BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

MattyGibbs Against all Flags is a standard 50's pirate film featuring an aging Errol Flynn. It's thin on plot and doesn't bother with any historical accuracy. Still I suppose it was intended as a light hearted romp and that's exactly what you get. There are a few decent fight scenes and it's filmed in vibrant colours. The obligatory romance(s) are laboured and unconvincing and take up way too much of the film. It's all fairly ridiculous but at least some enjoyment can be gained from the impressive sets. This isn't a film that's aged well and it's hard to imagine it figured high on the achievements of any of the big star names in it, even at the time. It's worth watching for historical value but has little to offer the modern audience.

zardoz-13 "London Blackout Murders" director George Sherman's formulaic seafaring voyage "Against All Flags" was actor Errol Flynn's final swashbuckler on the high seas against marauding pirates. Indeed, the title sums up the nature of piracy. Wicked pirates pit themselves against all flags when they hoist the skull and crossbones. Nothing really special stands out in the predictable screenplay penned by "Essex and Elizabeth" scenarist Æneas MacKenzie and "At Sword's Point" scribe Joseph Hoffman. This is one of those daring 18th century escapades where the intrepid hero infiltrates the ranks of the pirates. Basically, two kinds of movies like "Against All Flags" exist. The first example is when the filmmakers explain ahead of time that their hero has committed no iniquity and plans to undermine an opponent with false information. In the second example, the true identity of the hero is not revealed until the final reel. "Against All Flags" exemplifies the first example. As the heroine, auburn-haired Maureen O'Hara enlivens this epic with another one of her ardent performances. Anthony Quinn projects a commanding presence and his use of gestures to reinforce his character is good. Compared to his earlier Warner Brothers' sea spectacles, this budget-minded Universal-International Pictures' release isn't half as spectacular. Lenser Russell Metty makes sure that all this nonsense benefits from his elegant Technicolor cinematography. The closest that "Against All Flags" comes to being unsavory are the repeated threats to relegate prisoners to the tide stakes. These tide stakes are planted in the shoal waters of the reef. Before the tide rises sufficiently high enough to drown the unfortunate fellow, the hungry crabs will have feasted on the prisoners. "Against All Flags" unfolds at sea with the following prologue: In 1700 A.D., the Pirate Republic of Libertatia on the island of Madagascar was a constant menace to the rich trade routes to India. Several days sail is the British merchant ship 'Monsoon.' The British Navy is determined to wipe out the heavily armed stronghold of pirates on the island. British Navy Lieutenant Brian Hawke (a mature Errol Flynn of "Captain Blood") and two sailors—gunner's mate Harris (John Alderson of "Violent Saturday") and topman Jones (Phil Tully of "All the King's Men")--pose as deserters and take a longboat to the island. "I don't like the cut of your sail," Captain Roc Brasiliano (Anthony Quinn of "Larceny, Inc.") opines when he lays eyes initially on Hawke. Brasiliano suspects that Hawke may be a spy, while hot-tempered beauty Prudence 'Spitfire' Stevens (Maureen O'Hara of "Sinbad the Sailor") finds herself sexually attracted to Hawke. Brasiliano wants proof that Hawke is a deserter. One of Brasiliano's gnarly-looking pirates inspects Hawke's back where our hero received twenty terrible lashes by a cat o' nine tails. The pirate had served on the East Indian Company ship Monsoon and he recognizes the distinctive handiwork of Flogger Flower (Dave Kashner of "High Lonesome") who delivered the punishment. Prudence cannot wait to get her hands on Hawke, so Brasiliano orders him to serve as his navigator on the ship Scorpion. The secret defense of Madagascar is the point of Hawke's mission. He must spike the cannons defending the island so the Royal Navy can sail into port and blast away with broadsides at the moored pirate vessels. Hawke learns not long after he is accepted amongst the pirates that a map of the cannon emplacements hangs in the bedroom and he memorizes the positions while he is instructing Prudence about the make-up that women wear in proper society. Prudence's father was a well-known pirate and he created the gun emplacements. Meanwhile, when Hawke isn't romancing the fiery Prudence, he is following Captain Brasiliano's orders. Instead of allowing Hawke to horn in on his relationship with Prudence, Brasiliano makes Hawke his navigator. They attack a royal Indian ship and is carrying Princess Patma (Alice Kelley of "Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas") and her mistress, Molvina MacGregor (Mildred Natwick of "Yolanda and the Thief"). Brasiliano sets the Indian ship afire and MacGregor appeals to Hawke because the princess is still aboard the burning ship. Hawke rescues her and gives the princess a kiss that leaves the poor girl stunned beyond imagination. Afterward, every time that the princess lays eyes on Hawke, she begs for another kiss. "Again," she pleads. This becomes a running joke throughout "Against All Flags." Ultimately, George Sherman qualifies as a competent enough director, but he lacks the artistic flair of director Michael Curtiz. Curtiz helmed all of Flynn's early swashbucklers, starting with "Captain Blood," and Flynn assumed the significance of a larger-than-life hero. Little about "Against All Flags" is larger-than-life. Everything approves rather second-rate in this costumer. You know in some scenes that the gorgeous looking sailing ships are brightly lighted models in a massive studio tank. The close quarters combat scenes aboard the ships are staged with a modicum of verve. Of course, Hawke and Stevens will get out of it alive, but Brasiliano isn't as fortunate. Quinn excels as the villainous Brasiliano, and O'Hara is funny the more she gets riled up about the amorous Hawke. Happily, this 83-minute movie never wears out its welcome.

