The Black Shield of Falworth ( 1954 )

In 1954, Universal-Pictures brought to the screen Howard Pyle's classic story of adventure "Men of Iron" and hailed that it would capture "all the pageantry and excitement of knighthood's epic age". The newly titled The Black Shield of Falworth did not accomplish that task as well as Warner Brothers' The Adventures of Robin Hood ( 1938 ) or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Ivanhoe ( 1952 ) but it certainly is entertaining.

Young Myles Falworth ( Tony Curtis ) and his sister Meg ( Barbara Rush ) are sent to the castle of the Earl of Mackworth ( Herbert Marshall ), a dear friend of Myles' deceased father whom he never met. Here, Myles learns to become a squire and, later a knight, all the while attempting to learn about his family's crest - the Black Shield of Falworth - and to discover who his father was. 

While at the castle, he falls in love with the Earl's daughter, Lady Anne ( Janet Leigh ) and also becomes embroiled in a conspiracy plot led by the treacherous Earl of Alban ( David Farrar ) to overthrow King Henry IV ( Ian Keith ).

The Black Shield of Falworth is rich in plot, rich in Technicolor, it boasts a fabulous cast and features two great fight sequences, making it an entertaining - if not all that memorable - swashbuckler. 

Universal-Pictures knew they had a star in the making when they signed Bernard Schwartz to a contract in 1948. They taught him riding and fencing and changed his name to Anthony Curtis and then introduced him to audiences in a few budget westerns before awarding him his first feature film The Prince Who Was a Thief ( 1951 ) opposite Piper Laurie. Here was a different kind of swashbuckling hero - an overly-anxious and often hot-headed young man with a very pleasant personality, jet-black hair and a winsome smile.

This Middle Eastern-themed adventure film was followed by the similarly-themed swashbuckler Son of Ali Baba in 1952 and then The Black Shield of Falworth, which was Universal's first picture to be made in Cinemascope. 

Tony Curtis, who was 29-years-old at the time, is great in the part of Myles but the role really should have been given to a younger actor to play. The character of Myles is a mere teenager in the original novel and even in the film is often referred to as "the young lad" or "boy" which doesn't quite sound right since Tony was obviously a man at that time. 

Janet Leigh is lovely as Lady Anne; Torin Thatcher is a glove-fit for the part of Sir James, Myles trainer for knighthood; and Herbert Marshall, who always gives a good performance, is well-suited as the Earl. Unfortunately, David Farrar's talents are wasted, and Barbara Rush is given a merely decorative part. 

Also in the cast is the wonderful Dan O'Herlihy as Prince Hal, a young Patrick O'Neal, Rhys Williams, and Doris Lloyd. 

From the Archives: Little Women ( 1949 )

June Allyson ( Jo ), Elizabeth Taylor ( Amy ), Mary Astor ( Marmee ) and Janet Leigh ( Meg ) gather around little Margaret O'Brien ( Beth ) who has just received a piano as a present from the kindly neighbor Mr. Lawrence in this still photo from MGM's Little Women ( 1949 ). 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

Scaramouche ( 1952 )

"He was born with the gift of laughter and the sense that the world was mad"

Within the last century, Raphael Sabatini's classic 1921 novel "Scaramouche" was made into three film adaptations, including a 1956 television series, but hands down this Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer version starring the engaging English actor Stewart Granger tops them all. The film accomplished that rare feat of improving upon the novel it was based on. Scaramouche ranks as one of the best swashbuckling films of the 1950s, and even boasts the longest and most intricate fencing duel in Hollywood's history. 

Stewart Granger stars as dashing hero Andre-Louis Moreau, a young lawyer who dedicates years of his life to avenge the death of his best friend (Richard Anderson) who was killed in a duel by the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr (Mel Ferrer), a master swordsman. He joins a traveling theatre group where he dons the mask of Scaramouche, the star comedian, in order to hide from the Marquis' soldiers who have ordered Andre arrested as a revolutionary. Even with his dogged determination to pin down the Marquis, Andre takes time off from his fencing lessons to woo Lenore (Eleanor Parker), a flaming red-headed actress and Aline de Gavrillac (Janet Leigh), the pretty young ward of the Marquis. 

"But who is Scaramouche? And why does he hide his face behind a mask?"

Scaramouche plunges the audience right into the action from the on-start, packing a lot of story in its 115-minute run time. It features a marvelous cast, excellent cinematography, stunning costumes by Giles Steele, beautiful Cedric Gibbons sets, and a lovely Victor Young score (the end music is especially apropos). In short, it's a rousing good swashbuckler! 

Veteran director George Sidney, who was especially adept at filming musicals (Anchors Aweigh, The Harvey Girls, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate), took the helm of this classic, staging all of the sword-fighting sequences as though they were dance numbers. These fencing "ballets" are a highlight of this colorful film and the climatic eight-minute duel sequence between Granger and Ferrer is justly famous for it took these actors eight weeks of training to get their fencing movements precise. 

