The Black Arrow [The Black Arrow Strikes] *** (1948, Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready, Edgar Buchanan) – Classic Movie Review 11,819

Director Gordon Douglas’s 1948 historical adventure film The Black Arrow [The Black Arrow Strikes] is based on the novel The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson, and stars Louis Hayward, Janet Blair, George Macready and Edgar Buchanan.

Hayward stars as Sir Richard Shelton, an English Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) knight, who returns from the war and discovers that his evil uncle has murdered his father. Sir Richard then hunts down his father’s killer in this cheap-looking and not-too-credible but still enjoyable version of the Robert Louis Stevenson swashbuckler.

There are entertaining displays as Hayward swashes personably and Macready does impressively dastardly deeds as the arch-villain Sir Daniel Brackley. The vapid love interest is in the hands of a wan and unhappy seeming Blair as Joanna Sedley.

Director Douglas handles it all pretty well considering, emphasising the production’s assets.

Filming started 6 June 1947 and it was released on 30 June 1948.

It runs 76 minutes, is made by Edward Small Productions for $1 million and was released by Columbia Pictures.

It uses sets from The Swordsman (1948) and costumes and some cast from The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946).

The cast are Louis Hayward as Sir Richard Shelton, Janet Blair as Joanna Sedley, George Macready as Sir Daniel Brackley, Edgar Buchanan as Lawless, Rhys Williams as Bennet Hatch, Walter Kingsford as Sir Oliver Oates, Lowell Gilmore as Duke of Gloucester, Halliwell Hobbes as Bishop of Tisbury, Paul Cavanagh as Sir John Sedley, Ray Teal as Nick Appleyard, Russell Hicks as Sir Harry Shelton, Leslie Denison as Sir William Catesby, Billy Bevan as Dungeon Keeper, and Harry Cording as Guard.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,819

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