Prince Valiant (1954)

Could have been so much better . . .

The "Prince Valiant" series (taken from the comics section of the newspaper) could be the basis for a great action movie. This version, starring a young Robert Wagner in a "really" bad page boy wig, is not that movie.

The plot is straight forward. Valiant's father lost his kingdom to the evil pagan Vikings. He and his family are in hiding in King Arthur's England. Valiant is sent to court to become a knight. He befriends and becomes the squire of Sir Gawain. Through his own pig headed stupidity he screws-up everything he touches (romance, friendship, being a squire, etc.) until he finds out that there is a traitor in Arthur's court and the traitor has delivered Valiant's family to the Vikings. Valiant saves the day and all is forgiven.

As much as I wanted to love this movie, I couldn't. The action scenes are well done and the castles and costumes are fine. Unfortunately, the plot, dialogue, acting, etc, all were sub par. The quality of the acting is particularly disappointing given the cast, all of whom are fine actors. The fact that the language and dialogue all sounded more "1950s malt shop" than medieval was certainly part of the problem. (The actors at your local Renaissance Festival all sound better than the one's in this movie . . . and given the quality of "accents and acting" at Renaissance Festivals, that's saying something.)

Unless you are desperate for a "medieval movie" fix or a movies you can laugh at while you watch it, look for something better.
June 21, 2008

High expectations, low talent

I have always been a sucker for a knight-in-shining armour movie, but with this film, even as a child, I had to draw the line. Robert Wagner is a bad actor, always has been, always will be. His Aleta, Janet Leigh is beautiful, graceful, and eager, but even she cannot arouse from our Sir Valiant more than his open-mouthed, handsome, vacant stare. James Mason, the consumate actor, must have wondered what he had done to deserve working with such amateurs. Still, as a child, I was enthralled and thrilled by the sets, costumes, and derring-go. It was just the wooden young man as Valiant that set my teeth on edge. I was much happier to curl on the couch and read my grandfather's original news paper Sunday comics collection of the Prince Valiant adventures, along with his passionate and adventurous family, instead! April 10, 2008

Prince Valiant

Such an enjoyable,action-packed movie. I uaed to have this movie on VHS. I jumped at the change to get it on DVD. If you like action packed movies, based on comic book characters you will like this movie. This is the earlier version. It is not the new cable version. October 3, 2007

A great film.

A great film.

Huge scenes.
The best adaptation of that comics.

It is films that it wins with the years. September 4, 2007

So So

I love the King Arthur Era movies, but was not thrilled with this one. I found it to be a bit slow, and the characters were not very engaging.There are plenty of other movies like this that are much more enjoyable February 8, 2007

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