The War Lord [Blu-ray] [1965]

A tired knight is sent to be lord of the manor in Normandyby his duke, William of Ghent.(I'm not sure if this would be ourWilliam the 1st) the knight and his entourage take control of the areaAnd try to keep the peace with the peasants whilst fighting the frisians.alongThe story line the knight falls in love with a local girl and after being obsessedDecides to resurrect an old custom where the the Lord can sleep withA bride on her wedding night(seen this before in braveheart) and the girlWould leave in the morning,except the girl doesn't want to leave him. The peasants Thinking that the Lord has reneged on his word , throw in their lot with the frisiansAnd attack the keep where the Lord stays. The knights brother manages to get out To fetch help. While the knight and his dwindling force take on the frisians . His brother Returns in the nick of time to the Lord's relief only to find out that his brotherHas betrayed him to the duke, the duke relieves the knight of his power and handsIt to his treacherous brother. In a brief fight the knight kills his brother and leavesThe keep so he can explain his actions to his duke. Fearing the worst the knightUrges his lover to flee , and there the story endsThis film breaks ranks with other medieval films where the knights live in luxuryAnd the such ,it's a gritty no holds barred type of film . Most noticeable the knightWho has been for years fighting in various wars, just wants peace.It's hinted that the village is based in England , I can assure you it's not But some area of france .This was one of the great works by the director of the originalPlanet of the apes ,and Charlton Heston had no hesitation taking the roleAs the knight, Richard boon plays bors his grizzled man at arms.Excellent film, great blue ray transfer

A generally underrated Charlton Heston historical piece. This film was directed by Franklin (J.) Schaffner, who went on to direct the first Planet of the Apes entry, also starring Heston. Incidentally, Maurice Evans likewise, appeared in them both. The film is marketed as being, 'One of the finest historical adventure films ever made' My take on this would be as follows: This is a medieval action adventure film made in 1965 Hollywood. It's well made and leads to a climatic set piece involving the defence of Heston's Castle Tower. Unusual for the day, and possibly the only medieval story from that era that took a more realistic approach to its subject matter. Heston sports an authentic haircut from that time, that apparently caused studio executives to caution him on the possibility that his sex appeal might be jeopardized by this action, but he went ahead, (no pun intended) with the style anyway! If you're a Heston fan, and have not seen this film, I recommend it to you! If you enjoy 1960's historical adventure films, this is for you! Those accustomed to modern fare may find it dated, but overall, in my view, a good entry to Charlton Heston's filmography. Blu ray transfer is good, although I should advise that the rather misty-looking opening of the film is not to be worried about. This was most likely a problem from the source material, as it soon clears, and beautiful cinematography by Russell Metty prevails. These observations being based upon My previous version of this film, A German transfer, 'Die Normannen Kommen' Which demonstrated the exact same transfer problem.

The Blu-ray disc is a very nice transfer, with rich color and detail. If digital noise reduction was used it was done with a light hand. There have been many interesting reviews posted, but the negative reviewers were obviously expecting a spear and sandal opus. Yes, there is an exciting extended castle storming sequence (concluding somewhat improbably), but for all that this is a thoughtful morality play. Heston is a feudal vassal who after years of hard martial service has finally been rewarded by his liege with a tiny fiefdom, presumably somewhere in Celtic Britain. He is smitten by a lovely peasant bride-to-be and imposes his Droit du seigneur, but the morning after is faced with a moral dilemma of not wanting to return her as he agreed and as custom demands. Further, the young woman is equally attracted to the knight and does not wish to leave. This leads to an uprising by the locals.The acting is solid with the exception of Rosemary Forsyth. She has little to say but when she does speak it is without conviction, and she sounds like the young unseasoned actress that she was. According to other reviewers the film was originally to have been an hour longer but was cut by the studio. That may be why the Forsyth character's attraction to Heston and her jilting of her bridegroom-to-be is never really explored and is not creditable. Missing also is a reason why she didn't simply break her pledge of marriage, which while sullying her reputation might have avoided the violent response of the villagers. Trimming the film may also account for some of the complex motivations of other characters never being fully explored.Possible spoiler: The ending of the film is ambiguous. While another reviewer stated that the fate of Heston's character was spelled out in the original play upon which the movie is based, and that Heston himself subsequently spoke on the matter, ultimately we have only the film itself and it is the viewer who must decide the character's fate. For myself, I found it difficult to believe that a peasant's sickle would cut through chain mail to inflict a fatal wound.A note about the fine music score by Jerome Moross ("The Big Country"): About fifteen minutes of music comprising the battle scenes were scored by Hans J. Salter. It's not clear whether this was done because the time allotted for composition was cut in half by the studio and Moross needed some help, or whether the studio was dissatisfied with Moross's battle music and called on Salter to rescore the scenes. Salter had previously written some very similar action cues for Universal's '54 "Black Shield of Falworth."

