Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Robert L. Jacks, in Technicolor and Cinemascope from 20th Century Fox. Based on the King Features syndicated newspaper comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster, the film stars James Mason, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, Debra Paget and Sterling Hayden. Plot Usurper Sligon, a worshipper of the old Norse god pantheon, and other rebel Vikings have forced into exile the Christian royal family of the Viking kingdom of Scandia: King Aguar, his wife, and their son, Prince Valiant. Aguar and his family come under the protection of King Arthur. When Valiant has grown to be a man, he is sent to Camelot to undergo training as a knight under the tutelage of Aguar's family friend, a noble knight of the Round Table, Sir Gawain. During his wanderings, Valiant witnesses a clandestine meeting between a group of Sligon's Vikings and a black-clad knight. Valiant is discovered by the Vikings, but with cleverness and improvisation he manages to elude his pursuers. During his flight, Valiant runs into Sir Gawain. After Valiant convinces Gawain that he is indeed the son of Aguar, Gawain listens to the prince's story of the mysterious Black Knight, a knight known only by rumor in Camelot. He takes Valiant to King Arthur. Arthur decrees that Valiant be trained as a prospective knight by undergoing the rigors of a squire's training. One of Arthur's knights, Sir Brack, offers to take him on, but Valiant is instead made squire to Sir Gawain. Brack offers to take Valiant to the place where the young prince has seen the Black Knight in order to backtrack the mysterious figure. Once there, they separate, but shortly afterwards Valiant is ambushed by a group of bowmen and escapes with an arrow in his back. He stumbles into the territory of King Luke and is taken in by his daughters, Aleta and Ilene. Aleta and Valiant fall in love, but Luke disapproves of Valiant's Viking origin; so their relationship must remain a secret. From Aleta, Valiant also learns that Ilene is secretly attracted to Sir Gawain.