Prince Valiant is son of the exiled King of Scandia. Travelling to Camelot, he hopes to join the round table knights and reclaim his fathers throne. But in his way is the mysterious Black Knight, and love of course will create its own set of problems.
The first thing one needs to know is if certain members of the Valiant cast are playing it for laughs? Or, as I suspect, they are badly hamming for all they are worth. Robert Wagner, resplendent in Cromwellian wig and Sterling Hayden are particularly bad, with poor Janet Leigh looking shocked to be in the film at repeated intervals. It's hard to divert attention from such glaring overacting, which is a shame as there is decent adventure movie at its heart. It looks real nice courtesy of Lucien Ballard's photography, and director Henry Hathaway knows how to craft action sequences (the final sword fight between Valiant and Sir Brack is very special). But there is a reason why the likes of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power are revered in the genre, it's because they had the swagger to go with the swash. Neither Hayden (sounding like he's reading from auto-cue) or the hopelessly miscast Wagner come close to making a convincing fist of it. Not even James Mason on villain duties as Sir Brack can stop this from being a candidate for worst medieval picture ever made.
4/10 for its look and costumes.
The first thing one needs to know is if certain members of the Valiant cast are playing it for laughs? Or, as I suspect, they are badly hamming for all they are worth. Robert Wagner, resplendent in Cromwellian wig and Sterling Hayden are particularly bad, with poor Janet Leigh looking shocked to be in the film at repeated intervals. It's hard to divert attention from such glaring overacting, which is a shame as there is decent adventure movie at its heart. It looks real nice courtesy of Lucien Ballard's photography, and director Henry Hathaway knows how to craft action sequences (the final sword fight between Valiant and Sir Brack is very special). But there is a reason why the likes of Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power are revered in the genre, it's because they had the swagger to go with the swash. Neither Hayden (sounding like he's reading from auto-cue) or the hopelessly miscast Wagner come close to making a convincing fist of it. Not even James Mason on villain duties as Sir Brack can stop this from being a candidate for worst medieval picture ever made.
4/10 for its look and costumes.