liked storyline and acting

Combat and overall view and characters

Pésima calidad aún cuando es blu-ray se ve muy mal , sin opción de cambiar idioma.

The War Lord was released in 1965 at the end of the Epic era when the old historical extravaganzas had just about gone out of fashion. This movie is actually not much of an epic but more just a pretty realistic story of what life must have been like in the dark ages. There are plenty of convincing action scenes though and the acting is pretty good in general. There is also a haunting musical score by Jerome Moross that fits in very well. I think it was a 4 star effort.

Una gran colaboración entre Franklin Schaffner y Charlton Heston. Una película de Hollywood que fue de las primeras en tratar de alejarse de los estereotipos románticos habituales al ambientar en la Edad Media. Tal y como dicen las notas que acompañan a la edición, uno de los primeros encontronazos de Schaffner y Heston con los productores fue el empeño de aquellos en que el corte de pelo de los soldados (comenzando por el Señor de la Guerra, Crisagon de la Cruz, interpretado por Heston) reflejase lo más fielmente posible el estándar de la época, algo que los productores intuyeron que podía contribuir a mermar el sex-appeal de su estrella principal. Otra cosa que destaca en la historia es el intento que hace el guión por distanciarse y presentar con objetividad el conflicto entre el fanatismo cristiano y las tradiciones paganas asentadas en la población rural. Incluso la historia pone en evidencia la hipocresía en tratar de mantenerse fiel al cristianismo, pero estar a la vez beneficiándose de una tradición de origen pagano (el derecho de "pernada").Las escenas de acción están muy bien resueltas (aunque la sangre falsa resulta demasiado falsa, al estilo Hammer). El reparto es excelente. Yo destacaría a los dos secundarios: Richard Boone, que interpreta al leal y fiel escudero de Crisagon; y a Guy Stockwell, que interpreta al retorcido y rencoroso hermano de Crisagon.En cuanto a la presentación en alta definición, me ha parecido excelente, teniendo en cuenta la realización original de la película y su fotografía. Las escenas iniciales pueden sorprender negativamente a más de uno. No tengo claro si fueron rodadas en decorados (con la torre y el horizonte pintados en un fondo) o bien rodadas en exterior añadiendo ópticamente un fondo pintado con la torre y el pantano. Lo cierto es que dan el pego muy bien, gracias al filtro de fotografía que "añade" bruma a la composición. En esta y en otras escenas con "efecto bruma", la imagen presenta mucho grano cinematográfico y menos detalle. Sin embargo, en escenas rodadas en decorados interiores (el magnífico y un tanto claustrofóbico decorado de la torre) y en las de exteriores a plena luz del día, la fotografía luce en todo su esplendor, detalle y resolución. Evidentemente, no estamos hablando de "Avatar", ni "Gladiator", pero en mi opinión, no es probable que esta película del año 1965 pueda disfrutarse en mejores condiciones en un reproductor doméstico. No hay más que ver lo bien que lucen los detalles del vestuario y, en especial, las armaduras y las cotas de malla, que en determinados momentos parecen estar en 3D (o al menos en 2,5D).