Prince Valiant (C or 2/4 stars)
Ahh, the Middle Ages -- that wonderful time to live in {eeeek}. 'Prince Valiant', based on a comic-strip & directed by Henry Hathaway, stars young Robert Wagner in the titular role. The plot is fairly simple, yet needlessly overdone in this film version. Trained for the Round Table by Sir Gawain (dashing Sterling Hayden), Prince Valiant falls madly in love with the beautiful Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh). The villain in this film ends up being Sir Brack (James Mason), a duplicitous knight who schemes to take-over the throne from Valiant's father, King Arthur (Brian Aherne). From there, Sir Brack also intends to conquer Valiant's people in Scandia & rule all of Camelot. But Prince Valiant proves to be a strong opponent to the usurping Sir Brack. Drama ensues.
Sterling Hayden impresses as the virtuous Sir Gawain; who mentors Valiant early on by teaching him how to joust. That said, I enjoyed Hayden more in the outlandish Johnny Guitar, Joan Crawford's 1954 star vehicle. Janet Leigh - with long bleach blonde locks to boot {this IS Hollywood, remember} - is appropriately beautiful as Valiant's love interest Aleta. Pretty Debra Paget plays Aleta's pouty young sister, who happens to love Gawain. James Mason is devilish as The Black Knight, Sir Brack. Mason had one heck of a year in 1954; what with this film, A Star is Born, & 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And Robert Wagner is surprisingly effective/charismatic as the virile Prince Valiant -- even if his black wig looks mighty silly.
Filmed in wow-worthy CinemaScope (brand new for the time), 'Prince Valiant' is as colorful as you can get. The vibrant cinematography, period sets, & vibrant costumes are lovely. I was 'intermittently' entertained throughout. All that said, I feel that the execution of the story is ordinary. I struggled to stay interested. Sure, the visuals kept me engaged enough, but this is not an involving piece of cinema. The adventure component of the story is chock full of cliches. The direction is lazy. And aside from learning a bit about this famed comic-strip story, I can't say that my interest was piqued enough to want to revisit the film again or even to look into the history of the material any further. So I am mildly disappointed with the end result.
Sterling Hayden impresses as the virtuous Sir Gawain; who mentors Valiant early on by teaching him how to joust. That said, I enjoyed Hayden more in the outlandish Johnny Guitar, Joan Crawford's 1954 star vehicle. Janet Leigh - with long bleach blonde locks to boot {this IS Hollywood, remember} - is appropriately beautiful as Valiant's love interest Aleta. Pretty Debra Paget plays Aleta's pouty young sister, who happens to love Gawain. James Mason is devilish as The Black Knight, Sir Brack. Mason had one heck of a year in 1954; what with this film, A Star is Born, & 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And Robert Wagner is surprisingly effective/charismatic as the virile Prince Valiant -- even if his black wig looks mighty silly.
Filmed in wow-worthy CinemaScope (brand new for the time), 'Prince Valiant' is as colorful as you can get. The vibrant cinematography, period sets, & vibrant costumes are lovely. I was 'intermittently' entertained throughout. All that said, I feel that the execution of the story is ordinary. I struggled to stay interested. Sure, the visuals kept me engaged enough, but this is not an involving piece of cinema. The adventure component of the story is chock full of cliches. The direction is lazy. And aside from learning a bit about this famed comic-strip story, I can't say that my interest was piqued enough to want to revisit the film again or even to look into the history of the material any further. So I am mildly disappointed with the end result.