The King's Thief

Set in Charles II kingdom , when he is restored to the British throne , after Cromwell's Republic , and stars a handsome highwayman named Michael Dermott (Edmund Purdom) who holds up a villain , short-tempered Duke (David Niven who delivers the most indelible sight , making a surprisingly effective nasty) and acquires a notebook , which , in due course , he realises is the key to latter's scheme to eliminate a series of noblemen , yet really in the service of his own will of power . But Michael is caught and imprisoned along with his colleague Jack (Roger Moore) and , subsequently , both of whom escape across a risked getaway . While Lady Mary's (Ann Blyth) father is innocently accused of treason and is executed along with other allegedly traitors . It was carried out by the king's evil chancellor , the duke of Brampton , having them murdered and then expropriating their fortune , all under the auspices of protecting the throne from seditionaries . Then , Lady Mary travels to London to meet the duke , but instead meets Michael and both of whom fall in love . At the end Dermott becomes involved in a plot to steal the Crown jewels at the Tower of London and finds a worthy fencing adversary in the treacherous Duc of Brampton at an exciting final duel .

Edmund Purdom 's spectacular and overwhelming adventure features impressive duels , elegant costuming , adequate production design , marvelous gowns , loads of action and full of Restoration Regalia . Edmund Purdom is at his most agile and deft style and performs his own stunts . Purdom was 31 when he made this movie . Previously , Edmund made his best adventures and swashbucklers and played successes as ¨The student Prince¨, ¨The Egyptian¨, ¨Athena¨, ¨The prodigal¨ . It was all downhill for Purdom after this , as he emigrated Italy where starred ¨B¨ films , Sword and Sandals , Spaghettis and minor epics as ¨Herod the Great¨, ¨Nefertiti , queen of Nile¨ , and followed successive flops as ¨Mr Scarface¨, ¨Big Boss¨, ¨Dr. Frankestein castle of freaks¨. Nice acting by David Niven as Duke of Brampton , who has found a way of getting rich by accusing his enemies of treason and sequester their property . And Ann Blyth plays the damsel in distress seeking justice for her late daddy as a colourless female lead . Support cast is pretty well , plenty of familiar faces as John Dehner , Melville Cooper , Sean McClory , Alan Mowbray , Rhys Williams , Tudor Owen , Ian Wolf and a young Roger Moore and special mention for George Sanders as Charles II and leading a pack of Spaniels . This King Charles II was also played in ¨Restoration (1992) by Sam Neill , and George Sanders also portrayed him in ¨Forever Amber¨ (1947).

Richly costumed , including luxurious gowns and in glamorous Technicolor cinematography by cameraman by Robert H. Planck . Breathtaking and luxury set design and art design by Cedric Gibbons , MGM's ordinary , though mostly interiors . Here MGM turned out in a quiet corner of the backlot . Thrilling and evocative musical score by the great maestro and prolific Miklos Rozsa . The picture is not a masterpiece , being made in modest limits , with huge confidence and fair play by Robert Z Leonard . Robert directed all kinds of genres , but especially dramas and musicals , such as : Clown , The Duchess of Idaho , Nancy goes to Rio , In the good old summertime , When ladies meet , Ziegfeld girl , Pride and prejudice , Broadway serenade , Girl of the Golden west , The firefly , The great Ziegfeld , Dancing Lady , Strange interlude , The Divorcée and a Mormon maid . Rating : 5.5/10 , passable , a pleasing time-passer . An enjoyable vision to brighten any day .

Under the reign of Charles the Second , his counsellor ,the Duke of Brampton is making things rough all over ; in a screenplay taken by force from Robin Hood, complete with a band of nobles deprived of their possessions and a lady Mary(an) , it's nevertheless an entertaining sword and sandal yarn ,with glittering colors. George Sanders,as usual ,has style in his royal part ,athough I wished he had been cast as the villain .....played by cast against type David Niven ; both easily steal the show from bland Edmund Purdom. Gorgeous Ann Blyth provides the love interest .

Forget history : Cromwell replaces the crusades and the counsellor the sheriff of Nottingham.

This is an old-fashioned adventure movie, but there's nothing wrong with that! Our time period is the 1660's or so, with Charles II on the English throne. That the film is in color helps a great deal, allowing us to fully enjoy the fine costumes and the beauty of the leading lady. There is some good swordplay and other good action scenes. The knowledgeable film fan will spot a number of familiar faces in the cast. This film puts many of the backlot locations of MGM to good use. They're gone now; you can appreciate them here. Recommended.

Edmund Purdom plays "Michael Dermott" a petty crook and the hero in this tale of a 17th Century plot by the evil, ambitious "Duke of Brampton" (David Niven) to amass a fortune by denouncing as many wealthy nobles as he can before he can depose the weak Charles II (George Sanders) and rule Britain. Ann Blyth is the daughter of one such man who was hung for treason. She enlists the help of Purdom and they set out to foil these dastardly plans with the aid of the Duke's self-incriminating little black book. It's a fine looking film, and Niven and Sanders put some class into it. Otherwise, though, the leads are quite feeble as is the script.

I am a retired American who taught world history. Although Charles II is shown as an all-around swell guy beset with disloyal jerks waiting to kill him, he was, in fact, a divine right king who managed to eventually lose much of the good will the English had towards him when the monarchy was restored. The English were dreadfully sorry they chopped off the head of Charles I and were ready to make amends. Charles, however, wasn't about to learn the lesson of his father-- and continued to behave as if he was never to be challenged in his role as king. Things really were bad...so bad that when his brother, James II, took the thrown the English soon chased him out of the country and replaced the Stuarts with a Dutch king and queen. So, as I watched the film, I had to laugh because it did re-write history just a tad! But enough of a mini lecture...on to the film itself.

The film is about yet another plot to kill the king by a disloyal bunch of jerks. However, there is a small book with this information in it--and it's stolen by a group of highway men! Are these crooks evil crooks or the Hollywood type who are intensely loyal Englishman who love their king? Through the course of this film you'll learn!

So although it might not be all that accurate, is this an enjoyable film? No. Not really. Like too many period films, the dialog is stilted and the picture lacks humanity and realism. It looks like a stagy production and sounds like one too. Watchable but hardly a must-see.