Poseidon-3 Review of Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant (1954)

Imperfect, but pleasant, with several nice attributes

[14 June 2006]

Wagner took a lot of heat over the years for his pageboy wig in this film (something that was completely beyond his control and also true to the comic strip, even though other aspects of the film weren't!) and he does look ridiculous at times. However, men's period wigs in the cinema from the earliest days on up to about the mid-seventies were rather icky. Think Errol Flynn in "The Sea Hawk", Gene Kelly in "The Three Musketeers" or even Max Von Sydow in "The Greatest Story Ever Told." A lot of guys had to endure cruddy hair and hope for the best. Remember, too, that smooth hair was the rule until the late sixties. Bob can breathe easy that his proposed film with Joan Collins "Lord Vanity", in which he'd have worn a white powdered wig, never saw fruition! Here he plays the title character, a young lad of Viking descent who's living in exile with his parents in Britain. When old Viking enemy Carnera threatens to strike again, Wagner heads off to see King Arthur (Aherne) to become a knight and reclaim his father's kingdom for him. He's waylaid on the way by the dreaded and almost mystical Black Knight and by Sir Gawain (Hayden) who he winds up working for as a squire at Camelot. On a mission gone wrong, Wagner ends up in the home of lovely sisters Leigh and Paget and assorted romantic complications and misunderstandings follow between him and the young ladies and Hayden. Adding to his troubles is are the machinations of Mason, who wishes for a higher position in Britain and who also covets Leigh's hand. It all comes to a head in a heated battle at Wagner's family castle and later at Camelot, where Wagner and Mason square off in a lively sword fight. Wagner displays (ever so briefly) a very fit physique near the start of this film and he appears to be doing a fair number of his own stunts. His enthusiasm in the role goes a long way in making up for his terrible posture and his agonizingly flat accent (emphasized even more so by the wondrous tones of Mason's and other excellent British character actors' voices.) Even Wagner's voice is more suited to the proceedings than Hayden's, though. The film was in dire need of a dialect coach with Wagner spouting out "yuh" instead of "you" and Hayden saying "nuthin'" instead of "nothing" among many other ear-stabbers. Mason is his usual reliable self, providing a nicely menacing touch to his role. Hayden is a big, strapping lug; likable, but not particularly authentic. Leigh doesn't have a great deal to do besides look pretty, which she does, in an almost white, long wig. She's fussed over and fought over a great deal even though Paget is at least as attractive, if not more so! Aherne would get a more fulfilling shot at playing Arthur in the later film "Lancelot and Guinevere". None of the performers, with the possible exception of Wagner, is ever seen in much of a close-up, making it hard to see everyone well on a normal size TV in widescreen. This would not have been the case, obviously, during the film's Cinemascope release, however. The film features a large array of characters, some of them famous, and a lot of them barely registering at all (Lancelot and Guinevere, for example, are used as virtual extras.) There's a lot of pretty scenery, lovely backgrounds and medieval pageantry. The film is enhanced tremendously by an effervescent and rousing score by Waxman. It's got a sort of pat, comic book-style story, yet occasionally reaches an more mature level of violence (still quite tame by today's standards.) In other words, some characters state the obvious in order to make the film clearer to children. It's not a bad time-killer and is worth viewing in order to hear the music and see the lovely Ballard cinematography. And there is no truth to the rumor that Natalie Wood served at Wagner's stand-in during the filming despite his wearing what could have been one of her old wigs!