Although I regretfully had to jettison (yet again) my film reviewing habits due to time constraints, I will gladly pick up the pen some more to opine about the 10 William Castle movies I have planned to watch in commemoration of the birth centenary of the late genial producer-director – since I have done so for practically all the films of his I am familiar with. Seeing how I was having my annual Easter epic marathon around this same time, I made it a point to start with this obscure and, in retrospect, modest swashbuckler.
The plot revolves around the attempts of the future King Charles II to regain his rightful place on the English throne currently held by the German monarch George I. The pretender (Richard Wyler) is a young, hot-headed fop, betrothed to an Austrian princess (Rica Owen), and waiting out his political exile in France; the biggest supporters of his cause are a trio of fun-loving Irish soldiers (Robert Stack, Alan Hale Jr. and Charles Irwin) that protect him from various assassination attempts – at a dinner party and during a fox hunt – and save the life of his intended from the clutches of her kidnappers.
Also involved in the scheming are an aristocratic "couple" (Leslie Bradley and Ursula Thiess) who pass themselves off as sympathizers of the dethroned regent: the husband is involved in a pre-planned tavern skirmish at the start intended to unmask Stack's true allegiance; the wife is engaged to seduce Stack and distract him from his duty of safeguarding his sovereign's life. True to formula, the hero and anti-heroine eventually fall for each other for real, the villainous accomplices fall out amongst themselves and the bubbly cronies of the hero are involved in amusing ruses along the way: Irwin drinks an enemy officer under the table, thus enabling Stack to dress up in his uniform and Hale masquerades as a woman(!) – in a dress borrowed from a heavy-set tavern barmaid, of course – out at night on an amorous escapade!
While the film is definitely no great shakes as entertainment, it passes the time adequately enough and its colourful costumes and lovely leading lady – whose facial features and accent were awfully familiar to me despite her very brief career – make it very easy on the eye to boot; for the record, the print I watched was sourced from a TV transmission that, luckily, had its many commercial breaks throughout its trim 73-minute running time edited out. Ultimately, the oddest thing about this Sam Katzman-produced costumer – also responsible for no fewer than 16 of Castle's pre-horror work! – is its completely irrelevant and misrepresentative title
The plot revolves around the attempts of the future King Charles II to regain his rightful place on the English throne currently held by the German monarch George I. The pretender (Richard Wyler) is a young, hot-headed fop, betrothed to an Austrian princess (Rica Owen), and waiting out his political exile in France; the biggest supporters of his cause are a trio of fun-loving Irish soldiers (Robert Stack, Alan Hale Jr. and Charles Irwin) that protect him from various assassination attempts – at a dinner party and during a fox hunt – and save the life of his intended from the clutches of her kidnappers.
Also involved in the scheming are an aristocratic "couple" (Leslie Bradley and Ursula Thiess) who pass themselves off as sympathizers of the dethroned regent: the husband is involved in a pre-planned tavern skirmish at the start intended to unmask Stack's true allegiance; the wife is engaged to seduce Stack and distract him from his duty of safeguarding his sovereign's life. True to formula, the hero and anti-heroine eventually fall for each other for real, the villainous accomplices fall out amongst themselves and the bubbly cronies of the hero are involved in amusing ruses along the way: Irwin drinks an enemy officer under the table, thus enabling Stack to dress up in his uniform and Hale masquerades as a woman(!) – in a dress borrowed from a heavy-set tavern barmaid, of course – out at night on an amorous escapade!
While the film is definitely no great shakes as entertainment, it passes the time adequately enough and its colourful costumes and lovely leading lady – whose facial features and accent were awfully familiar to me despite her very brief career – make it very easy on the eye to boot; for the record, the print I watched was sourced from a TV transmission that, luckily, had its many commercial breaks throughout its trim 73-minute running time edited out. Ultimately, the oddest thing about this Sam Katzman-produced costumer – also responsible for no fewer than 16 of Castle's pre-horror work! – is its completely irrelevant and misrepresentative title
