The result is happy ending, which survives a thin plot and a lot of silliness.

Rot my guts! The cannons are blowing up! Against All flags is directed by George Sherman and written by Joseph Hoffman and Aeneas MacKenzie. It stars Errol Flynn, Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn, Alice Kelley and Mildred Natwick. A Technicolor production out of Universal with cinematography by Russell Metty and music scored by Hans J. Salter. In 1700 A.D. the Pirate Rebublic of Libertatia on the Island of Madagascar was in constant menace to the rich trade routes to India. Several days sail from this pirate fortress is the British merchant ship, Monsoon... Plot, in simple terms, sees Flynn as a British officer who goes under cover to smash the pirate ring operating on the coast of Madagascar. Swooning, jealousy, heroics, moustache twirling villainy and big hoorays do follow. It's a lesser Flynn swashbuckler that came at a time when he was fighting some personal issues as well as the onset of age. Filmed mostly on the Universal stages in California, with a small amount of location work shot at Palos Verdes, picture is far better than it probably had right to be. Duel with landing pikes! OK! This is hardly a rip snorter akin to Flynn's triumphs of the past, nor is it a particularly potent story, but it's a picture full of lovely optical delights whilst the lead performers have an ebullience that's utterly beguiling. Colour photography and costuming lead the way, both of which…

A still very charismatic Errol Flynn is slightly past his best in this seafaring swashbuckler as "Brian Hawke" - a Royal Navy Lieutenant gone undercover to discover the secret defences of the pirate stronghold of Suarez Bay on Madagascar. He falls for a deceptively glamorous Captain of the Coast - "Mistress Stevens" (Maureen O'Hara) who has lost none of her natural feistiness. Soon he is sparring with Anthony Quinn and after they inadvertently capture the daughter of the Mogul they all have to spar with Mildred Natwick (her nurse) doing her best Una O'Connor impression. It is still too much of a dawdling romance, with a soporific score from Hans Salter and way too much dialogue but is a perfectly watchable yarn, with an action-packed ending.

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