La spada e la rosa

Obstinate princess Mary Tudor , (Glynis Johns) , sister of king Henry VIII (James Robertson Justice) , shuns the advances of a nobleman , Duke of Buckingham (Michael Gough) , for the love of a commoner named Charles Brandon (Richard Todd) . She attempts to escape to America with her love but is captured on board ship . In return for her consent , Henry VIII agrees to marry her the elderly King of France Louis XII , who'll be succeded by Francisco I . But things go wrong when she is abducted . Then his sweetheart , the valiant commoner Charles Brandon, attempts to rescue her love by exciting feats and thrilling fights againt enemies .Now ! Walt Disney brings new excitement to romance !. A Forbidden Love That Threatened Two King !

Historical film packs romance , emotion , sword-play and being fast-moving . Interesting and attractive screenplay based on the book : ¨When knighthood was in flower¨ . Main and support cast are pretty well . Glynis Johns and James Robertson Justice make an extraordinary battle of wits , they were two of the foremost British talents at the time , while Richard Todd plays adequately a brave communer . They're well accompanied by a nice cast , such as : Michael Gough as the nasty Duke of Buckingham , Jane Barrett , Peter Copley , Rosalie Crutchley , Anthony Sharp , Patrick Cargill, the French Gérard Oury as Dauphin of France , among others.

In The Sword and the Rose (1953) stands out the colorful and brilliant cinematography in Walt Disney style by cameraman Geoffrey Unsworth . As well as the evocative and imaginative musical score by Clifton Parker . The motion picture was uneven but competently directed by Ken Annakin , though being sporadically fun and entertaining enough . In the 1960s he was one of several British directors along with Guy Green, John Guillermin who specialized in turning out all-star , splashy, big-budget European/American co-productions, shot on the Continent . He was one of the directors of the epic World War II spectacle The longest day (1962) and went solo on Battle of the Bulge (1965), both of which were financial--if not exactly critical--successes. Ken was an expert on Adventure genre as ¨The new adventures of Pippi Longstockings¨, ¨Pirate movie¨ , ¨Paper tiger¨, ¨The fifth Musketeer¨ , ¨Call of wild¨, ¨The Swiss family Robinson¨, ¨Land of fury¨, ¨The Sword and the Rose¨, ¨The story of Robin Hood and his Merry Men¨, ¨Third man on the mountain¨ and Wartime genre as ¨Battle of the Bulge¨, and ¨The Longest day¨. Rating 6/10 . Acceptable and passable. The flick will appeal to historical genre enthusiasts . Well worth watching ,

Richard Todd was a Disney star for a short while, but he certainly didn't disappoint. He and Glynis Johns were in more than one movie together and I have to say that this is their strongest collaboration. Richard Todd is dreamy, eloquent and enchanting. Glynis Johns is strong, ethereal and flawless. The story is fun and surprising. I had never even heard of this movie and am so happy to have gotten the opportunity to watch it. I HIGHLY recommend this film. It's a proper treat!

I really think Disney, when doing period films, did best when sticking to the musical comedy vein, as in "Mary Poppins" or the lesser-known (but hilarious) "Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin." When they tried to play it straight, the results are usually nothing to write home about, such is the case in "The Sword and the Rose." Now, Glynis Johns is beautiful and provides a very fine performance, and James Robertson Justice as Henry VIII, doing his best Falstaff impersonation, is quite amusing. I also enjoyed many of the supporting players, from the pratfalling King of France to his evil Pepe le Pew successor, Francis.

Unfortunately, Richard Todd as Charles Brandon is dull, dull, dull. One thing is for certain, he is no Errol Flynn. I kept thinking- why would Princess Mary want to run off with this guy? Todd is unfortunately typical of many 1950s leading men, like Cornel Wilde and Rory Calhoun, who seemed to substitute square jaws and blank stoicism for actual charm, charisma, and talent. Perhaps I would have enjoyed the film more if there had been more action scenes and swashbuckling, but there were so many scenes of Brandon and the Princess cooing over each other that I found myself getting restless. At times like this, a vaudeville number would be much appreciated.

However, the movie is relatively fast paced enough, so I wasn't too bored. The costuming, for a '50s Disney movie, is okay, although of course no one will be surprised to hear that it actually bears little resemblance to early Tudor fashions circa 1514. Justice is way too old to be playing Henry (Henry would have been in his mid 20s at the time) and all of his clothes look to be taken from the Holbein portraits from the 1530s and 1540s. All the women are wearing farthingales (not introduced until later), and most annoying, is that Catherine of Aragon, who was really a plump, sweet-natured redhead, is portrayed as a dour stick-thin black-haired hag who flounces around in a succession of horrifically gaudy outfits. Well, what else can be expected of a Disney movie, I suppose. It's a reasonably pleasant, inoffensive way of passing the time, and I very much liked Glynis Johns, although I constantly expected her to burst out singing: "Well done, Sister Suffragette!"

After reading all of the negative reviews on this movie, I just had to give one on my opinion. This is my all time favorite movie. I love the dynamics between the actors and the chemistry between Charles Brandon and the Princess Mary. I love that I can sit down to watch it and feel the emotion that was meant for the viewer to feel. So what if there are discrepancies in the storyline, the wardrobe, and the actors portrayal of the real people from history? I don't really care. This is a great movie, and it will always be at the very top of my favorites list. If you know what's good for you, you will watch it, you will LOVE it, and you will tell your friends how amazing it is, too!

James Robertson Justice gives an Oscar-caliber performance as King Henry VIII, tangling with little sister, Princess Mary Tudor, over her love life: he wants to sell her to France where she would marry elderly King Louis XII, but she is madly in love with adventurer Charles Brandon. Disney film encompasses all of their early strengths as a studio: enchanting romance, sly good humor, sword-fighting action, terrific production values and beautiful background score (which, by the way, if you find on vinyl is worth a pretty penny). Pure fun, with captivating Glynis Johns as Mary, Richard Todd dashing as Brandon, and Justice the best English King I have ever seen on film. A joy! *** from ****