The War Lord 1965 123movies

Watch: The War Lord 1965 123movies, Full Movie Online – A knight in the service of a duke goes to a coastal villiage where an earlier attempt to build a defensive castle has failed. He begins to rebuild the duke’s authority in the face of the barbarians at the border and is making progress until he falls in love with one of the local women..
Plot: A knight in the service of a duke goes to a coastal village where an earlier attempt to build a defensive castle has failed. He begins to rebuild the duke’s authority in the face of the barbarians at the border and is making progress until he falls in love with one of the local women.
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Ratings:

	6.6/10 Votes: 3,328
	67% | RottenTomatoes
	N/A | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 60 Popularity: 6.541 | TMDB

Reviews:

_**Mediocre medieval tale with Heston, Boone and Rosemary Forsyth**_

In the 11th Century, a knight (Charlton Heston) in the service of the duke of Normandy ventures to a village on the northern coast of France to finish and inhabit a castle-like fortress for defense against the raiding Frisians from further up the coast (which, today, would be Netherlands & Germany). Richard Boone plays the lord’s right-hand man, Guy Stockwell his brother, Maurice Evans a priest and Rosemary Forsyth a peasant girl.

“The War Lord” (1965) is a deservedly forgotten Heston adventure of the Middle Ages along the lines of “The Vikings” (1958) but with bad haircuts and lacking the pizzazz that makes a movie great. It’s pretty much the “Braveheart” (1995) of the 60s, but nowhere near as effective (speaking as someone who’s not a huge fan of “Braveheart”).

There’s some quality medieval action (mostly in the last act) and the depiction of social circumstances with lords and serfs is interesting (yet sometimes bewildering), although the portrayal of Druidic paganism amongst the latter is grossly exaggerated. Naturally devotees of the cast or 60’s cinema will be interested, but “Ironclad” (2011) tackles similar territory and is far better. For those who want something closer to that time period, “Robin and Marian” (1976) is a good option.

One glaring issue is that the heart of the story revolves around the questionable ‘lord’s right’ or ‘right of the first night,’ a supposed legal right in medieval Europe that allowed feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women on their wedding nights which, in practice, would simply be lords using their power over serfs to sexually exploit nubile ladies free of consequences. Whilst some historians say this ‘right’ MIGHT have existed in the Middle Ages, many others have concluded that it is a myth on the grounds that all references to it are from later periods. There are plenty of writings that allude to it, but very little legitimate evidence that it was ever actually used by any nobles anywhere.

The film runs 2 hours, 3 minutes, and was shot primarily at Universal City, California, but also other areas of the state (Malibu, Maryville & Colusa County).

GRADE: C

This place has the dimensions of heresy.

The War Lord stars Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Maurice Evans, Niall MacGinnis, Henry Wilcoxon and James Farentino, amongst others. It’s directed by future Oscar winning Director Franklin J. Schaffner (Best Director for Patton), and the screenplay is by PJohn Collier with the adaptation coming from the play, The Lovers, written by Leslie Stevens.

The War Lord harks back to days of yore as we enter the 11th century and ancient Normandy. The film successfully brings the period down to the nitty gritty and doesn’t glamorise either the characters or the way of life of the various social dwellers. Time has been afforded the pagan mythologies that existed back then, whilst the upper class’ rights such as “droit de seigneur” (ius primae noctis) forms the back bone for our story as Heston’s Duke falls for the Druid peasantry virgin (Rosemary Forsyth) he has claimed his right too, tho his inner conflict with the ways irks him so. Thanks to Schaffner the film manages to blend its dialogue heavy plot with some well crafted battle scenes, with the use of weaponry and tactics particularly impressive. You can see that this hasn’t just been thrown together as a cash in historical epic featuring Chuck Heston. The cast are strong, particularly Boone and Stockwell, while Jerome Moross (score) and Russell Metty (cinematography) capture the time frame with skill.

Rarely talked about in terms of historical epics, or even Heston epics come to that, The War Lord is however one of the more tightly written and thematically interesting movies from the genre. 7/10

Charlton Heston goes for poetry instead of bombast, romance instead of heroism
If you want a movie about long ago and far away, this one is highly recommendable, unless of course you need light sabers or all-powerful rings to hold your attention.

Costume pictures often reek of Classics Illustrated comic books. This is among the few whose script as filmed is not an insult.

Director Franklin Schaffner obviously loves the material. He later returned to the period with “Lionheart: the Children’s Crusade,” after “Planet of the Apes,” “Patton,” and his other famous epics.

The film’s atmosphere is incredibly strong – I was absolutely sure that this was shot on location in Europe until I recognized the Universal hillside towards the end. Rarely does a Hollywood movie hide its back lot origins so thoroughly.

Minor drawbacks must be acknowledged. The girl suffers well silently but can’t deliver her few lines. Maurice Evans is an awful ham, showing once again why he was Orson Welles’ least favorite actor. There’s a handful of clumsy process shots, and Paul Frees not only delivers the opening narration but voices both Sammy Ross and Michael Conrad, later familiar from “Hill Street Blues.” Someone in the Universal sound department thought that Frees’ voice was undetectable; and it isn’t. (It gets worse: you can hear Frees as four separate characters in “Spartacus.”)

None of these quibbles matter. The “War Lord” is romantic, poetic, mildly gritty (by today’s standards), and the production design, cinematography and music are all gorgeous. The tumultuous siege of the tower is solid in the way things were before computers, and features what seems to be every stuntman in Hollywood, including Joe Canutt, Hal Needham, Richard Farnsworth and Buddy Van Horn.

I wish Universal could figure out a way to keep the DVD in print. Remastering might help. If you have a multi-system, multi-region player, at this writing a far superior widescreen Danish transfer is available from both UK and German Amazon.

IMDb lists at least 250,000 worse ways to spend two hours than “The War Lord.” Make yourself comfortable and enjoy.

Accurate depiction of Medieval life
Captures a harsh flavor of medieval life in a way few other movies have — the fervent Christianity at odds with superstition, the uncomfortable living conditions, the rigid barrier between ruler and ruled, the messy practicalities of medieval warfare, the absence of anything like personal “freedom”. Also great to see portrayed a specific period of the 11th century that is not often depicted–around the time of William the Conqueror (one wonders if “The Duke” talked about in the story is meant to be William). Worth seeing too for the striking, brutally poetic dialog and Heston’s performance.

The over-romantic score is distracting and often inappropriate. The female lead seems mis-directed–one feels she could do more, but is not being given the opportunity.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 2 hr 3 min (123 min), 2 hr 2 min (122 min) (France), 2 hr 3 min (123 min) (USA)
Budget 0
Revenue 0
Status Released
Rated Approved
Genre Drama, History, Romance
Director Franklin J. Schaffner
Writer John Collier, Millard Kaufman, Leslie Stevens
Actors Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth
Country United States
Awards N/A
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono (Westrex Recording System)
Aspect Ratio 2.35 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory Technicolor
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Panavision (anamorphic) (filmed in) (as Panavision®)
Printed Film Format 35 mm