The Flame and the Arrow
Director:
Jacques Tourneur
Cast:
Burt Lancaster….Dardo Bartoli
Virginia Mayo….Anne de Hesse
Robert Douglas….Marchese Alessandro de Granazia
Aline MacMahon….Nonna Bartolia
Norman Lloyd…Apollo, the Troubador
Warner Home Entertainment presents The Flame and the Arrow. Screenplay by Waldo Salt. Running time: 88 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: July 9, 1950.
Jim Thorpe – All-American
Director:
Michael Curtiz
Cast:
Burt Lancaster….Jim Thorpe
Charles Bickford….Glenn S. “Pop” Warner
Steve Cochran….Peter Allendine
Phyllis Thaxter….Margaret Miller
Jack Bighead….Little Boy Who Walk Like Bear
Warner Home Entertainment presents Jim Thorpe – All-American. Screenplay by Everett Freeman & Douglas Morrow. Running time: 107 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: Aug. 24, 1951.
His Majesty O’Keefe
Director:
Byron Haskins
Cast:
Burt Lancaster….Captain David Dion O’Keefe
Joan Rice….Dalabo aki Dali
Andre Morell….Alfred Tentins
Abraham Sofaer….Fatumak, Medicine Man
Warner Home Entertainment presents His Majesty O’Keefe. Screenplay by Borden Chase. Running time: 91 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: Jan. 16, 1954.
South Sea Lady
Director:
Arthur Lubin
Cast:
Burt Lancaster….Master Gunnery Sgt. James O’Hearn
Virginia Mayo….Ginger Martin
Chuck Connors….Pvt. Davey White
Warner Home Entertainment present South Sea Lady. Screenplay by Earl Baldwin, Edwin Blum & Stanley Shapiro Running time: 99 minutes. Unrated. Theatrical release: June 27, 1953.
Executive Action
Director:
Dick Miller
Cast:
Burt Lancaster….James Farrington
Robert Ryan….Foster
Will Geer….Ferguson
Gilbert Green….Paulitz
Warner Home Entertainment presents Executive Action. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Running time: 91 minutes. Rated PG. Theatrical release: Nov 7, 1973.
Warner Home Entertainment presents Burt Lancaster: Signature Collection. Five movies on Five DVDs. DVD released Oct. 23, 2007.
The Movies
Burt Lancaster is hard to resist. He’s got a politician’s smile that forces you to befriend him. Even when he proposes an outrageous plan, you trust Burt won’t steer you wrong. That’s not to say he’s always honest. Indeed his greatest roles have him as characters that mess with your mind in Elmer Gantry, Sweet Smell of Success and The Swimmer. Burt Lancaster: Signature Collection focuses on Burt’s more athletic roles. He’s fighting the Japanese, the Fijians, the Germans, the Green Bay linebackers and the Secret Service. This boxset has Burt in matinee mode.
The Flame and the Arrow has Burt playing a cross of Robin Hood and William Tell. He’s an archer who needs to purge his Italian region of an evil German monarch. He also has a family issue with the Hessian tyrant. Burt looks great bouncing around the screen in medieval garb. Virginia Mayo shines as the love interest when she’s collared and chained. This should be a popular classic for fetish fans.
Jim Thorpe – All-American tells the story of one of America’s greatest natural athletes. He was a Native American who went on to glory in so many sports. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He won Olympic gold in both the Decathlon and Pentathlon in 1912. However he got screwed when he was outed for playing semi-pro baseball. They stripped him of his medals. Although now we send pros to the Olympics, back then the event believed in the “noble” BS of amateur athletes instead of Dream Team 24. The film shows how Thorpe didn’t have a charmed life with his natural talent. After his days on the field ended, Thorpe’s money dried up. Thorpe ends up dressed like a cigar store to make a buck. He was a superstar before they were paid $30 million a season. The story is told by football legend Pop Warner at a banquet. Lancaster plays Thorpe with more reserve and anger than his usual gleaming self. They come up with a “happy ending,” but this isn’t an inspirational biopic. This is a warning to modern athletes to get as much cash as they can.
His Majesty O’Keefe is a Fijian adventure tale about coconut oil. Burt gets tossed off his ship thanks to a mutiny. He washes up on a tropical island and quickly takes control of the place. He converts the lazy natives into industrious folk. He becomes extremely wealthy in a short amount of time. The Germans aren’t happy when they have to deal with Burt for their coconut oil action. Burt has to fight them and a few rebellious islanders. This is one of those “white guys conquer the natives” films that upsets modern academics. While it’s not a great film, the location footage of Fiji is stunning in the Technicolor hues.
