Spikeopath
Ah the swords and shields movie, a once thriving genre of film from yore where big bucks was thrown at the productions, and spectacle was unleashed. There were one or two exceptions, mind...Directed by Tay Garnett, produced by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli and starring Alan Ladd, Peter Cushing and a whole host of British thespians lining up for some costume shenanigans. Story is a reworking of Arthurian England, with Ladd as a brave blacksmith who reinvents himself as the Black Knight to foil a dastard plan to overthrow King Arthur, and of course to impress the Lady Linet (Patricia Medina) who he has the major hots for. Sword play, fights, swinging about, jousts and Royal machinations do follow.In the context of its budget it's hardly the awful stinker some have lined up to proclaim it as. Oh it definitely has problems, not the least that Ladd is badly miscast and Medina just isn't good enough, but there's a great sense of fun about the whole thing. One only has to look at Cushing's performance as the villainous Sir Palamides, he's having a great old time of it prancing about in tights and smothered in so much make-up he looks like a Satsuma! If you can get into Cushing's mindset then there's fun to be had here, intentionally or otherwise!It's very colourful, costuming is impressive and with Garnett the wise old pro not wasting any chance for an action scene - or to encourage his male cast members into macho posturing - it's never dull. True, the editing is shoddy, the script (Alec Coppel) poor and some of the choreography is amateurish, but this is medieval malarkey 101. A film for the forgiving genre fan whose after a simple hour and half of robust swordery and chastity belt tamperings. 6/10
whitec-3
I agree with other posters that Black Knight would prove generally harmless and generically virtuous for home-schooled kids and their retro ilk. For grown-ups who were children in the era when the film was made, Black Knight offers a range of minor pleasures. The most universally appealing quality may be the color processing and the castles' airy-pastel set design (best when John visits his future father-in-law at the latter's castle, sacked by Vikings). Plus the cathedral and banquets bankrolled by Arthur show a surprising lavishness in production values.Beyond those visuals, most of the film's aesthetics are campy or eery. Alan Ladd gets my benefit of the doubt as a haunting screen presence, but as other posters comment, his casting as a swashbuckler exposes his limits. His stunt-double seems to have more screen time than Ladd himself--much of the time the Black Knight fights with his visor down.An over-the-top bonus reason to see the film is the Stonehenge scene. Set right after the all-boy cathedral scene, this 50s romp begs for an analyst's couch. Nubile babes in lingerie writhe around phallic stones while horned Vikes look complacently on. Let's sacrifice the brunette heroine Livey to Stonehenge's sun god! But said god insists that sacrificial chicks must be blonde, so an on-site witch pulls a wig from a skull at Stonehenge's gift shop. Uh, what might our sun god think of this deception. As a finale to this hectic scene, Stonehenge is pulled to the ground, raising questions how it came down to us upright, but the film's quickly over after that.The eery element is Cushing's Palimedes as a medieval Osama bin Laden. Those salaams he performs at every leave-taking are a reminder even George W. Bush might cop to: this evildoer sure does act like a Muslim! Just goes to show how history--from the actual Middle Ages to our Hollywood adaptations--conditions such images and our reactions.
mlschell
The Black Knight 1954 staring Alan Ladd is a perfect movie for young boys and girls who are interested in Knights and castles. This movie is not filled with kissing and lewd scenes as most of todays movies are. The Black Knight has lots of riding, jousting, sword fighting and castles. Today's youth do not know of Alan Ladd, his hair or height are not important to them. In this movie he looks like a knight of old may well have looked like. Who cares if he doesn't sound British? Young children building block castles and playing dress up care not for language accents, they just want to see a 'Knight of Old' action movie. So many other medieval type movies have too much sex, talking and political intrigue to interest children. To see a sword being made, rivers crossed and non-tournament jousting is like a slice of medieval life. If I could find this movie I would buy it for my grandchildren. This movie should be released with the youth market in mind and Alan Ladd would have a new generation of fans.
wes-connors
Yikes! This movie begins with a Knight riding by on a horse, singing a little ditty about Knightly daring douze. Though this film was made around the same time as "Shane", Alan Ladd looks quite different; he appears to be ill in many scenes. Since Mr. Ladd's stuntman is very energetic, he might have been a better choice to play the lead role of "John" in this film. Peter Cushing has a very deep tan, which made me wonder if, perhaps, the actors thought they were being filmed in "Black and White"? Oh well, I guess Mr. Cushing would have recognized that color cameras are different. Still, the movie has a very inexpensive look. I was so distracted by the costumes, I lost track of the plot. There is some fire, and they try to burn a man in a cage, but Mr. Ladd interferes with the burning. He also saves the woman This movie has no trouble earning a most "awful" rating. * The Black Knight (8/26/54) Tay Garnett ~ Alan Ladd, Patricia Medina, Peter Cushing
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