The Black Knight (1954)

During King Arthur's time, a sword maker wishes to win Lady Linet's heart but first he must become a noble knight.

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

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

Stars:

Alan Ladd, Patricia Medina, André Morell

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
Thomas Moore	...	The Apprentice
Jean Lodge	...	Queen Guenevere
Pauline Jameson	...	Lady Yeonil
John Kelly	...	The Woodchopper

Storyline

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. He makes himself a suit of armor with a winged chicken helmet and runs around fighting for King Arthur as the Black Knight. Evil doings include plots by visiting kings and a Druid sacrificial ceremony at Stonehenge.

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Plot Keywords:

king | knight | king arthur | sword duel | arthurian legend | 

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Taglines:

New excitement ! New thrills ! Alan Ladd's biggest adventure !

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Genres:

Adventure | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 1954 (UK)

Also Known As:

El caballero negro

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warwick Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Opening credits: Any resemblance of characters in this story to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

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Goofs

In the battle at the church, when the stair and balcony railings are on fire, a combatant is knocked through a balcony railing and it breaks cleanly, revealing a straight sawed cut nearly all the way through it.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: The Earl of Yeonil's Castle.

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Connections

Edited into Siege of the Saxons (1963)

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Soundtracks

The Whistling Gypsy
(uncredited)
Written by Leo Maguire
Performed by Elton Hayes

User Reviews

Treachery In Camelot

Having your wife as your agent can carry some advantages I'm sure, but when Sue Carol Ladd made a deal with Warwick Pictures in the United Kingdom for her husband to star, she did not advance his career. In fact this last one, The Black Knight, might have sunk it.

The biggest mistake Alan Ladd and his wife made was leaving Paramount before Shane was released to critical and popular success. Who knows what might have happened had he stayed and the Paramount publicity machine cranked up at Oscar time for him.

The Black Knight was the third film of three that Ladd did for Warwick that were released by Columbia in America. The first one, The Red Beret was a World War II story and Ladd was a Canadian to explain his non-British accent. The second, Hell Below Zero, was a modern story set on a whaling ship and was not bad and he played an American.

But Ladd had no business in The Black Knight, a tale set in the days of King Arthur. Peter Cushing as Sir Palimedes, a knight who's in the Mordred vein, is plotting with Patrick Troughton playing King Mark of Cornwall to overthrow Arthur and return the isle of Britain to the Druid religion.

Ladd's a blacksmith, hopelessly in love with Lady Patricia Medina whose father he is in service to. Upward mobility isn't the rule in those days, but it can be done as Ladd's friend and mentor Andre Morrell says. Go into knight training and incidentally find out what's behind all these Viking raids were having.

Poor Alan Ladd just doesn't have the requisite image for dueling. Twenty years earlier Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, or Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. could have handled the role with ease. But Alan Ladd was never meant to be buckling swashes. Lines that sounded natural coming from Errol Flynn sound ridiculous from Ladd.

Director Tay Garnett handles the battle sequences real nice and the rest of the British cast look like they know what they're doing.

At least this was not the worst film Alan Ladd ever did. That was awaiting him in Duel of the Champions.