When Knights Were Bold

Jack Buchanan, English musical comedy star from the first part of the last century is a rarity. He's primarily known for two films with American audiences, Monte Carlo where he co-starred with Jeanette MacDonald and The Band Wagon where he supported Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse and participated in that legendary Triplets number.

It was interesting to see Buchanan in something else. When Knights Were Bold concerns a young man who is of noble birth and when he's located in service in the Indian Army, he's told he's now got a title, lands, and a castle and all that goes with it. That includes tenants on his lands and a bunch of sponging relatives, one of whom Garry Marsh thinks he ought to have inherited the title. Another is Fay Wray who's a distant and kissing cousin who's real deep into the medieval scene.

Even though he's been a soldier on the frontier of the empire Buchanan doesn't quite measure up to her ideal of a medieval knight, the kind you usually find in Walter Scott novels.

The last third of the film is a dream sequence that's part inspired from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur and part Monty Pythonesque. In fact this film could have served as an inspiration for the Monty Python players and their classic about the quest for the Holy Grail.

Sad to say Buchanan's few musical numbers were not quite up to the standard of Rodgers&Hart and not even up to what Burke&Van Heusen wrote for Bing Crosby in his film based on the Mark Twain novel. Still they do show off a considerable talent for song and dance and a bit of snappy patter.

I'd give When Knights Were Bold a look if for no other reason than to check out the talent of Jack Buchanan.

This British film is a comedy romance that stars Jack Buchanan, a Scottish actor. While he is little remembered in America today, Buchanan was a well-known and loved performer of English stage and screen the first half of the 20th century. The multi-talented Buchanan was an actor, comedian, singer and dancer. He also began directing and producing his own plays early in his career. He starred in most of his musicals. His earliest film was a silent in 1917, but he got his start on the English stage and then crossed the pond to appear on Broadway.

Buchanan is best known in the States for his film role in "The Band Wagon." The 1953 smash musical comedy had a top cast of song and dance stars, and Buchanan danced with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Buchanan's usual persona was similar to Astaire's, except that he was even more so the debonair gentleman, always friendly and upbeat. He also had some big stage and cinema business connections in England, and was known for his charity and aid to down and out performances. He died in 1957 of spinal cancer.

"When Knights were Bold" is a comedy fantasy in which Buchanan does a little soft shoe and sings. His pranks and antics are the source of most of the humor. Fay Wray is a distant cousin whom he has eyes for once they meet. But, she has become almost as frigid as the older stuffy and aloof members of the clan. Can Sir Guy De Vere win the hand of this fair maiden and overcome the entrenched snobbery of Beechwood Castle?

He arrives in Little Twittering, after being discharged from the British Army in India – since his ascension as the De Vere heir. One senses hope in the outcome, and the promise of comedy to come, when the village folk turn out at the railway platform to greet the new heir. A large banner reads, "Welcome to the New Guy."