An interesting production this, with two American stars, Alan Ladd and Patricia Medina, dropping in on Arthurian England alongside a host of English actors in a homegrown swashbuckler. Neither import even remotely attempts an English accent, Ladd has to contend with a shoulder-length hair-do which makes him look like his own sister while Medina doesn't have too much to do other than heave her bosoms and be the damsel in distress.
Unusually for a film set at the time of the Knights of the Round Table, there's barely a glimpse of Queen Guinnevere, Sirs Lancelot, Galahad or Gawain and certainly no Merlin. That being so, one wonders why the film was set in the Arthurian era at all as the King, sans Excalibur, barely lives up to the legend of his own leadership, bravery and wisdom.
The nefarious plot this time is a planned invasion of England by Vikings, with the connivance of the local King Mark Of Cornwall, where Arthur, even while Mark is staying at his Court, fails to spot him for the schemer he is. Never mind, Ladd's lowly blacksmith John, out to restore himself in the eyes of Medina's Lady Linet, trains himself as a knight under the aegis of Laurence Naismith's eventually friendly tutorship and leads the counter-rebellion which saves King and country.
Of interest to Dr Who fans will be the appearances of two future Doctors of the mid-60's, fine British actors Patrick Troughton and Peter Cushing, the latter pancaked out as a dark-skinned Saracen rogue. They're by far the best actors in the film, overshadowing their bigger-named Holloywood lead. The exterior and interior shots of the besieged castle are excellent, as are the crowd scenes. The battle scenes, with innumerable numbers of combatants falling off the castle ramparts in usually delayed-reaction falls are less so, with the climactic duel between Ladd and Cushing on the battlements not exactly hitting Flynn / Rathbone standards. There's even an unlikely episode supposedly showing how Stonehenge was formed.
A pleasant matinée adventure movie then, light in content and somewhat predictable in action terms, but watchable family entertainment all the same.
Unusually for a film set at the time of the Knights of the Round Table, there's barely a glimpse of Queen Guinnevere, Sirs Lancelot, Galahad or Gawain and certainly no Merlin. That being so, one wonders why the film was set in the Arthurian era at all as the King, sans Excalibur, barely lives up to the legend of his own leadership, bravery and wisdom.
The nefarious plot this time is a planned invasion of England by Vikings, with the connivance of the local King Mark Of Cornwall, where Arthur, even while Mark is staying at his Court, fails to spot him for the schemer he is. Never mind, Ladd's lowly blacksmith John, out to restore himself in the eyes of Medina's Lady Linet, trains himself as a knight under the aegis of Laurence Naismith's eventually friendly tutorship and leads the counter-rebellion which saves King and country.
Of interest to Dr Who fans will be the appearances of two future Doctors of the mid-60's, fine British actors Patrick Troughton and Peter Cushing, the latter pancaked out as a dark-skinned Saracen rogue. They're by far the best actors in the film, overshadowing their bigger-named Holloywood lead. The exterior and interior shots of the besieged castle are excellent, as are the crowd scenes. The battle scenes, with innumerable numbers of combatants falling off the castle ramparts in usually delayed-reaction falls are less so, with the climactic duel between Ladd and Cushing on the battlements not exactly hitting Flynn / Rathbone standards. There's even an unlikely episode supposedly showing how Stonehenge was formed.
A pleasant matinée adventure movie then, light in content and somewhat predictable in action terms, but watchable family entertainment all the same.