Prince Valiant (1997)

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writers (WGA):

Hal Foster (comic strip)
Michael Frost Beckner (story)

Release Date:

24 July 1997 (Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

He who holds the sword, rules the world.

Plot:

In a time now lost in the mists of memory, the great King Arthur rules in the legendary citadel that is Camelot...

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Prince | Sword | King Arthur | Camelot

Cast

Stephen Moyer	...	Prince Valiant
Katherine Heigl	...	Princess Ilene
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Thagnar
Edward Fox	...	King Arthur
Udo Kier	...	Sligon
Joanna Lumley	...	Morgan Le Fey
Ron Perlman	...	Boltar
Warwick Davis	...	Pechet
Gavan O'Herlihy	...	King Thane
Ben Pullen	...	Prince Arn
Walter Gotell	...	Erik the Old
Anthony Hickox	...	Prince Gawain
Zach Galligan	...	Sir Kay
Hamish Campbell-Robertson	...	Sir Ector
Marcus Schenkenberg	...	Tiny

Also Known As:

Prinz Eisenherz (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for medieval action violence.

Runtime:

91 min | Japan:97 min | Philippines:92 min

Country:

Ireland | UK | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Philippines:G | Iceland:10 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | South Korea:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/12 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Llechwedd Slate Caverns, Llechwedd Slate Mine, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales, UK

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

The movie was re-cut by the German producers, while the director was away on Christmas vacation. They wouldn't fly him back to Germany to finish the film. Four key scenes setting up its humorous tone and all religious aspects were removed.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Valiant approaches Ilene's dead body he throws the sword. The sword was supposed to be facing away from Ilene. Instead in the next shot it was pointing towards her.

Quotes:

Prince Valiant: He told them I was valiant, and that became my name.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Prince Valiant (1954)

Soundtrack:

What We Are Waiting For

Worst special effects and stunts of the late 1990s?

Beautiful sets, great costumes and makeup.

Run of the mill script. Mediocre acting.

Bad special effects and stunts,and bad film-editing.

The special effects were truly terrible. Just stop-the-movie awful. Alligators that don't move and clearly are not alive. One alligator, clad in plate mail (huh?), shoots vertically out of the water into the air and descends down onto the stonework beside the water, where it doesn't move -while characters run about, pretending to be fearful of the clearly-lifeless, unmoving armor-clad alligator.

And lots of characters swinging Tarzan-like on ropes, slamming feet first into the villains. Except the actors are clearly hanging on ropes being moved by an overhead crane. And the ropes move slowly, as if there was great concern on the set about hurting the actors. In these scenes the villain conveniently stands in one spot until the slow-swinging good guy finally collides with him. This isn't a one-time screw-up; the slow-swinging Tarzan-bit happens over and over again.

The film editing is bad enough that it makes it hard to follow the story at spots. And the stunts and special effects kept blowing up the suspension of disbelief.

There is plenty of no-brainer action, though, and high production values on the sets and costumes. This could have been fun if it was better made.