Movie Review The Black Shield Of Falworth

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Spoiler alerts With my interest in heraldry I looked up movies that touch on the subject, stumbling on this 1954 B-Movie featuring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (parents of Jamie Leigh Curtis). Tony Curtis is Miles, a 14th century peasant in Merrie Englande complete with deep Brooklyn accent. He finds himself sent as a servant to a nearby castle, where he rises through the ranks over several years that leave him looking exactly the same age as when he arrived, to becoming a formidable knight at arms. Along the way, Miles (Curtis), finds out that he is really the son of another knight, framed by an earl for treason, for which the entire family, including Miles were condemned to death. As the execution is prepared, the very earl behind the conspiracy turns up at the castle, and Miles gets an opportunity to prove his innocence through a trial by combat joust to the death, saving his life, family reputation, and foiling an attempt to overthrow King Henry 5th for good measure too. A silly by the numbers plot that never really explains the nature of the treason at its heart, or why Henry 5th even turns up at the castle. The fight scenes are very well staged, with broadswords clanging loudly with great echoing on the heavy shields. Torin Thatcher's eyepatched Sir James is scenery chewing terrific as the knight school instructor throughout, and there are odd cameos that promise action scenes that then fail to materialize. For example Maurice Marsac turns up as a French knight and champion jouster who Miles is being prepared for a contest with, and their trash talk build up is funny, but when David Farrar's evil conspiracy comes to light, the French Knight is simply forgotten about and never appears again. There is also a strange and funny cameo featuring a certain Sir George (Claud Allister) who gives the knights in training a lesson in table manners and etiquette while making a spectacular mess of the banqueting table and floor in the process, showing no decorum at all. Again, he makes no further appearances. The heraldry is relatively slight. Miles has a ring bearing the image of a Gules Griffin on A Sable shield background, his proof of descent from his father, and later gets handed the matching family shield itself to defend himself in the final climatic sprawling melle against the evil conspirators. Calling the film The Gules Griffin On The Sable Shield Of Falworth might have been a stretch even for Universal's first ever movie in Cinemascope. There is an urban legend linked to Curtis's highly anachronistic accent that claims he says the immortal line "Yonda stands da castle of my fodda" but no line anything like it appears in the movie at all. Still a fun movie to watch, and the fight & training scenes are often terrific. The full movie on Youtube Arthur Chappell