The War Lord

The War Lord
film poster by Howard Terpning
Directed by	Franklin J. Schaffner
Screenplay by	John Collier Millard Kaufman
Produced by	Walter Seltzer
Starring	Charlton Heston Richard Boone Rosemary Forsyth Maurice Evans Guy Stockwell
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Edited by	Folmar Blangsted
Music by	Jerome Moross Hans J. Salter
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	November 17, 1965 (1965-11-17) (US)
Running time	123 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$ 3,500,000

See Warlord (comics) for the comic book.

The War Lord is a 1965 American film about Medieval warfare in 11th century Normandy, starring Charlton Heston and directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. It is an adaptation of the play, The Lovers, by Leslie Stevens. The film also features 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. Schaffner would later reteam with Heston and Evans in 1968 for Planet of the Apes.

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.

Plot

Chrysagon de la Cruex (Heston) is 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 (Stockwell).

Chrysagon encounters Bronwyn (Forsyth), 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, Odins, later asks Chrysagon's permission for Bronwyn to marry Marc, her betrothed. Chrysagon approves, but soon regrets the decision. He wants Bronwyn for himself.

He later learns of "Droit du 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 and Marc demands justice. 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 raiders who plague the Norman coast.

Main cast

• Charlton Heston as Chrysagon
• Rosemary Forsyth as Bronwyn
• Richard Boone as Bors
• Guy Stockwell as Draco
• Maurice Evans as Priest
• James Farentino as Marc
• Henry Wilcoxon as Frisian Prince
• Niall MacGinnis as Odins

See also

• List of American films of 1965
• Middle Ages in film

External links

• The War Lord at IMDb