King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

Sir Walter Scott (novel)
John Twist (writer)

Release Date:

7 August 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

Theirs was the mightiest challenge of them all!

Plot Keywords:

Sultan | Beautiful Woman | Lance | Love | King

Cast

Rex Harrison	...	Emir Hderim Sultan Saladin
Virginia Mayo	...	Lady Edith Plantagenet
George Sanders	...	King Richard I
Laurence Harvey	...	Sir Kenneth of the Leopard
Robert Douglas	...	Sir Giles Amaury
Michael Pate	...	Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat
Paula Raymond	...	Queen Berengaria
Lester Matthews	...	Archbishop of Tyre / Narrator
Anthony Eustrel	...	Baron De Vaux
Henry Corden	...	King Philip of France
Wilton Graff	...	Duke Leopold of Austria
Nejla Ates	...	Moorish Dancing Girl
Nick Cravat	...	Nectobanus
Leslie Bradley	...	Castelaine Captain
Bruce Lester	...	Castelaine

Runtime:

Germany:113 min | USA:114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) (RCA Sound System) | Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16913) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Saladin is depicted as ignorant of the existence of ice. In fact, ice was found in the mountains of the Middle East, and was used to cool drinks. Saladin famously offered King Guy of Jerusalem a cup of iced water after the battle of Hattin, in an incident which led to the killing of Reynaud de Châtillon, Lord of Oultrejourdain.

Quotes:

Saladin: May the Seven Doves rest on your shoulders.
Sir Kenneth: Doves or vultures, you slippery infidel?
Saladin: Come, I invite you to share the waters of the oasis with me.

Movie Connections:

Version of Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923)

King Richard And The Crusaders (David Butler, 1954) **1/2

Based on Sir Walter Scott's "The Talisman" (which I own in a comic-strip version!), this was made in the wake of IVANHOE (1952) – adapted from another classic by the same author; however, given that that film was made by journeyman Richard Thorpe (followed, with leading man Robert Taylor in tow, by two other popular MGM adventures – KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE [1953] and QUENTIN DURWARD [1955]), Warners somewhat incongruously assigned musical comedy expert Butler to this one!

While clearly inferior to those three films, KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS isn't nearly as bad as its reputation would suggest (though it must be said that most spectacles from this era, disregarded by the majority of critics when new, stand up surprisingly well today as entertainment!). Even so, there's some definite campiness to the film – notably when Rex Harrison as Saladin lullabies George Sanders, playing the wounded King Richard (the score by reliable Max Steiner being noteworthy apart from this)…and, in any case, the whole emerges to be even more fanciful than Cecil B. De Mille's THE CRUSADES (1935; which preceded this viewing), what with the Muslim leader insinuating himself into the enemy camp, providing a cure for the King, and even aiding him in routing the traitors (genre staple Robert Douglas and Michael Pate) among his own ranks!!

One similarity to the earlier epic is the fact that Saladin falls for a Christian woman – though, in this case, it's Richard's cousin (Virginia Mayo) as opposed to his wife (who gets very limited screen time here) – but ultimately relinquishes the heroine to her lover (a fiery Scots knight played by a young, blonde yet surprisingly effective Laurence Harvey). Incidentally, Sanders – while older than Henry Wilcoxon's incarnation of Richard in THE CRUSADES – is no less gruff and headstrong and, in fact, spends more time fighting Harvey (including a jousting duel) than Harrison!!