What a beautiful movie!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Blistering performances.

For a French viewer,it is always much fun to see how Hollywood treats our history.For sure,Louis the Eleventh would be amazed if he saw the Château de Chambord in his kingdom whereas this castle (400 chimneys)was built more than thirty years after his death.But on the other hand his castle of Plessis -Lès-Tours (Lès doesn't mean 'the' but "next to" ) was his favorite residence:it's here that he kept his Fillettes (=girlies) where he imprisoned his enemies.Unfortunately these cages do not appear in the movie.However,Hollywood shows the historical figures as French conventions do in cinema:Robert Morley's shrewd smart king and Charles Le Téméraire (Charles the Bold)are depicted in the same way as in "Le Miracle Des Loups" a French classic swashbuckler which was filmed twice ,the first version by Raymond Bernard in the silent age."Quentin Durward" is entertaining stuff,suitable for the whole family but it is not as exciting as "Knights of the Round Table "-which featured a more beautiful leading lady in the shape of Ava Gardner- or mainly "the prisoner of Zenda" ,my favorite Thorpe movie.Besides,the part of the villain is too underwritten (remember James Mason in "Zenda").Best moment:the duel among the bells .

It isn't until the end that the movie turns into a spectacular and true swashbuckler. In between there are too many long moments in which basically nothing is happening. Also often the action just seems to drop out of nowhere and the movie features some awkward and forced humor, that perhaps even is a bit embarrassing to watch. But hey, everyone knows that the greatest swashbucklers were not made in the '50's.The story is just a great one. It's an absolutely top-class and solidly constructed story. It had lots of potential in it and interesting characters and motivations. The movie however never really fully uses all this potential You can't help when looking at this movie thinking how much better it all could had been, or at least more entertaining, if it just went that one step further. The movie gets obviously restrained by its low budget but that's no excuses in my opinion. The directing is rather bland and imaging-less. Strange though, since Richard Thorpe is obviously a capable director.The love-story feels forced, as if it was simply a needed ingredient. It of course always has been a part of the swashbuckler genre but in this particular case they would had been better off skipping it, since it's simply not believable in the story and there is no chemistry between the two lovers, played by Robert Taylor and Kay Kendall.The end still makes up a lot for the movie, when the main hero and villain are clashing their weapons, while swinging in a bell tower. Great swashbuckling stuff.The movie has some great characters in it but non of them quite work out, since they are being portrayed too formulaic. You know this is the sort of movie in which the villains all wear black and the good guys are all colorful and stuff. A shame, since it again, showed some real good potential.Robert Taylor did a good job, although he really ain't no Errol Flynn. He also was perhaps a little bit too old for his role already. He was 44 at the time and he really looked like it. It's also not hard to see why Kay Kendall nothing really had a sparkling career, though her early dead in 1959 also of course contributed to this.Not a that bad movie but the Sir Walter Scott novel deserved a better treatment.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This pleasant 1950's Sir Walter Scott Knight's Tale is a nice jaunt down memory lane. Robert Taylor, a poor man's Errol Flynn, contributes a capable performance as the Scottish Knight, Quentin Durward. What Durward lacks in riches, he more than makes up for in the lost values of chivalry, loyalty and humility. His elderly uncle Lord Crawford (Ernest Thesiger) sends him as an emissary to ask for the lovely, wealthy Isabelle, Countess of Marcroy's (Kay Kendall)hand in marriage. In doing so, Quentin Durward falls in love with her and struggles to fulfill his oath of loyalty to his uncle as he attempts to quell his passion for the Countess. In addition to this, add the political intrigue of two ruling cousins King Louis XI (Robert Morley) and Charles, Duke of Burgandy (Alec Clunes). Both have designs on finding her a suitable spouse that will support their own political intrigue. Consequently, this film has the makings of a full fledged adventure complete with sinister characters such as the evil conniving Count William De la Marek (Duncan Lamont) who has his own ideas to further his ambitions.The Technicolor photography is brilliant, and several actual historical castles were used in the film. The action in the film keeps the audience interested throughout. There are several lapses in transition of the filming which I found questionable. On one occasion the bad guys led by Count William De la Marek have a head start on Quentin Durward as they chase the Countess through the woods. Miraculously, Quentin Durward somehow arrives at a bridge and pulls off an ambush well before the fleeing Countess and the pursuing villains. I could never figure out how he pulled that off! Sadly, this is one of Kay Kendall last films. Actor Rex Harrison's beautiful wife passed away in 1959 of leukemia.

The fifth team-up of Robert Taylor and Richard Thorpe is a pretty good movie... I only have one complaint. Robert Taylor is supposed to be playing a Scot in France but he has a very American accent and even uses modern American slang. Couldn't he have at least spoken articulate, non-modern English, and maybe attempt a Scottish accent? Also odd is all of the English accents, surrounded with one or two people who use French or American accents. I don't care what accent they use, but they should have all settled on just one. Also, every time they say the name "Durward" it sounds like "Durwood" and I think of Agatha from Bewitched. Otherwise, the movie is slow-moving but saved by a good basic story and nice sets. 7 out of 10.