The Master of Ballantrae (film)
| The Master of Ballantrae | |
|---|---|
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | William Keighley |
| Written by |
Herb Meadow Harold Medford (add. dialogue) |
| Based on |
The Master of Ballantrae 1889 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Starring |
Errol Flynn Roger Livesey |
| Music by | William Alwyn |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Edited by | Jack Harris |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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5 August 1953 (US) |
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2 million (US rentals) 1,814,822 admissions (France) |
The Master of Ballantrae is a 1953 British Technicolor adventure film starring Errol Flynn and Roger Livesey. It is a loose and highly truncated adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson novel of the same name. In eighteenth century Scotland, two sons of a laird clash over the family estate and a lady.
It was the last film from director William Keighley.
At the Durrisdeer estate in Scotland in 1745, Jamie Durie (Errol Flynn), his younger brother Henry (Anthony Steel) and their father Lord Durrisdeer (Felix Aylmer) receive news of the Jacobite rising. Their retainer, MacKellar (Mervyn Johns), recommends that one brother join the uprising while the other remains loyal to King George II, so that whichever side wins, the family's status and estate will be preserved. Both brothers want to go. Jamie insists on tossing a coin for the privilege and wins, despite the opposition of his fiancée, Lady Alison (Beatrice Campbell).
The rising is crushed at the Battle of Culloden. Evading British soldiers, Jamie falls in with an Irish adventurer, Colonel Francis Burke (Roger Livesey). They return secretly to Durrisdeer to obtain money for passage to France.
When Jamie's commoner mistress, Jessie Brown (Yvonne Furneaux), sees him kissing Lady Alison, she betrays him to the British. Jamie is shot by Major Clarendon and falls into the sea. Henry becomes the heir to the estate on the presumption that Jamie is dead.
Believing his brother betrayed him, a wounded Jamie and Burke take ship with smugglers to the West Indies, where they are betrayed by their captain McCauley and captured by pirates led by French dandy Captain Arnaud (Jacques Berthier).
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Wikipedia