The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Oscar Brodney (screenplay)
Howard Pyle (novel)

Release Date:

2 September 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance

Plot:

Technicolor & tights. In the days of King Henry IV, stalwart young Myles and his sister Meg have been raised as peasants...

Plot Keywords:

Wife And Husband Lead Actors | Beautiful Woman | Medieval Times | Sword Fight | Based On Novel

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Tony Curtis	...	Myles Falworth
Janet Leigh	...	Lady Anne of Mackworth
David Farrar	...	Gilbert Blunt, Earl of Alban
Barbara Rush	...	Meg
Herbert Marshall	...	William, Earl of Mackworth
Torin Thatcher	...	Sir James
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Prince Hal (as Daniel O'Herlihy)
Patrick O'Neal	...	Walter Blunt
Craig Hill	...	Francis Gascoyne
Ian Keith	...	King Henry IV
Doris Lloyd	...	Dame Ellen
Rhys Williams	...	Diccon Bowman
Leonard Mudie	...	Friar Edward
Maurice Marsac	...	Count de Vermois
Leo Britt	...	Sir Robert

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (magnetic prints) (Western Electric Recording) | Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (optical prints)

Certification:

West Germany:6 (f) | UK:U (video rating) (2008) | UK:U (tv rating) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16907, General Audience)

Filming Locations:

Castle, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

This was Universal-International's first feature in CinemaScope.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the final battle, Myles gets a number of scuff marks on his shield from deflecting his enemy's mace blows. These damage marks appear and disappear between shots.

Quotes:

Myles Falworth: [after holding a stone in his outstretched arm for a long length of time] My arm feels as if it shall fall off.
Francis Gascoyne: That's alright, you'll be allowed to use the other.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blackadder Exclusive: The Whole Rotten Saga (2008) (TV)

Uneasy Lies The Head That Wears The Crown

The Black Shield of Falworth is the only other story I know that concerns itself with the time of Henry IV. He's played here by Ian Keith and the film like the Shakespeare plays about him concern efforts to topple him from his throne. But other than Prince Hal, played here by Dan O'Herlihy, the rest of the cast are fictional characters from a novel by Howard Pyle.

Young Tony Curtis and his sister Barbara Rush have been raised in the forest by Rhys Williams. They are in fact of noble birth, but Dad was accused of treason, his lands forfeited and his family under a death sentence.

They're sent still unaware of their identity to another nobleman's digs in this case Herbert Marshall's. Curtis trains first as a squire and then a knight by tough drill sergeant man at arms, Torin Thatcher. It's for the day he can challenge villain David Farrar and his equally villainous brother Patrick O'Neal for plotting against his father.

Of course Curtis also falls for his then real life wife Janet Leigh who O'Neal is also interested in.

The Black Shield of Falworth was the first Universal film in cinemascope and Universal was far more interested in the spectacle of the film than the story because they were competing with the small screen that was populating the homes of America. In his memoirs Tony Curtis says that the lack of interest in the story was all apparent, but that he did like working with director Rudolph Mate and his then wife Ms. Leigh.

Favorite in the film however has to be Torin Thatcher. You won't forget this rough and rugged old knight with a Rooster Cogburn eyepatch and a staff to support him walking. Still he's one tough old bird. Coming in second is David Farrar who is plotting to take the throne away from Ian Keith.

Which if you remember your Shakespeare was one that a lot of people felt he usurped from Richard II. So what we're watching The Black Shield of Falworth is just another reason why Ian Keith was not sleeping good at night.