Characterization of mechanisms in a liquid film submitted to an intense local heat flux is strongly dependent on initial and boundary conditions. In the case of flame spread over a thin 1-butanol liquid film, unstable behavior of the film has been studied in order to determine the possible effect on flame spread by initial motion of the liquid film. Experimental results show core vortex development even if an initial motion is given to the liquid film but this convection contributes to inhibition of subsurface thermocapillarity-driven motion. Pulsating spread frequency has also been found to be a linear decreasing function of the given characteristic velocity.