Master of Ballantrae, The (1953)

Shot in Britain, the Scottish Highlands, and a quasi-Caribbean corner of Italy, The Master of Ballantrae has a goofy charm reminiscent of certain Michael Powell movies–a comparison encouraged by Jack Cardiff’s magic-hour Technicolor and an exuberant costar turn for Roger Livesey. Something of an autumnal swashbuckler for Errol Flynn, it’s also the last film for William Keighley, the starting director on Adventures of Robin Hood 15 years earlier. The Robert Louis Stevenson tale hop-skip-jumps through Bonnie Prince Charlie’s bid to reclaim Scotland, the ensuing English crackdown, a bloody falling-out between brothers (Flynn and Anthony Steel), two overlapping romantic triangles, two assumed deaths (same guy), piracy on the high seas, yo-ho-ho in Tortuga, then back to Ballantrae for several showdowns–all in 89 minutes.