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Definitely not one of Errol Flynn's greatest films, The Master of Ballantrae is nevertheless a perfectly acceptable little swashbuckler. Tellingly, Ballantrae is a scant 90 minutes long, and this is part of the problem: it tries to tell far too much story in too little time. (The story it tells, by the way, bears only a surface resemblance to the Robert Louis Stevenson novel that is its source). By cramming so much plot into so small a running time, Ballantrae ends up sacrificing character, as well as logic. There's no time for details, and all is sketched in with the broadest strokes, with dialogue seemingly only used as a way to get from one event to the next. This does, however, make for a very fast-paced film, and if one is going to make a swashbuckler that has no time to really create characters, it's good to have Flynn in the lead role, bringing his own well-established character to the film. Flynn's best days were behind him by the time he made Ballantrae, but even if his leaps are not so spry or his reflexes as lightning-quick, he still handles a sword with flair and economy. Anthony Steel is colorless as Flynn's (too young) brother and Beatrice Campbell lacks charisma, but Yvonne Furneaux is good and Roger Livesey is quite memorable. Better than anything or anyone, however, is Jack Cardiff's photography, which adds as much color and excitement as one could possibly desire.