For those of you that have always skipped the PRINCE VALIANT sunday page in the newspaper funnies, well, you've missed an epic story about the coolest viking prince, yeah he's way cooler than the one in the old Brave and the Bolds, and his early beginnings when the legendary Hal Foster took pen to panel and created a grand myth that has stood as one of the pinnacles of the medium for all time. Next to Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and those cool as hell Terry and the Pirates, Alley Oop, Little Nemos, Krazy Kats, Secret Agent and who could forget the brilliant runs on Tarzan by the great royal pedigree of artist that graced his vine. But for me, PRINCE VALIANT had a special place due to the whole knights of the round table connection.
I ate that stuff up as a kid. I was into IVANHOE, MAN IN THE IRON MASK, ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE CRIMSON PIRATE, ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN, THE SEA HAWK, THE BLACK SWAN and all them other swashbuckling adventures. I've even met a ton of fellow swashbuckler lovers, but usually when I bring up the end fight scene between Prince Valiant and the Black Knight as being one of the greatest sword battles in film history... well they think I'm taking somesort of Slushee/M&M sugar rush that is causing me to lose control. BUT THAT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T SEEN PRINCE VALIANT.
I dearly love this film, and judging from the reaction from everyone in the backyard, ages 15 to 30... well they ate it up too, so if I was eating weird ultra-powered mushrooms that sprout from cow manure, then everyone else was too, and I wasn't, and they weren't either. This film is flat out cool. First it has an absolute killer score by Franz Waxman. A really really cool soundtrack, the final score piece is brilliant, an all time fave. Then there is the cast...
Sterling Hayden as Sir Gawain. Forget Liam Neeson, this is Sir Gawain! Mr. Precious Bodily Fluids delivers a performance with so much ham handed gusto that I just instantly fall for his character. When he's teaching Valiant how to be a knight, he kicks ass. I remember many a day wanting to be his squire. Sure it'd be rough, but when you were done you'd be Prince Valiant. "That's alright Val, you were a young fool and I was an old one... which is even worse" Man, Sterling's cool in this film. Actually a good triple feature for ya would be to start an evening with his movie he did with Sinatra, "SUDDENLY" followed by "PRINCE VALIANT" followed by "DR STRANGELOVE" afterwards you'll look at the man as though he were a god, and he is too!
James Mason as King Arthur's bastard brother and Knight of the Round Table. First off, if the mere mention of James Mason's name didn't get you to the video store, then go rent NORTH BY NORTHWEST, LOLITA, FIVE FINGERS, MURDER BY DECREE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, the creepy as hell BOYS FROM BRAZIL, the amazing 20,000 LEAGUES BENEATH THE SEA. That should be a damn good introduction. And if you scoff at the concept of James Mason as a Knight of the Round Table, I'm coming for ya... He's very cool, Sir Brack is one of my favorite roles of his. He's great.
Janet Leigh as the babe Prince Valiant is in love with, and the same goes for everyone that sees the film. The first time Prince Valiant lays eyes on her in the film... oh my god, she is so radiant, so perfect. Spellbinding. Oh sure it's all silly melodramatics, but dammit I love silly melodramatics and I happen to be a firm believer that silly melodramatics happen in everyday life. And oh, she is several degrees more gorgeous than she is in PSYCHO, this is the Houdini period Janet Leigh, when Tony Curtis said, "I want that one!" She's a gal you'd time travel for, forget Jane Seymour, go woo Janet Leigh!!!!
Debra Pageant... hubba hubba.. She is the greatest Frazetta woman of all time, she had them Frazetta eyes, if ya know what I mean, and if you see her in Fritz Lang's 60's film THE LOST CITY, you'll see exactly what I mean. She has a small supporting role here, but you'll go ga ga.
Victor McLaglen as Baltar (wow, two movies with Baltar in the same day!!!) Whenever I mention Victor McLaglen to people the stare at me like I'm Harry. It's scary. He's one of them actors I've seen in a billion films and he's always rock solid. He is also the type of actor who never gets the lead today. The first time I took note of him was when I saw him in Lon Chaney Sr.'s UNHOLY THREE, he played the strongman. I have a Chaney fetish a mile long. Then he blew me away with Gunga Din and The Informer (almost my favorite John Ford film [note I didn't say the best]) He was a John Wayne regular, and probably most notable for his fight scene with Wayne in THE QUIET MAN, but here... here he is a Viking. He's a christian heathen viking. The sort that prays with a battle axe in his right hand!
Then you have Robert Wagner as PRINCE VALIANT! Absolutely perfect in the same way that Mark Hamill was perfect for Luke Skywalker. Head strong, impatient, his Yoda is Sterling Hayden, his Darth Vader... well the Black Knight. I swear to god I have always felt Lucas watched this movie closely, the end fight scene between Val and the Black Knight mirrors the same fight scene between Vader and Luke in Jedi, except I think the sword battle is far more powerful here. The main thing is the sound... it's brilliant, a sword battle that is musical in that japanese steel pounding sort of way, you know like STOMP?
Also the sheer beauty of Matte Paintings... I love em. Having an artist, a classically trained artist like ALBERT WHITLOCK, doing Matte Paintings is the best. Here the castles look so good, so right, not like those decaying hunks of junk from movies like DRAGONHEART. The concept that you can film a period film at a castle that looks 600 years old, when the castle's supposed to be say... 30 years old... well it's just stupid. That's why matte paintings look best.
Next up was my father's present. I had him string it up not knowing what it was, but as the first three notes of Bernard Herrmann's classic score, he exclaimed with glee, "Alright!!! 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD!!!!!!!!!!"
