Prince Valiant

1954

Action / Adventure / Drama / Romance

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 33% · 2 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 33% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 3245 3.2K

camelot exile vikings (norsemen) based on comic sword fight knight

Plot summary

A young Viking prince strives to become a knight in King Arthur's Court and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne.

Director

Henry Hathaway Photo
Henry Hathaway

Top cast

Lloyd Ahern II Photo
Lloyd Ahern II as Young Valiant
Robert Wagner Photo
Robert Wagner as Prince Valiant
Carleton Young Photo
Carleton Young as Herald
Gene Roth Photo
Gene Roth as Viking
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
920.99 MB
1280*502
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 7
1.67 GB
1918*752
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 9

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by NewEnglandPat 7 / 10

A colorful and entertaining film

The Sunday comic strip character gets the CinemaScope treatment in a fine film with marquee names to attract more than passing interest. Robert Wagner is just right as the young Viking prince who seeks to restore his father's throne. Circumstances bring Valiant to King Arthur's court where an English knight becomes his mentor and trains him in the art of combat. James Mason is great as a shadowy figure who figures prominently in the picture. Janet Leigh is a lovely maiden who is smitten immediately with Valiant, and Debra Paget is on hand to be romanced by an English knight. The film has action, suspense and romance, tournaments and thrilling battles before the final confrontation between Valiant and the Black Knight. Great cinematography, beautiful scenery and Franz Waxman's brooding score round out a quality film production.
Reviewed by SimonJack 7 / 10

A good comic strip movie of the days of knights and chivalry

Ah, for the days of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, when men were knights and boys wanted to be one. "Prince Valiant" is a fantasy swashbuckler film based on the long-time syndicated comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster. Robert Wagner isn't at the level of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. or Errol Flynn, nor is this film quite the actioner of those made by those actors. But, this is a fun and entertaining film from the mid-20th century when the tales of knights, pirates and adventurers were highly popular with Hollywood and audiences.Foster's comic strip brought to life much of the lore of the legendary early British period. And, this is one of the first films about the main characters of the legend. The film has a fine cast. It's a picturesque story with great sets and costumes as imagined for the period.The castles, coastal scenes, sword fights and tournaments of knights should still delight young audiences of the 21st century. And, the story isn't without romance with a couple of maiden beauties for whose hands in marriage most red-blooded knights would gladly vie.This is a particularly good film for young boys well into the 21st century. The hero, Prince Valiant, is not an invincible knight who conquers all. Instead, he's a human being with faults who makes mistakes. Robert Wagner plays the part well as a young lad with dreams who stumbles and falls a couple of times in his pursuit of valor and honor. That makes a better lesson for today than the standard fantasies of super heroes that Hollywood cranks out.
Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Epic and sweeping adventure based on the classic comic strip created by Harold R. Foster

First and the best adaptation upon ¨Hal Foster's Prince Valiant¨ famous comic strip ; this decent movie (1954) by Henry Hathaway boasts itself a great cast , such as Robert Wagner , Janet Leigh , Victor McLagen , Donald Crisp , Sterling Hayden and Debra Paget . Spectacular adventure with a lot of colorful pageantry and old-fashioned action , concerning about Prince Valiant , Black Knight , and King Arthur , though the movie falls short . It packs a non-sense blending of romance and Dark Ages action , as the screenwriters don't get the appropriate touch . Prince Valiant (Robert Wagner), son of the exiled King of Scandia , journeys to England . There Arthur (Brian Aherne) governs in the legendary citadel that is Camelot . Valiant attempts to become himself a knight at King Arthur's Round Table . His Knights of the Round Table commit acts of derring-do and spend their spare time jousting and enjoying feasts . There young Valiant who wields his sword with vigour is given the task to be the squire to Sir Gawain (Sterling Hayden who easily steals the acting honors) , one of King Arthur's knights along with Sir Tristram (John Dierkes) , Sir Lancelot (Don Megowan) , Sir Kay , Perceval , among others . Later on , Prince Valiant sets out to chase the Black Knight . But our real hero is wounded and he is then cared by the gorgeous princess Aleta (Janet Leigh) , as the young twosome fall in love . Meantime , an evil tyrant , and villainous leader Viking overthrows his father King Aguar (Donald Crisp) , the Christian King of Scandia .This is a Medieval tale with adventures , full-bloodied action , unspeakable dialog , villainy , terrific jousting , love stories and heroism in the grandeur of Scope although in television set loses splendor . The movie displays breathtaking battles , being ambitious in scope with heroic confrontation and a striking final climax for a mortal duel . Handsome story , being decently written by Dudley Nichols , John Ford's regular , though contains some awkward narrative elements . Excellent settings , monumental castles , outdoors and tournaments or jousts are well staged . However this spectacular film never takes off as it should despite pomp and circumstance showed , being excessively sentimental , so you'll be excited and embarrassed alternately . In any case , filmmaker does some breathtaking set pieces and the attack of a Viking castle turns out to be colorful and vividly thrilling . This is the classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by glamorous color and overwhelming fights . Excellent performance by James Mason , displaying efficiently his interpreting skills , proving what a good player he really is . And Janet Leigh and Debra Paget look chastely desirable , as always . Supporting cast is frankly good though wasted , employing such notorious players and not building them roles with which to make a considerable impact , as the screenplay never give them a chance , there appear fine secondary stars as Donald Crisp , Brian Aherne , Barry Jones , Tom Conway and Neville Brand . Brilliant cinematography in CinemaScope by Lucien Ballard who photographs splendidly the jousting scenes and the burning of an impressive stronghold . Rousing and moving musical score by Frank Skinner . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Henry Hathaway . Other rendition was ¨Prince Valiant¨ (1997) by Anthony Hickock , it is another attempt to literally transfer a comic-strip about the Arthurian saga to the screen , including a modern dialog and the whole cast is far too distinguished to be appearing in this sort of caricature of Medieval legends and non-sense , it stars Katherine Heigl who is inappropriate here , holding an excessive ironic tone prankster , Stephen Moyer , Thomas Kretschmann , Ron Perlman , Joanna Lumley , Edward Fox and Udo Kier . And an animation retelling titled ¨Legend of Prince Valiant¨(1991) with voice by Robby Benson as Valiant and Efren Zimbalist Jr as Arthur . Other movies on the matter of legends of Arthur resulted to be : (1953) the classic ¨Knights of the Round Table¨ (by Richard Thorpe) , the musical ¨Camelot¨ (Joshua Logan), the fantastic ¨Excalibur¨ (John Boorman) , ¨First Knight¨ (Jerry Zucker) and recently ¨King Arthur¨ (Antoine Fuqua) . The picture will appeal to aficionados with chivalric ideals and epic movies fans , it is a passable production that will lose much on small television screen . Rating : 6.5/10 , acceptable , well worth seeing
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