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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Upon its release, "The
Master of Ballentrae" was considered a massive
undertaking and huge gamble on the part of Warner
Brothers. The lavishly perverse lifestyle of their
star, Errol Flynn, had caught up to him by this
point in his career, preventing any close up
photography except for some occasional snippets
shot through a thick filter.
The tale concerns England's crackdown on Scotland,
two romantic triangles and a bloody showdown
between two brothers (Flynn and Anthony Steel) who
find themselves on opposite ends. A lot of
visceral globetrotting ensues and the film,
regardless of its shortcomings, skips along quite
nicely through its mere 89 minutes.
Shot in Italy, Scotland and Wales it was a huge
hit in Europe but widely panned in the U.S. Set
aside the title if you're a fan of the Robert
Louis Stevenson novel, on which the film is
supposedly based, because this movie in no way
follows the book's plot. As a stand-alone film,
however, it is a rather inviting confection with
Flynn doing his swordplay and slick one-liners to
good effect on lavish sets. But Jack Cardiff's
brilliant photography is the real star here.
Warner Home Video gives us a nice looking DVD
transfer of this would be masterpiece. Edge
enhancement does crop up now and then but nothing
that will terribly distract one from enjoying the
film. Colors are rich and nicely balanced. Blacks
are deep. Age-related artifacts are kept to a
minimum. Over all, a clean visual presentation.
The audio is mono but very well balanced and
nicely restored. |
