John Chard
October 4, 2015
7
This place has the dimensions of heresy.
The War Lord stars Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Maurice Evans, Niall MacGinnis, Henry Wilcoxon and James Farentino, amongst others. It's directed by future Oscar winning Director Franklin J. Schaffner (Best Director for Patton), and the screenplay is by PJohn Collier with the adaptation coming from the play, The Lovers, written by Leslie Stevens.
The War Lord harks back to days of yore as we enter the 11th century and ancient Normandy. The film successfully brings the period down to the nitty gritty and doesn't glamorise either the characters or the way of life of the various social dwellers. Time has been afforded the pagan mythologies that existed back then, whilst the upper class' rights such as "droit de seigneur" (ius primae noctis) forms the back bone for our story as Heston's Duke falls for the Druid peasantry virgin (Rosemary Forsyth) he has claimed his right too, tho his inner conflict with the ways irks him so. Thanks to Schaffner the film manages to blend its dialogue heavy plot with some well crafted battle scenes, with the use of weaponry and tactics particularly impressive. You can see that this hasn't just been thrown together as a cash in historical epic featuring Chuck Heston. The cast are strong, particularly Boone and Stockwell, while Jerome Moross (score) and Russell Metty (cinematography) capture the time frame with skill.
Rarely talked about in terms of historical epics, or even Heston epics come to that, The War Lord is however one of the more tightly written and thematically interesting movies from the genre. 7/10
_**Mediocre medieval tale with Heston, Boone and Rosemary Forsyth**_
In the 11th Century, a knight (Charlton Heston) in the service of the duke of Normandy ventures to a village on the northern coast of France to finish and inhabit a castle-like fortress for defense against the raiding Frisians from further up the coast (which, today, would be Netherlands & Germany). Richard Boone plays the lord’s right-hand man, Guy Stockwell his brother, Maurice Evans a priest and Rosemary Forsyth a peasant girl.
“The War Lord” (1965) is a deservedly forgotten Heston adventure of the Middle Ages along the lines of “The Vikings” (1958) but with bad haircuts and lacking the pizzazz that makes a movie great. It’s pretty much the “Braveheart” (1995) of the 60s, but nowhere near as effective (speaking as someone who’s not a huge fan of “Braveheart”).
There’s some quality medieval action (mostly in the last act) and the depiction of social circumstances with lords and serfs is interesting (yet sometimes bewildering), although the portrayal of Druidic paganism amongst the latter is grossly exaggerated. Naturally devotees of the cast or 60’s cinema will be interested, but “Ironclad” (2011) tackles similar territory and is far better. For those who want something closer to that time period, “Robin and Marian” (1976) is a good option.
One glaring issue is that the heart of the story revolves around the questionable ‘lord’s right’ or 'right of the first night,' a supposed legal right in medieval Europe that allowed feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women on their wedding nights which, in practice, would simply be lords using their power over serfs to sexually exploit nubile ladies free of consequences. Whilst some historians say this ‘right’ MIGHT have existed in the Middle Ages, many others have concluded that it is a myth on the grounds that all references to it are from later periods. There are plenty of writings that allude to it, but very little legitimate evidence that it was ever actually used by any nobles anywhere.
The film runs 2 hours, 3 minutes, and was shot primarily at Universal City, California, but also other areas of the state (Malibu, Maryville & Colusa County).
GRADE: C
Not one of Charlton Heston's better efforts, this one. He's the overlord "Cyrysagon" who is sent to reimpose law and order at a remote Norman tower that is frequently being raided by the blond-haired Friesians. Together with his brother "Draco" (Guy Stockwell) and loyal henchman "Bors" (Richard Boone) they are soon embroiled in battles with their foe as well as engaged in the superstitions of the local, largely pagan, community where the lord has first "option" on any virginal newlywed. That's where "Bronwyn" (Rosemary Forsyth) comes in - much to the annoyance of her would-be husband and the local priest (Maurice Evans). When they manage to capture a young boy during a raid, they don't realise his importance - and with the Normans besieged in the tower, their only hope is that reinforcements can arrive. Either that, or the penny might drop about their feisty new young friend! It's not that it's a shocker - it isn't. It's just that nobody seems to be having a good day. Not Heston, nor Boone. Forsyth is terribly wooden and it's really only Stockwell as the increasingly unruly and jealous sibling who seems to want to present us with anyone remotely interesting. It does look good, money was clearly spent - just not on the writing or the story. Pity.