South Sea Woman has Burt playing a Marine Sergeant who is up for court martial for deserting his post, highjacking a ship and other charges. He refuses to give a defense of his actions. He’s prosecuted by Hayden Rorke, beloved as Major Bellows on I Dream of Jeannie. His best pal is Chuck Connors, known in many living rooms as The Rifleman. This is like a TVLand movie. While Burt stays silent, others give pieces of the truth. Turns out what led Burt to commit all these crimes is a too story too weird to believe it that involves the Japanese and Guadalcanal. Connors matches Burt’s tough yet comic tone. Virginia Mayo plays the girl who comes between them. This time she doesn’t wear a collar.
Executive Action proposes that a group of rich oil tycoons decided to have JFK killed in order to stop the Kennedy dynasty. Burt is the head of the conspirators who are plotting the Dallas surprise. While the idea sounds far-fetched, the story makes it very realistic. They show the killers working out various ways to shoot the president as he visits Dallas. This is a must see at your Conspiracy Film Festival.
While this doesn’t contain the cream of his career, Burt Lancaster: Signature Collection has films that show him having a good time on the screen.
The Flame and the Arrow, His Majesty O’Keefe and South Sea Woman are popcorn pleasures. They’re packed with action and allow Burt to show off his athletic nature. Jim Thorpe – All-American allows him to stretch his emotional muscles as well as his legs. Executive Action reminds you that there were films about a Kennedy cover up before Oliver Stone arrived in Hollywood. No matter how sticky the situation, it’s always reassuring to see Burt crack a grin. You know he won’t let you down.
The DVDS
VIDEO:
Executive Action is 1:85:1. The other four films are 1.33:1. The transfers are rather clean.
AUDIO:
The soundtracks are in Mono. The subtitles are in English and French.
EXTRAS:
The Flame and the Arrow
So You’re Going to Have an Operation (10:31) is a Joe McDoakes short. Does actor George O’Hanlon sound familiar? That’s because he was the voice of George Jetson. Joe gets rushed to the hospital for a severe case of indigestion, but ends up on the operating table.
Strife With Father (7:15) is a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. Beaky Buzzard is adopted by a sweet pair of English sparrows. Dad attempts to teach him how to catch a chicken using a hand grenade.
Theatrical Trailer (2:31) lets us know this is the arrow that changed an era.
The Crimson Pirate (1953) Theatrical Trailer (2:47) gives us a peak at Lancaster as a bare chested pirate.
Jim Thorpe – All-American
So You Want to Be a Paper Hanger (10:37) is a Joe McDoakes live action short. Joe has to wall paper his living room before his wife hosts an afternoon tea party. His neighbor Marvin is no help. Arthur Q. Bryan, the voice of Elmer Fudd, has a cameo.
Hare We Go (7:24) is a Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. Bugs and Christopher Columbus prove the world is round.
Theatrical Trailers (9:30) has the original promos for Knute Rockne All American, Angels in the Outfield, Jim Thorpe – All American and The Winning Team.
His Majesty O’Keefe
So You Want to Know Your Relatives (10:04) is a Joe McDoakes live action short. This time Joe is constantly helping out everyone. His friends get him to be the surprise guest on “Know Your Relatives.” All of his friends and his wife are surprised when they discover Joe’s secret past.
I Gopher You (6:55) is a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The gophers get ticked off when their vegetable garden is swiped by people in vans. They track down their plants to a factory and barely survive the canning process.
Theatrical Trailer (3:12) sells the pic as a National Geographic story in motion with plenty of location footage.
South Sea Lady
So You Want to Be an Heir (9:01) is a Joe McDoakes live action short. This time Joe has a chance to inherit a million bucks if he can make it to his grandmother’s bed before she dies. Turns out grandma lives in a creepy house complete with bats and a cackling butler. Joe’s relatives are cut throat when it comes to claiming grandma’s fortune. It’s a fun short. They even do the “walk this way” joke.
Much Ado About Nutting (6:50) is a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. A squirrel attempts to crack a coconut. This cartoon rarely got play on Boomerang. It shows what happens when you roll a coconut off the Empire State Building.
Theatrical Trailer (2:25) sells the heroic nature of this military story. They promise us a “Marine that couldn’t be stopped.”
Executive Action
November 22, 1963: In Search of an Answer (10:04) promo video that shows how the filmmakers remember the Kennedy assassination. It pushes how this movie is very controversial. There’s plenty of archival footage and photos of Kennedy.
Burt Lancaster Trailer Gallery (9:29) includes Seven Days in May, The Gypsy Moths, Executive Action and Local Hero.
Burt Lancaster: Signature Collection |
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