The Flame and the Arrow is a 1950 American Technicolor swashbuckler film made by Warner Bros. and starring Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo and Nick Cravat.

It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Harold Hecht and Frank Ross from a screenplay by Waldo Salt.

A second nomination for the film for Best Musical Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture was received by Max Steiner.

In the time of Frederick Barbarossa, in the area of Italy known as Lombardy, Dardo Bartoli has brought his son Rudi to the town especially to see Count Ulrich, known as "the Hawk", together with his niece, Lady Anne, and his mistress, Dardo's unfaithful wife Francesca.

Dardo shows off his skill as an archer by shooting down Ulrich's expensive hunting hawk.

Dardo is struck by an arrow while fleeing with Rudi, so the boy allows himself to be captured in order to draw the soldiers away.

Dardo sends a message to the count, offering an exchange of prisoners, but Ulrich threatens to execute papa Pietro unless Anne is released.

From the ramparts, he sees the count far below, holding Rudi with a dagger at his throat, using him as a human shield to make his escape.