The master of spectacle, Cecil B. DeMille, provides superb pageantry in this fanciful version of the bloody Third Crusade. Henry Wilcoxon, as King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England, is bold, brave, but sometimes boring. Loretta Young seems hopelessly miscast as his beautiful, though
ignored, queen. However, the film is still an utterly captivating, glamorous interpretation of an ancient era of iron men and wily infidels. It opens with Saladin (Ian Keith) sacking the city of Jerusalem, slaughtering the resident Christians with alacrity. He is confronted by the venerable C.
Aubrey Smith, a holy zealot known as The Hermit, who defies him; the Hermit threatens, that ...
Released:
1935
Rated:
NR
Length:
123 mins