Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant Review

A nostalgic trip for all those who have read the Harold Foster books. The film is reasonably true to the beginning of the Prince Valiant series .
A young Robert Wagner is suitable in the lead role as the exiled Viking prince ably supported by the georgeous Janet Leigh and James Mason who portrays the Villainous Black Knight, Sir Brack.
But it is Sterling Hayden as Sir Gawain , looking terribly uncomfortable in a wig that doesn't quite fit, who steals the show.
A classic film that portrays the pageantry and beauty of mystical Camelot in Cinemascope but refreshingly does not focus on King Arthur. Instead it follows the adventures of Prince Valiant as he seeks to slay the Viking traitor Slygon and reclaim his father's throne.
With an excellent musical score, this action packed movie is good value viewing for the whole family.

Prince Valiant Overview

Overthrown and driven into exile, the king of Scandia has fled to Britain with his wife and son, Prince Valiant (Wagner). As a young man, Val hoes to King Arthur's court, where he is befriended by Sir Gawain (sterling Hayden) and trains to be become a knight of the round table. Val also falls in love with a beautiful princess (Leigh) and faces the treachery of the mysterious Black Knight, who is scheming to betray Val's family.

Prince Valiant Specifications

Cartoonist Hal Foster's medieval hero, the Scandinavian Prince Valiant, comes to the screen in all his Dutch-bob-haircut glory in this 1954 film directed by Henry Hathaway (Kiss of Death). Robert Wagner plays the title role and does a bang-up job of it, convincingly portraying the heroic prince as he enters the court of King Arthur (Brian Aherne) in England and becomes (with some tutelage from Sir Gawain, played by Sterling Hayden) a Knight of the Round Table. Determined to restore his dethroned family to their proper seat back home, Valiant takes on the Black Knight (James Mason), who plans to do away with Arthur and then finish his misdeeds back in Scandia. Under such pressure, the prince, quite understandably, falls in love with Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh). Hathaway proves to be the perfect director for this material, as his fluid skill, moderate forcefulness, and adaptability to genre necessities keep the film from teetering too far in the direction of pulp--or self-seriousness. --Tom Keogh