The War Lord (1965)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers:

John Collier (writer)
Millard Kaufman (writer)

Release Date:

17 November 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

A knight in the service of a duke goes to a coastal villiage where an earlier attempt to build a defensive castle has failed...

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Virgin | Norman | Medieval | 10th Century

Cast

Charlton Heston	...	Chrysagon
Richard Boone	...	Bors
Rosemary Forsyth	...	Bronwyn
Maurice Evans	...	Priest
Guy Stockwell	...	Draco
Niall MacGinnis	...	Odins
James Farentino	...	Marc
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Frisian Prince
Sammy Ross	...	Volc
Woodrow Parfrey	...	Piet
John Alderson	...	Holbracht
Allen Jaffe	...	Tybald
Michael Conrad	...	Rainault
Dal Jenkins	...	Dirck
Johnny Jensen	...	Boy Prince

Runtime:

France:122 min | USA:123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:16 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Colusa County, California, USA

Company:

Court Productions

Trivia:

According to Charlton Heston's published diaries, "Charlton Heston: The Actor's Life; Journals 1956-1976" he wanted Julie Christie to be his co-star, but she was vetoed by the studio.

Quotes:

Chrysagon: [of Bronwyn] She has a calm face.
Draco: So has a cow.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La bande du Drugstore (2002)

Most Satisfying

Costume pictures often reek of Classics Illustrated comic books. This is among the few whose script as released is not an insult.

This movie's atmosphere is incredibly strong - I was absolutely sure that this was shot on location in Europe until I recognized the Universal hillside around twenty minutes from the end. Rarely does a Hollywood film hide its backlot origins so thoroughly.

If you want a movie about long ago and far away, this one is highly recommendable, unless of course you need light sabers or all-powerful rings to hold your attention.

Minor drawbacks must be acknowledged. The girl can't deliver her lines, there's a handful of process shots in one sequence where the black lines around the actors' heads are visible, and Paul Frees not only delivers the opening narration but voices both the jester and Michael Conrad, later familiar from "Hill Street Blues." Someone in Universal's sound department thought that Frees' voice blended in; it doesn't. (You can hear Frees as four separate characters in "Spartacus." And "Flight From Ashiya" sets some kind of record.)

None of these quibbles matter. The "War Lord" is romantic, poetic, mildly gritty (by today's standards), the cinematography and music are gorgeous and the closing action sequences feature classic Hollywood stunts by Joe Canutt, Hal Needham, Richard Farnsworth and Buddy Van Horn.

This database lists at least 250,000 worse ways to spend two hours than "The War Lord." Make yourself comfortable and enjoy.