The War Lord
| The War Lord | |
|---|---|
 film poster by Howard Terpning |
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| Directed by | Franklin J. Schaffner |
| Produced by | Walter Seltzer |
| Written by | John Collier Millard Kaufman Leslie Stevens |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Richard Boone Rosemary Forsyth Maurice Evans Guy Stockwell Niall MacGinnis Henry Wilcoxon James Farentino |
| Music by | Jerome Moross Hans J. Salter |
| Cinematography | Russell Metty |
| Editing by | Folmar Blangsted |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 17, 1965 |
| Running time | 123 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $ 3,500,000 |
- See The Warlord for the comic.
The War Lord is a 1965 film starring Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, Maurice Evans, Niall MacGinnis, Henry Wilcoxon and James Farentino, with Jon Alderson, Allen Jaffe, Sammy Ross, and Woodrow Parfrey. The film was directed by the future Oscar winning Director Franklin J. Schaffner, and the screenplay was by the acclaimed John Collier. The film is an adaptation of the play, The Lovers, written by Leslie Stevens, the creator of The Outer Limits.
Up until this film, most Hollywood representations of feudal life were glamorized. The War Lord attempts to portray the 11th century in a more accurate fashion as dirty, violent and ruled by brute force. The social stratification imposed by feudalism governed every human relationship, with power devolving from the duke, to the knight, to the men at arms, the church and the peasantry at the very bottom.
[edit] Plot
Charlton Heston plays Chrysagon de la Cruex, a Norman knight charged with defending a Druid village. At the heart of the story is a doomed romance which defies the social norms and sparks a growing confrontation with Chrysagon's brother, Draco, played by Guy Stockwell.
Chrysagon encounters Bronwyn, his future love, as she is harassed by his own men. Gradually he finds himself falling for the girl he's rescued. Bronwyn's father, the village chief, later asks Chrysagon's permission for Bronwyn to marry. Chrysagon approves, but soon regrets the decision. He wants Bronwyn for himself.
He later learns of "Droit de seigneur", a right which permits the Lord of the Domain to sleep with any virgin woman on her wedding night. But custom demands Bronwyn be given up by dawn. The following day, Bronwyn is not returned. What the village doesn't realize is that she's chosen to stay of her own free will.
All of this takes place against the background of war against Frisian (Viking) raiders who plague the Norman coast.
[edit] See also
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