Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 8, 2010

Based on Hal Foster’s comic series and directed by Oscar-nominated Henry Hathaway, "Prince Valiant" (1954) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. With optional English SDH subtitles. Region-Free.

The Black Knight

The days of King Arthur. King Aguar (Donald Crisp, How Green Was My Valey), the Christian King of Scantia, is overthrown by Sligon, a cruel Viking traitor. King Arthur (Brian Aherne, Juarez), however, has allowed him to settle down with his family in a remote abbey somewhere in Northern England.

Prince Valiant (Robert Wagner, The Biggest Bundle of Them All), King Aguar’s son, decides to go to Camelot and seek knighthood. Before he leaves, he promises his father that if he becomes one of King Arthur’s knights, he would do whatever is necessary to oust Sligon. Boltar (Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man), a Viking and one of King Aguar’s most trusted men, agrees that if there is anyone that defeat Sligon it is Prince Valiant.

On the way to Camelot, Prince Valiant encounters an evil Black Knight who nearly kills him. Then he meets Sir Gawain (Sterling HaydenDr. Strangelove), one of King Arthur’s knights, who has been searching for the Black Knight. Sir Gawain takes Prince Valiant to King Arthur and introduces him to his knights.

Sir Brack (James Mason, The Shooting Party), who claims descent from Constans, King Arthur’s grandfather, offers to have Prince Valiant as a squire so that he could begin his knighthood training. Sir Gawain, however, becomes the young man’s mentor.

Intrigued my Sir Brack’s interest in him, Prince Valiant attempts to befriend him. The two go for a ride in the nearby forest where the Black Knight appears again and seriously wounds Prince Valiant. His unconscious body is discovered by Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh, Psycho), daughter of the King of Ord (Barry Jones, The 39 Steps), who takes him back to her father’s castle. Prince Valiant quickly recovers and falls in love with Aleta. Upon learning that he is Sir Gawain’s squire, Ilene (Debra Paget, The Gambler from Natchez), Aleta’s sister, confesses to Prince Valiant that she is madly in love with his mentor.

Sir Brack appears again and urges Prince Valiant to head back with him to Camelot where an important tournament is about to begin. The King of Ord, who has been trying to find a good husband for Aleta, also decides to attend. Once in Camelot, he announces that the winner of the tournament will have Aleta’s hand.

Before the tournament begins, the Black Knight attacks Sir Gawain and nearly kills him. Without King Arthur’s approval, Prince Valiant immediately takes his place and eventually challenges the winner, Sir Brack, who defeats him. Before the King of Ord gives Aleta’s hand to Sir Brack, however, the injured Sir Gawain appears and defeats him.

King Arthur summons Prince Valiant and punishes him for challenging Sir Brack. Shortly after, the Black Knight kidnaps Prince Valiant and surrenders him to Sligon’s men. In return, Sligon agrees to help the Black Knight take over Camelot. The loyal Boltar, however, helps Prince Valiant escape.

Based on Hal Foster’s comic series and directed by Oscar-nominated Henry Hathaway, Prince Valiant was an experimentation of sorts for Fox, who wanted a big budget, lavish production with a solid roster of Hollywood stars. The script for the film was written by Dudley Nichols, who had become famous for refusing to accept his Oscar award for his contribution to John Ford’s The Informer.

Prince Valiant truly is an old fashioned film, one full of predictable twists and hilarious clichés. It is well paced, but at times also a bit too focused on details that are of little importance, if any at all. Franz Waxman’s symphonic score, however, is terrific.

The acting is pleasing. Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh, James Mason and especially Sterling Hayden do an admirable job of keeping the film as fresh as possible. Hayden’s witty one-liners, in particular, are terrific. There are also a couple of surprisingly edgy jokes that work quite well.

Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.55:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Henry Hathaway's Prince Valiant arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

There are quite a few issues with the high-definition transfer, but I share the opinion that practically all of them exist because Prince Valiant has not undergone a meticulous restoration. This said, I'd much rather have the film as presented by Eureka Entertainment, instead of having a digitally manipulated transfer of some sort where even the little that could look right does not.

Fine object detail and contrast vary quite a bit. Clarity is also fairly inconsistent, especially during the indoor scenes. There are a variety of color pulsations that I noticed throughout the entire film as well. Some of the outdoor scenes tend to look pale, with blacks, greens, blues, reds, and browns being fairly unconvincing. There are also a couple of transition issues. Finally, I detected a few minor flecks and scratches popping up here and there. The good news is that there are no traces of heavy noise filtering. Healthy film grain is easily noticeable during a number of scenes. Many of the outdoor close-up, for example, look quite good. All in all, there are some issues with the presentation, but I must say that this is definitely the best Prince Valiant has ever looked. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear outside of the image frame.

This is a competent audio track. The sound is clean and mostly stable. The dynamic amplitude is also pleasing. The dialog is crisp and clean. There are no serious balance issues with Franz Waxman's symphonic score either (the strings and brass are both convincing). Finally, aside from some extremely mild background noise, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or dropouts to report in this review.

Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only supplemental feature on this Blu-ray disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. It is encoded in 480/60i and therefore perfectly playable on Region-A PS3s and SAs.

Prince Valiant Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I hope we see more of these budget releases from Eureka Entertainment in the future, as I believe that it is the only way forgotten gems such as Henry Hathaway's Prince Valiant could see the light of day. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed is Region-Free. It is also attractively priced. RECOMMENDED.