The Black Knight

A medieval blacksmith (Alan Ladd) masquerades as a knight in order to win the hand of a lady and thwart a Saracen (Peter Cushing).

The Black Knight has some odd casting. First, there’s Peter Cushing playing an Arab, complete with tan makeup and a full mop of black hair. Surprisingly, he’s pretty good as the baddie, even if his accent waivers with almost every line.

On the other end of the spectrum however, there’s Alan Ladd, who is totally miscast and absolutely doesn’t work as a young knight in King Arthur’s court. Putting aside his lack of a British accent (it’s probably better he didn’t try), Ladd is simply too soft and, at 41, too old for the part.

The Ladd casting debacle aside, the rest of the cast is workable, with André Morell a particular standout as Ladd’s mentor.

The production values are good, though some of the costumes (such as Ladd’s helmet) may leave you scratching your head, and the film benefits from the authentic English settings.

Unfortunately the script is pretty routine, broken up only by a somewhat bizarre sequence in Stonehenge that, like so much else in The Black Knight, will leave you wondering exactly what it was doing in there.