Burt Lancaster Signature Collection (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

The story concerns the exploits of a band of brave souls who stand up against the German invasion of Northern Italy, of whom one, Dardo Bartoli (Lancaster), becomes a reluctant leader. Bartoli joins this hearty troupe of Italian freedom fighters because he wants to rescue his son from the clutches of the boy's greedy mother, who ran off five years earlier with the dastardly German Count Ulrich (Allenby), known as "The Hawk." In attempting to rescue his son, Bartoli meets the lovely Lady Anne de Hesse (Mayo), and there's a bit of romance along the way.

The movie uses some wonderfully evocative matte paintings to bring the story to life, and Warners filmed it mostly on location in various scenic Southern California locations. Director Tourneur never slackens the pace, and because the running time is a mere eighty-eight minutes, there is little opportunity for things to get dull. If somebody made the picture today, the filmmaker would undoubtedly stretch things out another hour, add a ton of CGI special effects, and bore us to death. 7/10

Video:
The screen size measures 1.33:1, taken from the original 1.37:1 frame of the day. The Technicolor is a tad dark, but there is a good, natural richness to it. Besides, it was the Dark Ages, after all. Warners cleaned up the print nicely, too, leaving very little dirt or lines, although there are occasional instances of minor flickers and fades. Definition is so-so, varying from crystal clear to slightly blurred.

Audio:
As we might expect of a typical 1950 film, the audio is a 1.0 monaural. The Dolby Digital processing helps smooth it out, and a small amount of noise reduction quiets the background. The midrange sounds excellent; otherwise, there isn't much range or impact.

Extras:
Each of the films in the set is also available separately and each contains vintage featurettes, classic cartoons, ten or eleven scene selections (but no chapter insert or on-screen chapter menu), trailers and trailer galleries, English as the only spoken language, English and French subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired. Specific to "The Flame and the Arrow" is, first, a ten-minute "Joe McDokes" comedy short, "So You're Going to Have an Operation" in black-and-white. Second, there is a classic Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies Technicolor cartoon, "Strife With Father," starring Beaky Buzzard. Finally, there are theatrical trailers for "The Flame and the Arrow" and "The Crimson Pirate."

Parting Thoughts:
For me, the prizes of the package are "The Flame and the Arrow" and "Jim Thorpe--All American." However, the others are not bad, either, just not quite up to the same measure. In any case, if you're a Burt Lancaster fan, the set is a must, remastered in fine picture and sound. And no one in Hollywood had a smile like Lancaster's. He was everything we think of in a handsome, leading-man movie star, plus he could act. Something of a rarity, actually.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---