The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Oscar Brodney (screenplay)
Howard Pyle (novel)

Release Date:

2 September 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance

Plot:

Technicolor & tights. In the days of King Henry IV, stalwart young Myles and his sister Meg have been raised as peasants...

Plot Keywords:

Medieval | Beautiful Woman | Sword Fight | Based On Novel | Character Name In Title

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	Myles Falworth
Janet Leigh	...	Lady Anne of Mackworth
David Farrar	...	Gilbert Blunt, Earl of Alban
Barbara Rush	...	Meg Falworth
Herbert Marshall	...	William, Earl of Mackworth
Torin Thatcher	...	Sir James
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Prince Hal of Wales (as Daniel O'Herlihy)
Patrick O'Neal	...	Walter Blunt
Craig Hill	...	Francis Gascoyne
Ian Keith	...	King Henry IV
Doris Lloyd	...	Dame Ellen, Lady-in-Waiting
Rhys Williams	...	Diccon Bowman
Leonard Mudie	...	Friar Edward
Maurice Marsac	...	Count de Vermois
Leo Britt	...	Sir Robert

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Western Electric Recording) | Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (optical prints)

Certification:

West Germany:6 (f) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16907, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Castle, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

This was Universal-International's first feature in CinemaScope.

Quotes:

Myles Falworth: [Sir James instructs Myles to ride a horse among a series of pells - upright supports - with his hands over his head. When he fails, he complains to Sir James that he cannot control the horse] How is the horse supposed to know, unless he has more sense than I?
Sir James: A possibility not so remote as you might imagine.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga (2008) (TV)

Campy fun in the middle ages

How could you not love Tony Curtis in a knights and armor picture? He's wonderfully miscast in this middle ages romp about a "boy" (Curtis looks in his mid-twenties) searching for his father's identity. Valiantly suppressing his New York twang, Curtis climbs vines to be with his illicit love, Lady Anne, dodges blows from jealous fellow-squire, Walter Blunt, and throws down the gauntlet to satisfy his honor against the evil Earl of Alban. This is Tony Curtis at his campy best, his manliness untainted by the dark implications of his later work (to wit, the "Oysters and Snails" scene in "Spartacus"). The middle ages never looked so clean.