , both of of them played by Jack Palance . He also made two hit thrillers : Matt Helm and The Ambushers . He finished his career piloting made-for-television movies, and died on the final day of shooting Scout's Honor (1980).

Errol Flynn stars in what would be one of his last adventures, in this movie called The Dark Avenger AKA The Warriors. The story starts with the facts concerning the Hundred Years' War, which was between England and France for control of the French throne. As the film starts, we see a battle between the British and the French (on whose soil I'm not quite sure) just ending with French prisoners being taken, one of them being Peter Finch, who is not very acquiescent to the rule of the British and doesn't mind rebelling against them and inciting a revolt among the prisoners. In order to kill Prince Edward (Errol Flynn) and overcome their imprisonment, they devise a plan to kidnap a lady, whom they know Edward has taken a fondness for, and her two younger brothers. The rest of the film concerns her rescue. Such is the plot of this pretty understandable film. Some may say, and even I, after seeing the film for the first time, that it is rather simple and not terribly exciting. And, what adds to its awkwardness is the fact that Peter Finch is not too convincing as a Frenchman, considering the fact he was British. But it does have its good points, with Errol Flynn in his well-known genre of film, the lovely Joanne Dru (game-show host Peter Marshall's sister) and a plot you can follow. With good production values, including an unusually moving score, which I liked from the opening scene, this is one of Errol Flynn's turkeys that may not be that bad, if you'll only give it half a chance.

Years ago I read a book on the Hundred Years War by an English historian named Desmond Siward. The author's premise was that there is indeed an English and a French interpretation of the conflict. The English see it as a great period of glory and conquest in their history. The French look on it as a century of agony for their people. Professor Siward came down pretty hard on his fellow countrymen and said the French version is far closer to the mark.Case in point is Edward, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Edward III of England and military genius bar none. He was in fact the architect and inspiration of their military victories at Crecy and Poitiers. Edward was also a pretty bloodthirsty guy who led a massacre at Limoges and also negotiated an alliance with the Castilian Ruler Pedro the Cruel. I'll let his name speak for itself.The movie here has the English as liberators as Edward comes to the continent to enforce his father's claim on Aquitaine. In fact that had been part of the English crown through their descent from Eleanor of Aquitaine. In point of fact the Black Prince was there trying to enforce Dad's claim on the throne of France itself through his mother who was a daughter of the French king Philip IV the Fair. That was what the whole Hundred Years War was about, the English trying to conquer France, pure and simple.An aged Errol Flynn who's dissipation is plainly showing is the Black Prince. He looks older than Michael Hordern who appears briefly as Edward III. I think Flynn may very well have been older than his "dad."Joanne Dru plays Joan of Kent, widow of Sir John Holland and beloved of the Black Prince. The love story is one of the great medieval legends of Merrie Old England and maybe they should have made a film on just that. But Ms. Dru looks bored throughout. She was soooo much better in Red River, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, and All the King's Men.Peter Finch plays the "villain" Count Robert DeVille, deputy of the Constable of France, DuGuesclin who waged a successful guerrilla war against the English although it wasn't called that then. Finch is a villain because he and other nobles won't accept a peace treaty with England that their King John has signed in captivity. How rude of them. Finch is the best one in this film and he could easily have been written as the hero.This was the last of Errol Flynn's swashbucklers and he was clearly getting too old for believable swordplay.