Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302098440
Format: Color
ISBN: 6302098440
Label: 20th Century Fox
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Running Time: 100
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1954-04-05

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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Favorite Movie but bad DVD transfer
Comment: A huge fan of both Hal Foster's original strip and of this movie despite all it's changes to the mythos of Prince Valiant, I can only add one comment at this time: The DVD transfer once again seems to be from a lackluster print, as I noticed with John Ford's "The Quiet Man". I love these big colorful cinemascope pictures and I can only hope that as we move into the HD world, new prints will be struck from the negative and we can get a good transfer of such favorites as "Prince Valiant" and "The Quiet Man".

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Customer Rating:
Summary: In a Single Word...
Comment: BORING!
That is my single word to describe this horrible mess. What were great stars like James Mason and Janet Leigh thinking?
As for the always hammy Robert Wagner...time to return Marie Windsor's old wig to her dressing room!
Steer clear of this clunker!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Dreamily Perfect
Comment: I was fourteen the first I saw this movie when it was broadcast on NBC Monday Night At The Movies. Having fallen in love with the character when I was five [fifty-five years ago] and reading the comic strip in the Sunday paper, I was quite excited when it came on TV and not dissapointed.
Today, I got my copy of the dvd. I don't care what anyone else has to say, the movie is still as dreamily perfect as I remember it. I LOVE the bonus of widesceen. The color and sound are so very good. It is wonderful.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Prince Valiant
Comment: Robert Wagner's performance in this story is very weak and forced, one could even say "sappy." This could have been a classic movie, but there's a reason you probably didn't know a movie version of this classic story existed--there are very poor elements to this movie. James Mason is strong as usual, but Janet Leigh's performance is also weaker than any film I've ever seen her in. The cinematography is good. I can only guess that it must have been a poor directing job to get such contrived performances from two of the main actors. If you like well acted classic movies, you'll probably be disappointed in this one. I was.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Could have been so much better . . .
Comment: The "Prince Valiant" series (taken from the comics section of the newspaper) could be the basis for a great action movie. This version, starring a young Robert Wagner in a "really" bad page boy wig, is not that movie.

The plot is straight forward. Valiant's father lost his kingdom to the evil pagan Vikings. He and his family are in hiding in King Arthur's England. Valiant is sent to court to become a knight. He befriends and becomes the squire of Sir Gawain. Through his own pig headed stupidity he screws-up everything he touches (romance, friendship, being a squire, etc.) until he finds out that there is a traitor in Arthur's court and the traitor has delivered Valiant's family to the Vikings. Valiant saves the day and all is forgiven.

As much as I wanted to love this movie, I couldn't. The action scenes are well done and the castles and costumes are fine. Unfortunately, the plot, dialogue, acting, etc, all were sub par. The quality of the acting is particularly disappointing given the cast, all of whom are fine actors. The fact that the language and dialogue all sounded more "1950s malt shop" than medieval was certainly part of the problem. (The actors at your local Renaissance Festival all sound better than the one's in this movie . . . and given the quality of "accents and acting" at Renaissance Festivals, that's saying something.)

Unless you are desperate for a "medieval movie" fix or a movies you can laugh at while you watch it, look for something better.

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