Aka - The Crimson Blade
This 1963 adventure film comes from Hammer and director John Gilling. Gilling
was to direct a number of Hammer films - The Pirates of Blood River, The
Shadow of the Cat, Panic, The Plague of the Zombies, The Reptile, The Mummy's
Shroud and a few films that sound like they should have been Hammer but were
not - The Flesh and the Fiends, Fury at Smuggler's Bay, The Brigand from
Kandahar and Blood Beast from Outer Space. All in the first seven years of
the 1960s. Pretty impressive. This film though doesn't get a lot of cheer
from Hammer fans for good reasons. First it goes against the horror films
that were making Hammer's reputation at the time (it had actually been planned
years before but was postponed due to the success of the horror). It is a
pretty standard adventure tale of swords and heroes and never even attempts
to be anything other than that. The action is ok but with next to no graphic
violence that might have given it some buzz.
It is at least set in an historical period I have not come across often.
The civil war in the mid-1600s between the Royalists and Cromwell i.e. the
Cavaliers vs the Roundheads. Though this film clearly sides with the Royalty
in truth it is hard to pick a side - Cromwell was a religious psychotic and
Charles I believed in the divine right of the King. Which is what started
this thing - a conflict that lasted for years till his execution and Cromwell
becoming a military dictator. But the good guys in the film are trying to
get the King out of England. For someone like me not that familiar with all
the Kings of England I am not even sure which Charles this was as there were
a few of them. Eventually, the King's son Charles II was to reclaim the throne.
One issue with the film is that the charisma rests with the bad guys. Lionel
Jeffries very much out of his typical comedic character is a ruthless commander
for Cromwell and his second in command is played by Oliver Reed, who has
no loyalties other than to himself. On the side of the Royalists are a bunch
of actors I have never heard of and they gave me no reason to chase them
up. The daughter of the Commander (June Thorburn) is a Royalist and secret
agent for them. She basically screws everything up by trusting the wrong
man. Much of the film is Cromwell's men chasing after the Royalists and when
captured the Royalists then in turn freeing them. For a very big subject
it is a small film without a lot of money. I have no idea if this has any
relation to the truth but I think it highly unlikely.
