The Black Knight (1954/I)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

Alec Coppel (original screenplay)
Dennis O'Keefe (additional dialogue) ...

Release Date:

26 August 1954 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

As a blacksmith John can't hope to win the hand of Linet, daughter of the Earl of Yeonil. Off he goes to prove himself a noble knight...

Plot Keywords:

Knight | Arthurian Legend | Chivalry | Middle Ages | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Alan Ladd	...	John
Patricia Medina	...	Linet
André Morell	...	Sir Ontzlake (as Andre Morell)
Harry Andrews	...	Earl Of Yeonil
Peter Cushing	...	Sir Palamides
Anthony Bushell	...	King Arthur
Laurence Naismith	...	Major Domo
Patrick Troughton	...	King Mark
Bill Brandon	...	Bernard
Ronald Adam	...	The Abbot
Basil Appleby	...	Sir Hal
Tommy Moore	...	The Apprentice (as Thomas Moore)
Jean Lodge	...	Queen Guenevere
Pauline Jameson	...	Lady Yeonil
John Kelly	...	The Woodchopper

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16989, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Castell Coch, Tongwynlais, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK

Company:

Warwick Film Productions

Movie Connections:

Edited into Siege of the Saxons (1963)

Soundtrack:

The Bold, Black Knight

One of the all time worst

OK this is supposed to be a kiddie matinée flick but its appallingly bad, even for medieval sword movies. Apart from the obvious anachronisms which one can probably accept in a fantasy (a saracen at king arthur's court and a viking/druid/saracen alliance) we have two things that lift it to the very highest of bad movie standards: (a) an awful lot of the action scenes appear to be stock footage from another film, possibly a Spanish one given that the backgrounds don't look like England at all. It looks as if the plot was fitted around this hence the whole druid sacrifice scene which makes no sense at all in the film's context. All of the shoddy action staging commented upon by other reviewers seems to result from trying to fit new footage to this stock footage. As a result, much of the action makes no sense at all and there are continuity errors galore. The brunette Medina gets fitted with a blonde wig in her druid sacrifice scene so that she'll match with the long shots of the stock footage (obviously a male stunt man in drag)!! (b) Alan Ladd's performance is simply abysmal. He can't act at all and for many scenes he is obviously doubled and you see his double's face several times. Ladd can't even convincingly cut a presence here and just looks awkward - the pint sized star just doesn't have the physical presence that the likes of Errols Flynn (or even Tony Curtis) could give to a role like this.