"Scaramouche, you have just given your last performance!"

European fencing champion Jean Heremans provided Stewart Granger with fencing lessons and he delighted in doing all of his own stunts. Granger was ideally cast as the rakish lad born with the gift of laughter. He brought a playful exuberance to the character which was a key element in bringing Sabatini's novel to life. 

Granger had seen the original 1923 silent version (starring Ramon Navarro and Lewis Stone) as a child and when he was offered a contract by MGM, he signed it on the condition that Scaramouche would be developed as a project for him. 

The studio had toyed with remaking the film for years, first in 1938 with Fernand Gravet, and then as a possible musical version with Gene Kelly or Fernando Lamas in the starring role, so when Granger suggested the book as a vehicle for himself it was swiftly put into production. Since MGM studios always treated novel-based films with reverence, Scaramouche went to the top of their release schedule as an A-picture. 

Elizabeth Taylor was originally slated to play the part of Aline de Gavrillac, but had to turn down the role because she was already signed for another picture. Ava Gardner was also to have been in the film, in Eleanor Parker's role. However, this was a fortunate swap for Eleanor Parker is excellent as the feisty Lenore. 

Rounding out the cast is Henry Wilcoxon, Nina Foch (as Marie Antoinette), Lewis Stone, Robert Coote, and Elisabeth Risdon. 


This post is our contribution to The Swashathon being hosted by Movies Silently. Be sure to head on over to Movies Silently site to check out other great reviews of classic swashbuckling films. 

Moments of Intuition from Seven Actresses

For our Movie Magazine Article Collection we read a lot of articles and then select only the best to reprint. Some articles are routine while others stand out because they relate an incident about a star that over the years has become forgotten. Does anyone remember the famous ( at the time ) story behind Prince Rainier's "arranged" marriage with Grace Kelly? Or the tale about Fred Astaire's hairpiece? Little incidents, but wildly entertaining to us film buffs. 

This is one of those uber-interesting articles and it appeared in the February 1957 issue of Motion Picture magazine, generously given to us by Jacqueline Lynch, the fabulous blogger behind Another Old Movie Blog. Seven famous actresses will relate to you moments of intuition that happened in their lives. We will be posting this article in chunks, with stories from two actresses in each post, so be sure to check back in the near future for more great stories. Enjoy! 

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Shirley MacLaine 

Last February, my doctor told me I would have a baby in September. About four days after I learned I was pregnant, the studio called and said I'd have to be at work that night. 

I was supposed to be at Paramount at 6pm. That meant I'd have to leave Malibu at about 5pm. Much of the drive to the studio is along the heavily trafficked Pacific Coast Highway, only a few feet from the ocean. 

When it was time for me to leave, I went to the car, drove it out of the garage and was just about to start when the thought suddenly nagged me that I had forgotten something. I left the car and went back into the apartment and just stood in the front room trying to remember what it was. My mind was a blank. After a minute, I gave up, got into the car and started the drive down the highway. 

I had gone about 15 miles when the traffic piled up ahead and everybody stopped. The driver behind me got out of his car and walked up around a slight curve in the road. When he came back his eyes had a strange light in them. I asked if there had been an accident. He said, "There's more than that. That cliff up ahead just slid down on top of the highway. One minute earlier, lady, and we'd have been under a rock landslide."

Janet Leigh

It happened to me when I was 17. Mom and Dad were managing a ski lodge in Sun Valley. The snow on the hills was perfect that year and the lodge was packed with people. I wanted nothing more in the world than to be an expert on skis. I didn't miss a day. Each morning, before the other guests arose, I'd go down to the lounge, which was really a big, cozy living room, check my skiing equipment and then leave for my favorite slope. But there was one last thing I had to do before I left each morning: I had to put the family picture album away in a table drawer. 

You see, Mom loved to show pictures of me, from the time I was a baby, to the guests. When she wasn't around, she'd leave the album with the magazines on the big wooden table so guests would see it. 

Well, each morning, just before I went out the door, I'd put the album back in the drawer. I didn't think the pictures would be as interesting to our vacationing guests as Mom did. 

On this particular morning, I came down, checked my equipment and was about to put the album away when something held me back. For no reason I could imagine, I left it on display. Then I went skiing. 

When I returned, the album was gone. I looked in the drawer. It wasn't there. Then Mom came in, all smiles. There was a woman with her and she was holding the album. 

The woman said that if I didn't mind she was going to "steal" my latest photograph and send it to MGM. 

She said her name was Norma Shearer. 

Ten days later, I received a wire from the talent department of MGM. A screen test would be made as soon as I could get to Hollywood. It was my intuition that kept me from hiding the album, but it was Mom's that put it out there in the first place. 

Thanks, Mom. 

If you liked this post, then click here to read more stories from our Movie Magazine Articles series!