First of all, what a cast: Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh, Debra Paget, James Mason, Sterling Hayden, Victor McLaglen, Brian Aherne, and Donald Crisp. Throw in Technicolor. Add a story about a young man yearning to become a knight and sit at the Round Table. What more could you want? Okay, how about some pageantry and chivalry and gallantry and romance and sword fights in which you can actually follow the action? How about a big-screen being used the way a big screen should be used? How about a wonderful musical score?
Not to mention the Black Knight!
What kid wouldn't love this movie? I don't know. Maybe some today wouldn't, but I loved it when I was a kid, and the kid in me still loves it.
6 comments:
With the right script...Robert Wagner would make a good Valiant, in his early years, wouldn't he...
I'd forgotten about PV. Thanks for the reminder.
I enjoy it right up there with The Adventures of Robin Hood !
I would have liked it a lot more if Wagner didn't come off as a whiney teenager.
Never seen it. Read the comic every Sunday.
I like this movie a lot. Have it on blu-ray from the UK. It's definitely an adolescent's fantasy, but such care has been taken to bring the visuals of Hal Foster's classic comic strip to life that kids of all ages can eat it up. Any number of sequences come directly from the strip, making it one of the better comics-adapted films. If Val seems like a whiney kid, well...it's the origin story, as we say in the funnies. It's starts when he's just a teenager. Coming of age stories, whether in blue jeans or armor, contain whining.
I didn't mind the kid aspect of him, but his voice bothered me. Thatsaid, I liked the movie overall and the look of it was indeed wonderful. But didn't the preview reveal who the Black Knight was?
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