Le cavalier masqué

I first saw The Lady and The Highwayman, the year that Four Weddings And A Funeral came out. I barely knew who Hugh Grant was at the time (and at the time was not interested in Four Weddings) but I sat down to watch The Lady and The Highwayman which was on TV. I loved it, and last Christmas it aired again, so I recorded it. It's great fun. I love Emma Simms bitchy Barbara Castlemaine, and Lysette Anthonys sweet Panthea Vine, and of course Hugh Grant as the dashing Silverblade. Great fun!

I saw this movie a year after it came out when I was ten and I haven't seen it since. I could only remember small details like Lysette having her dog killed by her new husband (I cried, but I was only ten!) and also the executioner remarking that it will only take one blow to lop Lysette's head off. It is one of the best adventure stories for young kids (and old ones), up there with Blackbeard's Ghost and the Goonies! If you can find it, watch it, and then watch it again!!

it is a love story which succeeds in it's attempt to create suspense--will true love be victorious? or will it be a tragedy? The suspense is intermingled with completely unintentional comic relief. It stars Hugh Grant before he became the bumbling fool in so many other movies.

This movie is amazingly funny because of its lack of trying to be so. It was not meant to be a comedy, but the one-liners will be recited by its audiences for years after viewing. It was a truly valuable find in our campus library movie collection.

Please trust me and rent this movie!!! You will never forget this experience!

Get a grip you guys - this is not supposed to be great theatre. It's a fun, tongue-in-cheek adaptation of your typical bodice-ripper tale only rather better done than most (I'm thinking of the American equivalent offerings such as "Black Swan" (1942) or any of Errol Flynn's efforts). True - the transcription to DVD is about the worst I've ever seen outside of old kung-fu movies but just enjoy it for what it is - an early airing of Hugh Grant's talents with some great supporting actors. Everyone takes their part extremely well - especially Christopher Cazenove as the slimy Rudolph Vyne.

Although filmed in 1988, this British made-for-TV movie captures the look and feel, the melodrama and romance, even the stagy lighting, of a big-budget 1930s Hollywood swashbuckler. By 1930s standards, it is a first-rate film. By today's standard, well, that's not really a fair standard to judge it by. It lacks the scale and fancy visual effects of "Braveheart," or "Gladiator," but in its quirky old-fashioned way, it is a better movie than either of them. And it is miles better in every possible way (including historical accuracy) than the egregious BBC/A&E "Charles II" mini-series (USA title "The Last King"), set in the same time period, with many of the same characters, that was broadcast in 2004.

"The Lady and the Highwayman" is based on a Barbara Cartland romance novel, and set in Restoration England of the 1660s. Yet with a shift of locale, and a slight re-write, it could just as well be a western. Think "Zorro." Indeed it borrows lots of bits and pieces from classic westerns -- such as Hugh Grant's character jumping from atop a 30 foot wall on to the back of his horse.

"The Lady and the Highwayman" was filmed in England, using several real period castles and manor houses as locations. Both the detailed sets and the lavish costumes mesh seamlessly with the period buildings. The costume department did a great job, as much with the soldiers' uniforms, armor, and weapons, as with the courtiers' finery.

The cast is excellent, and the dialog, by Terence Feely, was well written. 28-year old Hugh Grant looks young and suave, but doesn't say a whole lot. The star is young Lysette Anthony, then 25, and she is terrific. Oliver Reed is a menacingly villainous Phillip Gage. Michael York is a dashing King Charles II.

I just saw the film on a $1 DigiView DVD sold by WalMart. It was definitely not a digital transfer -- but its graininess and off colors actually enhanced the impression of its being a 1930s film, rather than 1980s. It's no classic, but I enjoyed watching it, and I've seen plenty worse. 6/10.

For another quirky and retro view of 17th century England, check out "Winstanley" by Kevin Brownlow.