All'ombra della ghigliottina

Typical 50s sword and cape film with slew of supporting British and French actors. Pity there isn't a single Welsh one given that part of the action is supposed to take place in Wales. The "Welsh" contingent have a bash at an accent but truth to tell anyone who has ever been to Wales would not be convinced. Finlay Currie for instance was a well known SCOTTISH actor with an accent to match has a go at mangling a Welsh one. But then have you ever seen "How Green was my Valley", a good novel Hollywoodenized?

Well, despite the fact the camera crew never went to Wales, the actors do what they can to move things along (the director could have helped more). The music is clunky and helps even less.

But, hey, the leads are all good looking or, when given some freedom like the "grande dame" Martini Hunt, manage to raise a smile.

So suspend your disbelief - as you have to do to many present-day films - and don't expect any explosions or leaps from tall buildings and settle down in a comfortable sofa.

While I love Louis Jourdan, it doesn't mean I have to be crazy about all his films, and I couldn't work up much enthusiasm for this one.

Based on a book about the supposed survival of Louis XVII, it just felt bland and not very interesting, and that kid king in exile began getting on my nerves with his constant wistful whining about wanting to stay there forever, never wanting to be king, then acting out a silly abdication parody with his self-appointed guardian (played by Belinda Lee, who's also Louis Jourdan's love interest), talking about his supposedly prophetic dreams, and making me sympathize with all those Jacobins who wanted to cut off his head!

Jourdan actually sacrificed his own son for this pathetic child??? That really made me HATE him (despite his sexy good looks)!

The only interesting part to this story was the treacherous servants, with the guy being dumb enough to trust his scheming, mercenary girlfriend.

Bit of a time waster, so skip this one gladly.

Duke Phillipe De Beauvais, (Louis Jourdan) flies in a balloon along with a ten year old Louis XVII Richard DE Beauvais ,( Richard O'Sullivan) from Paris and the balloon became damaged and landed in Wales. Virginia Trail, (Belinda Lee) finds the ten year old and befriends him and brings the boy to her aunts home. Louis XVII is separated from his father Duke Phillipe who helped his son escape from being killed, and who was tortured in a prison. Louis XVII has constant nightmares from all the punishment he endured while in prison and he willingly tells his story to Virginia and Louis XVII at the age of 10 tells Virginia that he wants to marry her and will she wait for him to grow up, Virginia is 2l and it was quite a funny scene in this film. This film dealt completely with hiding this ten year old King and people trying to kill him.

Did you know that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had a son, and that this son when he was aged ten and in danger from the Revolution, fled to a small Welsh island in a balloon? You didn't? Quelle surprise!

This is Dangerous Exile's basic premise. It's a fantastical and farcical one at the same time, and it's to the cast's credit that they manage to play it straight throughout. There is the usual amount of swashbuckling (although confined to the last third) and the kind of laboured "historical" dialogue which 50's screenwriters appear to have been unable to overcome. Jourdan and Michell both move with a stiffness and moody demeanour which can only mean there's a haemorrhoid attack on the horizon, while Belinda Lee (as an American visiting her rich English aunt!) provides an arresting decolletage but little else.

A lot of this movie was shot at night and as such has a brooding quality which often overwhelms the slight material. Hurst, a stalwart of British movies of the 40s and 50s, keeps things moving in a methodical manner, but when all's said and done, there are too many familiar, staid elements for the movie to work as a whole.

Mildly enjoyable if you like this kind of movie, and only 5 out of 10.

'King Reluctant', the novel by Vaughan Wilkins, is a fanciful tale based upon the legend that Louis Charles, the rightful heir to the throne following the public execution of his father Louis XVI, had escaped his captors whereas it has long been established that the unfortunate boy had been cruelly treated by his guards and died from tuberculosis at the age of ten.

This film adaptation is frankly more hysterical than historical which is a great pity as the art direction of Jack Maxted and cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth ensure that it looks simply splendid. The whole enterprise has been scuppered alas by the stolid, tepid and unimaginative direction of Brian Desmond Hurst who has done his actors no favours whatsoever. Played against the backdrop of the French Revolution, what should have been a thrilling adventure has become a non-event thanks to this director's total lack of flair for this sort of material whilst the drama is further weakened by some decidedly dodgy lip-syncing.

This belongs to the seemingly endless list of films that fall into the 'what might have been' category.