I remember watching this movie on TV sometime in the 80's. I was a fan of Linda Purl and I actually liked this movie for the most part. The love story element was good but the nonsense with the villain did get a little lame. By the way: I'm a fan of Timothy Dalton and I didn't know that he was in this movie. I didn't know who he was back then and only recently became a fan of his work. I would recommend this movie only to people who like romance movies with weird plots or to fans of Linda Purl or Timothy Dalton. I personally liked most of this movie but found some of the stuff in this movie to be too stupid and weird and Linda's character was just too naive!
7 Reviews
A Movie That Is Mosly Good But Has Some Stupid and Weird Moments!
BuffSpike15 November 2005
Warning: Spoilers
One of the greatest unintentional comedies ever
Mademoiselle_Lemon5 January 2011
There are two ways of looking at "The Flame is Love". It is both an awful, awful historical romance/made-for-TV coming-of-age story and a brilliant, if accidental, comedy. While there is no doubt that this film was intended to be a serious adaptation of a romantic novel, and therefore fits comfortably into the first category, it's impossible to watch it without laughing a lot.
The story revolves around the young and impossibly naive Vada (Linda Purl), an American heiress who is sent to Paris with her poor cousin en route to England, where the fiancé she has not yet met, a duke, awaits her arrival. Her cousin is injured before getting to Paris, and Vada continues on unchaperoned. In Paris she meets the Marquis de Something-or-other (Timothy Dalton) and Pierre the Journalist (Shane Briant). As with other Barbara Cartland films, the heroine falls in love at first sight and there's very little suspense in that department. The villainous marquis, who happens to be the leader of a group of Parisian socialite Satanists, plots against Vada, and Pierre must save her from danger while they fall even more in love. Perhaps the most hilarious aspect of the film is the wonderful narrator, who translates French poetry for the viewer ("Love is the flame. The flame is love.") and keeps us up-to-speed on what's going through the characters' heads ("Vada could not know that Pierre was on his way... And Pierre could not know that Vada knew..." "If this was Pierre, she would have been *enchanted*. But this was not Pierre."). Add some fabulously out-of-nowhere plot twists near the end, and the obvious utter seriousness of the actors and filmmakers (except perhaps Dalton), and you get one hysterically funny and worthwhile movie.
The story revolves around the young and impossibly naive Vada (Linda Purl), an American heiress who is sent to Paris with her poor cousin en route to England, where the fiancé she has not yet met, a duke, awaits her arrival. Her cousin is injured before getting to Paris, and Vada continues on unchaperoned. In Paris she meets the Marquis de Something-or-other (Timothy Dalton) and Pierre the Journalist (Shane Briant). As with other Barbara Cartland films, the heroine falls in love at first sight and there's very little suspense in that department. The villainous marquis, who happens to be the leader of a group of Parisian socialite Satanists, plots against Vada, and Pierre must save her from danger while they fall even more in love. Perhaps the most hilarious aspect of the film is the wonderful narrator, who translates French poetry for the viewer ("Love is the flame. The flame is love.") and keeps us up-to-speed on what's going through the characters' heads ("Vada could not know that Pierre was on his way... And Pierre could not know that Vada knew..." "If this was Pierre, she would have been *enchanted*. But this was not Pierre."). Add some fabulously out-of-nowhere plot twists near the end, and the obvious utter seriousness of the actors and filmmakers (except perhaps Dalton), and you get one hysterically funny and worthwhile movie.
quite possibly the worst movie I've ever seen
moviegoer22 January 2000
I watched this movie because of the luminous Linda Purl and the dashing Timothy Dalton. Everything about it was awful--stilted dialogue, wooden acting, characters without depth, terrible directing. The worst part was when the French society types were actually part of a pagan cult and getting ready to sacrifice someone. I felt like I was watching a very poorly done high school production. Too bad I couldn't give it a negative score.
Charming little period piece
Heinz573 November 2003
In a word, I liked this movie so much, I would buy it immediately if it were available on DVD.
Linda Purl is great as an ingénue, who coming from America to France, is totally overwhelmed by a different culture, which is intensified by her always having been very protected back home, but now finds herself exposed to some of the worst that humanity is prone to.
Looking at another review on this site of this movie, I am always amazed how every movie seems to attract attention so far on the negative and on the positive, which makes one wonder whether the people commenting saw the same movie. Differences in taste, obviously. Ain't it great? As the French would say Vive la difference! ;-)
I was just able to finally buy a DVD of this little gem.
Linda Purl is great as an ingénue, who coming from America to France, is totally overwhelmed by a different culture, which is intensified by her always having been very protected back home, but now finds herself exposed to some of the worst that humanity is prone to.
Looking at another review on this site of this movie, I am always amazed how every movie seems to attract attention so far on the negative and on the positive, which makes one wonder whether the people commenting saw the same movie. Differences in taste, obviously. Ain't it great? As the French would say Vive la difference! ;-)
I was just able to finally buy a DVD of this little gem.
Horrid but classic Timothy Dalton
eve-113 March 2002
I've been a fan of Tim Dalton forever - and I knew what type of films he normally chooses to appear in, so I watched The Flame is Love prepared to laugh my ass off. I wasn't disappointed, from the first overdone close up of bad art (I suppose this cut production costs) to the cheesy to the extreme narrator who was more dramatic than any of the actors in this flick. Linda Purl, is also a fave of mine, entirely representative of the 70's - overacting on one note - she has one response - wide eyed innocence - who's character was so helpless and indecisive you wanted to slap her. But the best charm of this flick (c'mon the term movie is too good for this adaptation of a Barbara Cartland novel) was the animal head dinner and the satanic ceremony in which Timothy Dalton presided in his hammy best, his nefarious plot to sacrifice Linda's purity and life to swap her soul with a cat! The love interest - one forgets his name - a completely forgettable actor with eyebrows like catepillars, actually took this movie too serious and any screen time where he appeared made the flick descend into the very bowels of hell. Overall, I'd suggest with shots of tequila and very low expectations, and of course a undying devotion to the acting craft of Timothy Dalton (which will make one endure almost anything) - The Flame is Love is a funny while you're really sick type of flick to see!
You mean it wasn't meant to be a comedy????
fab-2829 March 2005
As one who could watch Timothy Dalton act out the contents of the telephone directory and still be totally fascinated, I looked forward to watching this "movie". It reminded me of one of those old soap productions you see clips of on "It'll Be Alright On The Night", only funnier!
The plot could have been straight out of something like "Dr Who" and nothing like I would have expected a Barbara Cartland novel to be. The only thing thinner was the scenery.
I can't say I wish I hadn't bothered because I still got to see Tim, even if it was in the best unintentional comedy ever.
The plot could have been straight out of something like "Dr Who" and nothing like I would have expected a Barbara Cartland novel to be. The only thing thinner was the scenery.
I can't say I wish I hadn't bothered because I still got to see Tim, even if it was in the best unintentional comedy ever.
A terrible movie
wse25 November 2002
I totally agree. This movie really couldn't have been worse. Apart from the bad plotting, terrible dialogue and stilted performances, it demonstrates very clearly why narration has fallen out of style among screenwriters in the last twenty years. Only insomnia could have induced me to watch until the end.
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