[Jeff A. Arbogast]

I have a confession to make-I just got my Prince Valiant DVD from England. Why did I do it? I wish I knew. I used to love the comic strip, and couldn't wait for the next episode. I think, at my age, anything that makes me feel eight years old again is welcome. And boy, does this movie do it. Made in 1954, I was one year old when it came out. So you know what to expect. A young, athletic Robert Wagner as Valiant, hilarious wig and all. Janet Leigh, nice eye candy but awful acting. And beware her armor-piercing bra. And then there's James Mason as the villainous Black Knight, to add a bit of class. This movie has something for everybody. Knights of the Round Table all mixed up with pot-bellied vikings(???), ridiculous giant horned helmets and S & M style leather strapping. A lot of action, some not too bad, like the castle siege, some pretty silly. And some pretty women, although I expected Janet Leigh's bra to explode off her and imbed itself in the castle wall at any moment. I wanted to yell at Valiant "Get away from the bra! Get away from the bra!"
But I knew all this when I ordered it. I remember seeing it when I was a kid and thinking it was the coolest movie ever. It's one of those old popcorn-with-lots-of-butter movies, that are fun if you don't expect a lot of historical accuracy. Well, ANY, really. After all, this was 1954. It was so bad on so many levels. Everyone had that all-American way of speaking (except James Mason). Some acting was ok, some was really bad. But some scenes WERE filmed at actual castles, which redeems it a bit. It DID remind me of how it felt to be a kid who delighted in such movies though. I have to admit, after watching five minutes of it I said to myself (This is so good/bad) I've GOT to make some popcorn. So I surrendered to it. I made some popcorn with LOTS of butter, made a soda with ice (which I normally never touch) and became eight years old again for a few hours. It was everything I expected-so good and so bad all at once. my review-I loved it!
Anybody else have any guilty pleasures like this?

[Scott Hrouda]

[Josh MacNeil]

Guilty pleasures?? I love Braveheart. 'Nuff said.

[Roger Hooper]

When I was a small child, my parents bought me Prince Valiant in book form, covering his adventures from childhood in the Fens, up to his being knighted by King Arthur. The pictures were in black and white, much more detailed than the garish colors of the Sunday comics. I couldn't read the text (my father probably read that to me) but I spent a lot of time looking at Hal Foster's illustrations. I hate to admit it, but that book was one of the main things that turned me on to the Medieval period. It got kind of tattered over the years - then I lost it. I wish I could find it or replace it with another.

[Glen A Cleeton]

There are a good many of Foster's illustrations online.

For some odd reasons, a few items I wish I had tucked away were the Windlass ensemble of sword, scabbard, shield and helm. The sword did definitely have the "meh" look to it but the whole package seemed to be just one more way to somewhat recapture our past youth.

Cheers

GC

[Ushio Kawana]

Hi

I have not watched the movie of the Prince Valiant(1954version).
But I watched the movie of 1997version.
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119947/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Valiant_(1997_film)

And I bought DVD-Box(TV animated version) for English learning several years ago.
However, there were not English subtitles in these DVDs!
American animated TV series: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Prince_Valiant

I like the movie of Prince Valiant of the 1997version.
Their plate armours are cool. Of course their plate armours are wrong historically.

But contents are for kids! So there is a lot of comical sheens...

The Prince Valiant is hardly known in Japan.
And the movie title(1954version) is changed to "Flame and a sword".
Therefore the movie title(1997version) is changed to "Excalibur" or "Excalibur account of war".

thanks

[Paul Hansen]

I have loved the comics since I was 8 or so, and they (together with Castle Lego) were one of the main reasons why I got interested in medieval weapons as well...

But I've never seen any of the films. I did see the animated series a few times, but I much preferred the books.

[T. Hamilton]

I watched the '54 Prince Valiant on TMC the other night! You're right, bad wig, horned Viking helmets, and a Sir Gawaine who sounded more like Sir John Wayne! I'm thirty-seven and remember watching the old swashbucklers on the Sunday afternoon movie, and they are a guilty pleasure (especially Erroll Flynn's Robin Adventures of Robin Hood). The nostalgia factor gives me a lot more patience for the inaccuracies in those old films vs. the newer "epics'.

[Gabriele A. Pini]

I haven't heard of it until today (but I will repair to the omission as soon as I have taken my bacheleor the 29th): is from this strip (and movies) that they have taken the cartoon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ptWFP1kBQ
It was one of my favorites...