The Dark Avenger [The Warriors] ** (1955, Errol Flynn, Joanne Dru, Peter Finch) – Classic Movie Review 11,067

‘Flaming With the Barbaric Cruelties And Infamous Conquests of the Dark Age of Terror!’

Director Henry Levin’s 1955 British adventure film The Dark Avenger [The Warriors] stars Errol Flynn, who straps on his armour one last time as Edward, the Black Prince to save Lady Joan Holland (Joanne Dru) from the wicked grasp of French noble Comte De Ville (Peter Finch). Rebel French Knights vow to oust Edward as the new ruler of Aquitaine.

Old Errol puts a little of the vintage zest back into his swashbuckling swansong. The film is congenial and compact (at just 85 minutes), and the nice Fifties Brit character players (like Patrick Holt, Michael Hordern, Robert Urquhart, Noel Willman and Moultrie Kelsall) add oomph.

Christopher Lee enjoys himself as the captain of the guard. Rupert Davies and Ewen Solon appear together before they were teamed in TV’s Maigret.

Also in the cast are Joanne Dru, Yvonne Furneaux, Fanny Rowe [Frances Rowe], Alastair Hunter, Vincent Winter, Richard O’Sullivan, Jack Lambert, John Welsh, Harold Kasket, Leslie Linder, Robert Brown, John Phillips and Patrick McGoohan.

Daniel B Ullman wrote the story and screenplay.

It is shot in Eastmancolor (prints in Technicolor) and CinemaScope. It is made by Allied Artists Pictures at Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England.

Producer Walter Mirisch recalled that Flynn’s drinking problem made him difficult to work with.

The Dark Avenger was already Richard O’Sullivan’s eighth film after his debut in 1953. Richard O’Sullivan (who plays Thomas Holland) was born on 7 May 1944 has lived in Brinsworth House in Twickenham, South West London, a retirement home for actors and showbiz workers after suffering a stroke in 2003.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,067

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