By the Sword is a 1991 sports action film starring F. Murray Abraham and Eric Roberts as world-class fencers.

[1] Although some reviews of its 1993 U.S. theatrical release noted favorably the lead acting and action sequences, the screenplay was considered "terrible".

Villard is "arrogant but not unkind",[4] and eventually gives Suba a chance to teach, assigning him the beginning students.

Following this advice, one of Suba's beginning level students scores against Villard's prize pupil during an in-school competition.

[6] In the US, the film opened in Chicago on May 14, 1993; in Los Angeles on September 24, 1993; and in New York City on October 22, 1993.

"[8] Ebert says of the lead actors: "they create characters much more interesting and dimensional than this thin screenplay really requires.

"[2] Regarding one of the more important subplots, a critic wrote: "Sadly, Kagan a routine television and film director adds nothing to the intriguing notion of a man who's spent half his life in prison returning to the scene of his crime.

"[9] Although one critic calls the many flashbacks "a further directorial flourish", they are still at best an "interesting idea that isn't really successfully pulled off.