Rating: 
Summary: Fun Americanized Arthuruan Adventure!
Review: "Prince Valiant" is a fun, colorful adventure yarn from 1950's Hollywood. It isn't very faithful to the tone or style of Hal Foster's groundbreaking and beautiful comic strip but is far above the average swords'n'armor pic of the era.Lacking the style of Curtiz's swashbucklers, the solid scripting of Thorpe's "Ivanhoe" or the visual panache of his stunning tribute to the Brandywine illustrators, "Knights of the Roundtable", "Prince Valiant" packs in lots of well executed, wide-screen action, terrific set pieces, wonderful costumes and attractive landscapes. Done with a straight American accent (apart from James Mason's stage-villain turn as the traitorous Sir Brock) it often reminds one of George Lucas's "Star Wars". I've shown this to alot of kids & they all love it. Presented in its original 2.35.1 aspect ratio from a really clean print, it looks remarkably good considering it's a B-picture from half a century ago. Oh, it also stars the wonderful Donald Crisp ("National Velvet", "How Green Was My Valley"). Overall, a steal for the sell-through price. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Grand old-fashioned Cinemascope entertainment
Review: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released this DVD on May 11, 2004. For anyone who's a fan of the Cinemascope era of the studio, this DVD is a must have. The movie itself is a silly contrivence of the time, based on a popular comic strip, as the illustrations during the main titles show, but it's all well-mounted with excellent photography and a Franz Waxman score that's a prime example of how a composer can really elevate the atmosphere and pace of a movie. The depiction of the era of the story is cardboard, with everyone and nearly everything looking too pretty and well-manicured -- no grubby surfs are anywhere to be seen, and even the comicbook Vikings are too clean -- but it's fun at its own level, even if today the movie's pace is a bit slow. My only complaint is that top-billed star James Mason isn't in more of it. The actor and his character are far more interesting to watch than the story's protagonist and the stiff, young Robert Wagner sporting a silly wig! Fox has done a decent job of restoration on this 1954 Technicolor film. While the look is dated and the film stock is more grainy than we're used to today, the majority of it looks remarkably good. I suspect much of it was newly struck from the black and white color separation masters, but the frequent lap desolves have the second generation look of excessive grain and poorer color fidelity. There's one bad anomaly in the transfer at 24min.15sec., a 15 second shot that looks to be third generation. It's soft, grainy and blocked-up. Except for a couple rear projection shots elsewhere in the movie, nothing else in the transfer looks this bad. Otherwise this is a fine looking 16X9 anamorphic DVD of a vintage Cinemascope film. Originally this movie was presented in some theatres in 1954 in 4-track magnetic stereo. Here, what survives of the stereo tracks is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 (not 5.1 as stated in another review here). I'd have preferred if Fox had gone to the efforts of doing a proper 4.0 transfer, but the stereo still sounds good, with the directional dialogue of the era intact, though it can be a bit distracting when left and right speakers are too far from the screen (in theatres the speakers would of course be behind the screen). I found I had to raise the dB level of my rear surrounds to +10 in order to bring out the ambient sound of the film, mostly reserved to the music, but at 1:27min.21sec., when pig fat is used to light fires during the siege of the castle, the mono surround did come alive with fire noise and that was fun. I'm only giving this DVD three stars because Fox didn't have enough faith (and they may be right) in this library title's marketability to include a commentary track by star Wagner, or a least some feature on the film's production history, and because the sound wasn't remixed for 4.0, but if you're a fan of such films I highly recommend this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Ages nonsense at its glorious best.
Review: Absolutely not historically defensible in any sense, but a first class 20th Century Fox foray into the world of King Arthur and his Viking foes. A youthful Robert Wagner wins the double whammy. He becomes a knight after killing King Arthur's treacherous enemy in single combat whilst also regaining the throne of Scandia for his family. The triumph of good over evil is personified by the victory of Christianity over paganism. What makes this film a "must" is the music of Franz Waxman who captures all the contrasting moods from humor to tragedy and from disaster to triumph. The attack on Slygon's fortress is unique in movie history as both sides get drenched with inflammable liquid released from pig skins. Barricade the gates!
Rating:
Summary: Robert Wagner's triumph of youthful enthusiasm
Review: Although thoroughly "hollywood-ized" from its comic book roots, this 50's rendition of Prince Valiant achieves a certain separation from other sword flicks by Robert Wagner's relentless enthusiasm for the role. His intensity and earnestness shows through all of the typical cliches implanted in this film. The boiling oil scenes presents a ruthlessness of direction that took this film past other sanitized offerings of this genre. I remember seeing it in the theater as a young boy and was blown away. For me, it was the equivalent of seeing Star Wars for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Americanized Arthuruan Adventure!
Review: As soon as I began this DVD, I found myself setting in the massive RKO Keith's theater in Downtown Dayton, Ohio. The reason I purchased the disk was for that reason. I am 100% satisfied for in that department. The film score by Franz Waxman is perfection. It is dramatic and fun. As an adult, I wish that the transfer had been in Dolby 5.1. The performances are appropriate for this film except for Mr. Mason who does no wrong. I would like to add that the sword fight at the end of the film is of equal to the excitement found in the final duel in Scaramouche.
Rating:
Summary: Sword-n-Swagger
Review: Before the youthful Luke Skywalker learned to be a Jedi Knight, the youthful Prince Valiant learned to be a knight in King Arthur's court. Hal Foster's Sunday comic strip was a logical story to bring to the screen, in the wake of MGM's "Ivanhoe" and "Knights of the Round Table", when "sword epics" were getting their second wind.
