THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1953) *1/2 In which it transpires that Scottish parties are more than a bit like Irish parties, and British soldiers don't know how to open a door. Oh well. Swashbuckling legend Errol Flynn is less than impressive-his dodging the parries of allegedly master swordsmen appear to be in slow motion-but some will find solace in that he appears to be sober throughout. Others, frustration. It's the kind of movie where they have to tell you that he's courageous, and that the girl's a really good dancer, because otherwise you wouldn't likely have figured any of it out. Roger Livesey has some tremendous lines courtesy of Robert Louis Stevenson, and while he doesn't miss all of them he never sounds more Irish than Errol does Scottish, or the French guys sounds French. I kept thinking Yvonne Ferneaux might be able to liven things up a bit as the heroic slut but given half a shot she turns out to be worse than the rest of 'em. So....lousy acting, a plot you can foresee from seconds in, mysteries that are so obvious that you're not sure if they're supposed to be mysteries or not...they couldn't find better pirate suits than that sitting around the studio anywhere? The water looks nice and there are some cool ships, but I've never been one for sailing.
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