Based on a long running and I do mean long running comic strip ( 1937-1971) the story of a Viking Prince in the court of King Arthur was known for not having any dialog in the comic strip. Instead the narrative is all in captions.
MGM had a big hit in Ivanhoe so 20th Century Fox obtained the rights to Prince Valiant. Daryl F. Zanuck got tough guy director Henry Hathaway to film it. Legendary screenwriter Dudley Nichols put together a story and the film clearly was an expensive production. Then the studio went out and completely miscast it.
Pretty boy 50's actor Robert Wagner with his American accent was cast as the Viking prince complete with ridiculous page boy wig which was true to the comic but came off as really goofy looking. Equally ridiculous was Sterling Hayden as a knight of the round table. Hayden didn't even attempt a British accent and he looks extremely uncomfortable in his goofy medieval wig. Debra Paget almost 20 years Hayden's junior was his love interest.
More wig silliness, Janet Leigh squeezed into a dress has to wear practically a floor length wig which she manages not to trip over. About the only creditable actor in this film is James Mason an actual Britsh actor.
Henry Hathaway keeps the film moving with lots of action and fighting. The photography by Lucien Ballard is good and the composer Franz Waxman wrote a great score. In spite of the crazy casting decisions this is an entertaining comic book film.
The running time is a not excessive 100 minutes.
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