As a film, "Prince Valiant" works rather well on several fronts, although there are a couple of minor drawbacks. One is the casting of Sterling Hayden as Sir Gawain, a role that should have brought more of a combination of heroic ego and a bit of comic relief. Another bit of questionable casting is that of Victor McLaglen as the leader of the Christian Vikings. He's barely recognizable behind that beard, but the moment when he first opens his mouth - and that Irish brogue spills forth - will lift a few eyebrows. The Vikings are all stereotypes, of course, complete with horned helmets and burly beards. In fact, when shown as a group, they look like a cattle call for mascot auditions at a Minnesota football game.
But the positive aspects of this movie rule the day. James Mason makes a fine villain, just the kind everyone would "love to hate". My guess is that 1954 must have been Mason's year. Besides "Prince Valiant", he starred opposite Judy Garland in "A Star is Born", and created perhaps his greatest role, that of Captain Nemo in Disney's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Robert Wagner as Valiant is on shaky ground at the film's start, but he proves himself at the end. The late Janet Leigh makes a most beautiful "damsel in distress", and the almost overlooked Debra Paget matches Leigh's beauty in the role of her sister. The final, climactic sword duel must rank in excitement with the ones in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and the more recent "Rob Roy".
Franz Waxman's score is one of his finest in a long career, full of melody and swagger. If the exhuberant opening main title music doesn't positively lift you out of your seat, I suggest you make an appointment for a CATSCAN.
The print is fine, with lively color to go with the always slightly defocused Cinemascope image (Technirama and Panavision would later prove to be far better in both picture and sound). Overall, a very good piece of entertainment, guaranteed to send a rush.
Rating:
Summary: SWORDS AND SASHES - AND LOVE THAT HAIR CUT!
Review: Director, Henry Hathaway's film version of cartoonist, Hal Foster's Scandinavian hero, "Prince Valiant" is one of those over-blown, wacky-tacky epics that is impossible to take seriously, but so much fun to watch. Robert Wagner is the rather effeminate looking title character who takes Camelot by storm. Determined to regain his own throne, Valiant uncovers the treachery of the Black Knight (James Mason, in a toss away role) and challenges him. Of course, there's also time for love with bombshell, Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh - who quite often found herself squeezed into a corset during her 1950s film tenure.) The film veers between comic book pulp and self-conscious seriousness, but Hathaway's direction ensures that neither become the vice to sink his epic. Brian Aherne (as a credible King Arthur)and Sterling Hayden (a not so credible, Sir Gawain) costar.
THE TRANSFER: Pretty good. Colors are generally bold, vibrant and well balanced. Flesh tones seem a bit pasty but that's in keeping with early Cinemascope/Eastman color dye transfers. Shadow, contrast and black levels are generally solid. Rear projection photography is more obvious than it should be. Pixelization and edge enhancement are present but do not terribly distract. The audio is 5.1, delivering a nice spread in the music tracks. Dialogue is not natural sounding, but again, this was usually to be expected for the vintage of the film.
EXTRAS: Sorry. Nothing but the film.
BOTTOM LINE: This prince is worth a second glance, but its not quite as glamorous as, say "Scaramouche" so much as it belongs as the bottom half of a double bill at your old-time drive in.
Rating:
Summary: SWORDS AND SASHES - AND LOVE THAT HAIR CUT!
Review: Director, Henry Hathaway's film version of cartoonist, Hal Foster's Scandinavian hero, "Prince Valiant" is one of those over-blown, wacky-tacky epics that is impossible to take seriously, but so much fun to watch. Robert Wagner is the rather effeminate looking title character who takes Camelot by storm. Determined to regain his own throne, Valiant uncovers the treachery of the Black Knight (James Mason, in a toss away role) and challenges him. Of course, there's also time for love with bombshell, Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh - who quite often found herself squeezed into a corset during her 1950s film tenure.) The film veers between comic book pulp and self-conscious seriousness, but Hathaway's direction ensures that neither become the vice to sink his epic. Brian Aherne (as a credible King Arthur)and Sterling Hayden (a not so credible, Sir Gawain) costar.
THE TRANSFER: Pretty good. Colors are generally bold, vibrant and well balanced. Flesh tones seem a bit pasty but that's in keeping with early Cinemascope/Eastman color dye transfers. Shadow, contrast and black levels are generally solid. Rear projection photography is more obvious than it should be. Pixelization and edge enhancement are present but do not terribly distract. The audio is 5.1, delivering a nice spread in the music tracks. Dialogue is not natural sounding, but again, this was usually to be expected for the vintage of the film.
EXTRAS: Sorry. Nothing but the film.
BOTTOM LINE: This prince is worth a second glance, but its not quite as glamorous as, say "Scaramouche" so much as it belongs as the bottom half of a double bill at your old-time drive in.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun and very enjoyable. Not serious, but so what?
Review: I watched this movie fearing the worst, since it was derived from a comic strip character. Never fear--this is good entertainment. While this is not a film to take seriously, it is a fun excursion into the "King Arthur" theme and does avoid being straight slapstick. For those not familiar with it, "Prince Valiant" is the story of a Scandanavian prince whose father has been dethroned, who comes to King Arthur's court with the ambition of becoming a knight of the Round Table and restoring his father's kingship.
This film features an unusually good cast for a production of this type and caliber. Robert Wagner as Val, Sterling Hayden (of "Dr. Strangelove" fame) as Sir Gawain, James Mason as the Black Knight, and Janet Leigh as Princess Aleta all turn in very enjoyable performances. The swordfight at the end (no spoilers here) is great!
This is an excellent movie to watch with young kids, and adults will enjoy it too.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entertainment for everyone !!!
Review: I watched this movie on TV about 25 years ago and I am just as excited now as I was then.
This is a movie for the whole family to enjoy over and over again. Highly recommended for everybody who likes a bit of "old fashion sword-fighting " adventure.
I just LOVE it !!!
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