When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922)

Mary Tudor, sister of England's Henry VIII, causes a stir by falling in love with a guardsman below her class.

Director:

Robert G. Vignola

Writers:

William LeBaron, Charles Major (novel)

Stars:

Marion Davies, Forrest Stanley, Lyn Harding

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marion Davies	...	Mary Tudor
Forrest Stanley	...	Charles Brandon
Lyn Harding	...	Henry VIII
Theresa Maxwell Conover	...	Queen Catherine
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Duke of Buckingham
Ruth Shepley	...	Lady Jane Bolingbroke
Ernest Glendinning	...	Sir Edwin Caskoden
Arthur Forrest	...	Cardinal Wolsey
Johnny Dooley	...	Will Sommers
William Kent	...	King's Tailor
Charles K. Gerrard	...	Sir Adam Judson (as Charles Gerard)
Arthur Donaldson	...	Sir Henry Brandon
Downing Clarke	...	Lord Chamberlain
William Norris	...	Louis XII
Macey Harlam	...	Duc de Longueville

Storyline

Mary Tudor, sister of England's Henry VIII, causes a stir by falling in love with a guardsman below her class.

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Plot Keywords:

royal family | saved from execution | soothsayer | secret entrance | jester | 

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Genres:

Romance | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 September 1922 (USA)

Also Known As:

Da Mænd var Riddere

Filming Locations:

Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the film's world premiere at the Criterion Theater in New York City on September 14, 1922, the biggest electric sign ever seen on Broadway was constructed. It measured 60 feet wide by 35 feet tall. Marion Davies' name was spelled out in ten-foot-high letters. The sign used more than 2,000 frosted white electric lights (rather than neon) with a coat of arms in colored lights that were painted in red, blue and green.

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Quotes

Henry VIII: I might as well have given the minx her way in the first place.

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Connections

Featured in Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2001)

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Soundtracks

The Marion Davies March
Music by Victor Herbert

User Reviews

Awe inspiring spectacle for its time

I was quite impressed with the restoration of Marion Davies's breakout picture When Knighthood Was In Flower. For its time the film is quite lavish and an awe inspiring spectacle. I wouldn't be surprised if William Randolph Hearst made sure that Paramount had whatever financing it needed to bring his Marion's breakout film to the big screen. The only thing that surprised me was that he didn't get Cecil B. DeMille to direct. But more than likely DeMille did not want to be second guessed by WR Hearst.

With or without DeMille this film is the definition of spectacle. Many of you have probably seen the Disney classic film The Sword And The Rose made during the 50s that starred Richard Todd as Charles Brandon and Glynis Johns as Mary Tudor with James Robertson Justice as Henry VIII. Marion Davies is Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII and a pawn in the power play game of medieval Europe.

Lyn Harding is Henry VIII and this is back in the day before he became changing wives like underwear and beheading a pair of them. He's married to Catherine of Aragon aunt of the Hapsburg Emperor Charles V whose many titles also included King of Spain and ruler of the Netherlands as well as all that German and Eastern European territory. Henry VIII thought that if he could get sister Mary hitched to the aged Louis XII of France he'd have things all sewed up alliance wise.

But Mary has a mind of her own. Marion Davies catches one look at Charles Brandon at jousting tournament and she decides this is the guy I want and I don't care if he's not noble.

The long forgotten Forrest Stanley is Charles Brandon. I'm sure WR Hearst didn't want a leading man getting all the attention in Marion's film. Time and the coming of sound have erased our memories of most of the cast. But William Powell plays Francis I of France who succeeded Louis XII when he died. This was Powell's second film and he's properly sinister as Francis. Not that Francis was any more or less bad than any of the other monarchs of the day including Henry VIII in real life. But Powell in his silent years played swarthy sinister villains and Francis I is done in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition.

Historically accurate its not. Anne Boleyn makes a brief appearance here as a girl Henry VIII was beginning to check out. Anne was a mere 13 when all this action is taking place and was not drawing Henry's or anyone else's attention yet.

It's been remarked that Davies's strong suit was a gift for comedy and she has a great old time fleeing from the king with her lover and going to a tavern in male drag. She has a great old time in this part of the film, you could tell Davies was enjoying herself.

I'm glad this film is now restored and we can see both Marion Davies and William Powell in their salad days.