MARIO GAUCI By 1945, and after a string of solid WWII propaganda pieces, Errol Flynn’s hold over U.S. box office had started to decline so, in spite of the increased burden of waning looks, he embarked on a series of films pertaining to that genre which had earlier made his name: the swashbuckler. The first of these was a good one actually – ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (1948) – but it also proved to be his last big-budget Hollywood starring vehicle. The rest of his sword-wielding days were spent wandering all over Europe: in England for KIM (1950), THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1953) and THE DARK AVENGER (1955), in France for ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN FABIAN (1951) and Italy for the aborted THE STORY OF WILLIAM TELL (1953) and the little-seen CROSSED SWORDS (1954). However, Hollywood did beckon him one last time to his old seafaring ways – albeit for a modestly-budgeted Universal picture rather than a Warner Brothers ‘A’ production to which he had been accustomed when at his peak… Still, the glorious Technicolor cinematography leaps off the screen here and, while an older and flabbier Flynn may look like the pale shadow of his former self, his red-headed leading lady Maureen O’Hara has a field day as a tomboyish buccaneer leader who deep down craves romance and wants to be treated like a lady. Anthony Quinn was still a few years away from his larger-than-life starring vehicles, so here he is typically seen as the baddie – the pirate captain Roc Brasiliano, a role he attacks with gusto. Like THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (1954) – a viewing of which preceded this one – AGAINST ALL FLAGS takes me back to my cherished childhood days of constant TV viewing when vintage Hollywood movies were the order of the day on both the local and neighboring Italian channels.For all I know, this might well have been the very first pirate movie I’ve ever seen and I cringe at the thought of today’s generation of youngsters supposedly believing that the grossly overblown PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN trilogy is what buccaneering is all about! As I said earlier, AGAINST ALL FLAGS might not be the finest pirate yarn ever brought to the screen but it’s a solid example of this prolific genre all the same. Nowadays, the amorous persistence of the child-like Indian princess (Alice Kelley) towards her pirate captor Flynn may strike one as being awfully silly but the rest of it – despite clearly not scaling the heights of THE SEA HAWK (1940) and THE BLACK SWAN (1942), to mention the finest seafaring ventures of its respective stars – is briskly paced and reasonably engaging. Incidentally, the film would later go on to be remade as THE KING’S PIRATE (1967) with Doug McClure! For what it’s worth, the unprecedented box office success of that unappetizing modern franchise is most probably what induced reluctant movie studios to dust off their catalogue swashbuckling titles and release them on DVD and, as a matter of fact, AGAINST ALL FLAGS itself was the one gem in a poorly-thought out “Pirates Of The Golden Age Movie Collection” set from Universal which also consisted of obscure dross like BUCCANEER’S GIRL (1950; with Yvonne De Carlo), DOULE CROSSBONES (1951; with Donald O’Connor) and YANKEE BUCCANEER (1952; with Jeff Chandler)! Value for money, perhaps but, so far, I have only acquired the Errol Flynn flick from other sources; even so, if the mood strikes me in future, I might wish to lay my hands on similar marine adventures like Edward Dmytyk’s MUTINY (1952), the afore-mentioned YANKEE BUCCANEER and PIRATES OF TORTUGA (1961).

Jessica-65 I just finished a mini-marathon of Errol Flynn pirate movies: Captain Blood (1935), The Sea Hawk (1940), and Against All Flags (1952). Strangely, I'd never heard of AAF, though I knew most of Flynn's other films. It was interesting to see Flynn's face change so dramatically over the years, and listen to his accent become more American. I've never heard anyone mention this before, but I find that in his 40s, Errol Flynn looked a great deal like John Wayne. In fact, I had to blink more than once during AAF to remind myself that this was *not* John Wayne! I enjoyed this film, mainly thanks to the three leads, as others have said. I had read a previous review about how sexist this movie is, so I was prepared for the worst, but I didn't find it *that* bad (comparatively speaking), except for the stupid ending. The insistence of Maureen O'Hara's character that she will only kiss a man when she feels like it, instead of the other way around, her intelligence, confidence, honesty and her kindness to her "rival" all seem pretty feminist to me. On the other hand, apparently it's quite all right to sell the Indian princess's nine companions into marriage, as long as the princess herself is saved!Overall, though, I found this film more racist than sexist. The villain is once again the olive-skinned Hispanic (Anthony Quinn), and the "Indian" princess in her harem outfit (played by a white actress, naturally) is so stupid she shouldn't be allowed to cross a street by herself!I wasn't that thrilled by the sword-fighting, but that might be due to an overdose after watching three movies' worth! I don't know whether it was the soundtrack, but Errol Flynn spoke so softly throughout this film that often I had trouble understanding what he said. One little question: if you'd just stabbed someone, wouldn't the owner expect to see a little blood on his knife when you returned it to him? The technicolor shows to good advantage, and I'd like to know where they filmed the outdoor scenes! All in all, an enjoyable pirate movie for an evening's entertainment.