L'arciere del re

The Adventures of Quentin Durward is directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted to screenplay by Robert Ardrey and George Froeschel from the Walter Scott novel. It stars Robert Taylor, Kay Kendall, Robert Morley, George Cole and Alec Clunes.Music is by Bronislau Kaper and Eastman cinematography by Christopher Challis.

"Our story begins in Scotland in 1465~~when knighthood was a drooping blossom~~but the Scot, as usual, was poor in naught but cash."

So it begins, the tale of Quentin Durward (Taylor), who travels to France to find out if the Countess of Marcroy (Kendall) will make for a suitable bride for his aging uncle. Once there, though, Durward gets wrapped up in the political shenanigans of King Louis XI (Morley) and the Duke of Burgundy (Clunes). More pressing, mind, is that the Countess and Durward are attracted to each other.

The third part of an unofficial swashbuckling trilogy made by Richard Thorpe and Robert Taylor, Quentin Durward comes out after Ivanhoe (1952) & Knights of the Round Table (1953). Out of MGM's British studio at Elstree, film is delightful in period flavours and potent as a costume romance, but sadly lacking in vigorous wonders. The weakest of the three Thorpe/Taylor swashers, picture often has tongue planted firmly in cheek as it unfolds its story amongst some marvellous French and English locales. Cast are good value, especially the likes of Morley & Clunes, but Taylor at 44 is a bit long in the tooth to be entirely convincing in the derring-do department.

Good honest fun in the main, if a little too plodding in patches, but a climatic bell tower duel played out on swinging ropes is alone worth viewing the film for. 6/10

Mid-point in his career Robert Taylor was given Quo Vadis and was such a success in it that MGM then gave him Ivanhoe and Knights of the Round Table and finally Quentin Durward. Taylor did not like these films, he referred to them as his "iron jockstrap roles." He much preferred westerns and modern pictures. But he went with the flow so they say.

The stream flowed well for him in Quentin Durward. What Walter Scott was trying to do in the novel and succeeds on the screen is juxtapose the lives of noble knight Quentin Durward and the scheming spider king Louis XI of France played superbly by Robert Morley. Louis XI is modern man, stripped of all pretenses, surviving on his wits. Durward is a figure from antiquity even in the 15th century.

Louis XI is one of the most fascinating monarchs in history and we've seen him as a supporting character both in If I Were King and in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was a guy who if one scheme didn't work, he had a backup plan, in fact about 5 or 6 backups. Most of us are lucky if we have 2 in any situation. But he had to rule that way. When he took the throne of France in 1461 they had ended the Hundred Years War and France was a devastated country. He couldn't afford to be starting any wars or he wouldn't have a country left. He had to rule by wile and stratagem and he succeeded. Too bad Robert Morley didn't make a film just about Louis XI. Great story, hope someone does it some day.

One of the most exciting action sequences in film history is done here with Quentin Durward battling the villainous Walter DeLa Marck in a burning bell tower while they are both swinging on ropes holding bell clappers. You should see the film for that alone.

Richard Thorpe managed a few amusing moments in "The Adventures of Quentin Durward" which has a trapped Kay Kendall, whose only hard way to escape was to get rid from the evil black villain William De La Marck (Ducan Lamont).

Robert Taylor (Quentin Durward) engaged with De La Marck a rare but extremely exciting duel to-the-death with ax and dagger in the burning bell tower, swinging on the bell ropes in a rhythmic motion, getting from side to side with the sound of the ringing bells, until the destruction of the vile Count...

The best part of the film is the performance of the delicious heroine, Kay Kendall, 'one of the Cinema's few outstanding Comediennes,'whose beauty and artistic talent flourished the story, set in the 15th-Century France...

Kay Kendall (1926-59) went away much too young of leukemia...

Kay performed the maiden in distress, the medieval heroine fitting well into a motion picture which caught beautifully Scott's novel... The plot was simple: an elderly English Lord (Ernest Thesiger) sends his nephew (Robert Taylor) to seek in marriage a French Lady (Kay Kendall) on his behalf... He falls in love with her himself..

Sir Walter Scott wrote the novel in 1823... His 'Ivanhoe, 'The Talisman' and 'Rob Roy' have received most attention from filmmakers...

Another quality of "The Adventures of Quentin Durward" is the good acting of Robert Morley as the cunning, outrageous, very winding King, a characterization so different to his great performance as the weak-minded Louis XVI in "Marie-Antoinette" opposite Norma Shearer... This delightful British actor played excellent supporting roles in good-humored or pretentious roles...

Robert Taylor was the perfect cavalier, the man of word and sword, the romantic adventurer who appeared to relieve a charming Lady..

A peripheral pleasure was the sight of those great English character actors, the backbone of so many heroic films. Alec Clunes for example, whose son, Martin, is such a favourite today. Wilfred Hyde White, usually an elegant toff, was here a barber with a delightful wig shaving Robert Morley. He of course was in danger of stealing the show, a villain with a winning smile and wonderful accent. I relished the sight of a Kay Kendall in what appeared to be a white nightdress; but even more more striking was the speed with which she added a robe, whilst running round the castle with Taylor. We so easily take the music for granted; here it was expertly matched to the action, wonderfully orchestrated and brilliantly played and conducted - but by whom? The composer Bronislaw Kaper? Was it recorded in London or Hollywood? The professional skill that these musicians displayed deserves far more attention. Too often today the score is synthesised, or inanely repetitious regardless of the scene and the action.

This is a film to be watched with a wide and affectionate grin. Outstanding are Robert Morley as Louis XI, the infamous and wily 'Spider' of France, and Robert Taylor as the eponymous Durward, a would-be chivalrous hero born out of his time who is none too sure of himself. The necessary, and highly satisfactory, heroics are spiced with a rich leavening of humour and some genuine moral questions - how much should a man sacrifice for his country's sake? His love? His life? His honour?

But above all it is a joyous and thrilling romp that doesn't take itself too seriously. Durward wants to be a knight in shining armour, but circumstances tend to conspire against him, and his lady is definitely the stronger-willed of the two; though like the audience, she cannot resist his puppydog charm. And ambiguous, cynical, cowardly Louis is often in danger of stealing the show outright, as he sits at the centre of his web and pulls the strings that manipulate all the other characters - a far-from-two-dimensional villain after my own heart!

Definitely a superior swashbuckler, with a saving vein of humour.