Prince Valiant (1997 film)

Prince Valiant
VHS cover
Directed by	Anthony Hickox
Screenplay by	Michael Frost Beckner Anthony Hickox Carsten H.W. Lorenz
Story by	Michael Frost Beckner
Based on	Prince Valiant by Hal Foster
Produced by	Tom Rosenberg James Gorman Bernd Eichinger
Starring	Stephen Moyer Katherine Heigl Thomas Kretschmann Edward Fox Udo Kier Warwick Davis Joanna Lumley Ron Perlman
Cinematography	Roger Lanser
Edited by	Alexander Berner
Music by	David Bergeaud
Distributed by	Entertainment Film Distributors (United Kingdom)[1] 20th Century Fox (United States)
Release dates	July 24, 1997 (1997-07-24) (Germany) December 19, 1997 (1997-12-19) (United Kingdom)
Running time	91 minutes
Countries	Ireland United Kingdom Germany
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[2]

Prince Valiant is a 1997 Irish-British independent sword and sorcery film directed by Anthony Hickox, written by Michael Frost Beckner, and starring Stephen Moyer, Katherine Heigl, Thomas Kretschmann, Joanna Lumley, Ron Perlman, and Edward Fox. It is a loose adaptation of the long-running Prince Valiant comic strip of Hal Foster, some panels of which were used in the film. In it, Valiant must battle the Vikings and a scheming sorceress to save the kingdom.

Plot

The story is based on the myth of King Arthur. A young, inexperienced squire Valiant, masquerading as Sir Gawain, is sent to accompany the Welsh princess Lady Ilene, a guest at Camelot, on her way back home. Little does he know that meanwhile, Arthur's wicked sister Morgan has retrieved a spellbook from Merlin's tomb and convinced the Viking warlord Sligon, ruler of the kingdom of Thule, to steal the magical sword Excalibur during a jousting tournament.

Valiant and the princess become part of the struggle of "he who holds the sword rules the world" which leads them both to love and Valiant to his princely destiny, as it turns out he is the rightful heir to the throne of Thule. The usurper is killed by his also evil brother Thagnar. During the final confrontation, with the help of Thule's ruler Boltar, Morgan is destroyed, Thagnar is slain, and Valiant rescues the princess and recovers Excalibur.^[3][4]

Cast

• Stephen Moyer as Prince Valiant
• Katherine Heigl as Princess Ilene
• Thomas Kretschmann as Thagnar
• Edward Fox as King Arthur
• Udo Kier as Sligon
• Joanna Lumley as Morgan le Fay
• Ron Perlman as Boltar
• Warwick Davis as Pechet
• Gavan O'Herlihy as King Thane
• Anthony Hickox as Sir Gawain
• Ben Pullen as Prince Arn
• Marcus Schenkenberg as Tiny

Production

The film was recut by German producer Bernd Eichinger without the knowledge of director Anthony Hickox.^[5] In his autobiography Size Matters Not: The Extraordinary Life & Career of Warwick Davis, Warwick Davis, an actor in the film, called it an "absolute disaster" which was "premiered, panned and bombed", and "even the wonderful Joanna Lumley - who still managed to put in an amazing performance as Morgan le Fay - couldn't save it". He blames this on the director, who he says "seemed intent on partying all night long and giving roles to his friends".^[6]

Reception

The film was generally poorly received.^{[3][4][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]} Empire gave Prince Valiant two stars out of five and wrote that "a promising, swashbuckly romp is entirely scuppered by some indiscriminate broadsword editing, thereby removing any fun the name cast might have had, and leaving a poorly dubbed, effects-lacking film disappointingly limp".^[14] Some other reviews, however, were more positive.^{[15][16][17][18]} The Telegraph included it among top ten Arthurian films in 2014.^[19]

See also

• Prince Valiant (1954 film)

References

1. "Prince Valiant (1997)". BBFC. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
2. Jones, Alan (March 1998). "Prince Valiant". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
3. Prince Valiant. "Prince Valiant - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
4. "AllMoviePortal.com: Prince Valiant (1997) by Liz Braun". 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
5. Harty, Kevin J. (10 January 2014). The Vikings on Film: Essays on Depictions of the Nordic Middle Ages. McFarland. ISBN 9780786486380.
6. Warwick Davis (2013), Size matters not, Aurum Press, p 211.
7. "Prince Valiant". Sky.com. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
8. Programming EPICO www.epico.info. "Apollo Movie Guide's Review of Prince Valiant". Archived from the original on 13 November 2005. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
9. "Prince Valiant (1997). Director - Anthony Hickox. Comic-Strip Adaptation. Stars: Stephen Moyer, Katherine Heigl, Joanna Lumley. Moria - The Science-Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review". Moria.co.nz. 27 April 2003. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
10. "Prince Valiant review | GamesRadar". Gamesradar.com. 19 December 1997. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
11. Matthew Sweet (21 December 1997). "The Critics: Cinema: Valiant, prince of the Europuddings | Lifestyle". The Independent. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
12. Taylor, Deborah. ""Just the Ticket: Spicing Up Your Cinema; Cinema" by Taylor, Deborah - The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland), December 26, 1997".^{[dead link‍]}
13. "Arthurian Film | Robbins Library Digital Projects". D.lib.rochester.edu. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
14. Darren Bignell (14 October 2015). "Prince Valiant Review | Movie - Empire". Empireonline.com. gb. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
15. "Prince Valiant, directed by Anthony Hickox | Film review". Timeout.com. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
16. Liese Spencer (19 December 1997). "New Films: Prince Valiant Directed by Anthony Hickox (PG) | Lifestyle". The Independent. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
17. Paul Howlett; Richard Vine. "Watch this | From". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
18. "6 Movies like Robin Hood (1973): Medieval Magic • itcher mag". Itcher.com. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
19. Billson, Anne. "The 10 best films about King Arthur". Telegraph. Retrieved 19 May 2016.

External links

• Prince Valiant at IMDb
• Prince Valiant at the TCM Movie Database
• Prince Valiant at Rotten Tomatoes