Siege of the Saxons

This is not a remake of The Black Knight but uses extensive footage from the 1954 Alan Ladd film, as well as the suit of armour he wore.

I assume this was brought out of storage for Ronald Lewis to wear - which begs the question did he only get the part because he was the same size as Alan Ladd? The film also used footage from other Columbia 1950's swashbucklers, possibly " Rogues Of Sherwood Forest "? Whateve it's failings, " Saxons " was chosen as co-feature to " Jason And The Argonauts " in the summer of 1963 and this ' colossus of adventure ' double bill ( as it was described at the time ) made a fortune, and was re-issued several times during subsequent school holidays.

The following summer, Charles H. Schneer, who was the producer of both " Jason " & " Saxons " put together another fantastic double bill - " First Men In The Moon " ( another Harryhausen movie ) and " East Of Sudan " which was mostly made up of stock footage from the 1939 Korda epic " The Four Feathers ", footage that had already been re-cycled once before in the 1955 Cinemascope remake of " The Four Feathers " entitled " Storm Over The Nile " !

The King Arthur legend gets a fanciful spin in this colourful but weak British offering. Directed by Nathan Juran and starring Janette Scott and Ronald Lewis, it's all about medieval malarkey as Lewis' Robin Hood type character wanders the lands with Scott's disguised princess in search of Merlin (John Laurie). They need the great wizard to stop the dastardly Edmund of Cornwall (Ronald Howard) from seizing the throne of Arthur with help from the Saxons.

It's played for light hearted thrills, the cast having fun prancing about in their borrowed costumes (much of the production uses props, costumes and footage from some earlier swords and shields movies), and Juran never lets the story sag and knows when to perk things up with an action scene or some character merriment. Harmless fluff really. Played as the "B" picture to Jason and the Argonauts and in that context it's a fun enough warmer upper! 5/10

The siege of the Saxons is your run of the mill Arthur legend, with a damsel in distress, and crusty old Merlin waffling on about Excalibur. Unfortunately there are several things wrong with the film which spoil what could have been a good stab (pun intended) at this genre. The acting by the bit-part henchmen is for the most part risible and amateurish and the editing of the battle scenes is sloppy, with a lot of death scenes re-used for padding. However the two leads in Ronald Lewis and Janette Scott put in a good performance of the rugged scoundrel and the Queen wrongfully usurped from the throne, and there are some entertaining comedic scenes between the two.

In general it's enjoyable afternoon fare and if you like your swash-buckling swordplay, jousting and pointy helmets you won't be disappointed.

I fondly remember Siege Of the Saxons from a Saturday matinée I went to as a child. It may not play well with adults, but I don't think it was intended for grown-ups in the first place. It has a decent cast for the kind of film it is, and I recall Ronald Howard (son of Leslie) being quite good. There are some good battle scenes, none too graphic by today's standards. The movie is kid's stuff; the color is nice; the actors don't embarrass themselves; and the limping man looks as sinister as he's supposed to. I also recall Janette Scott as being quite attractive, as indeed she was. This would probably be a good movie for children. It's exciting in much the same way Robin Hood is.

Robin Hood meets King Arthur, as performed by the Batley Townswomen's Guild?

The film is ludicrously bad, in too many ways to list. However, the leading actors give it their all, and they have nothing to be ashamed of.

The result is surprisingly enjoyable, and I might even watch it again on another day when my brain (like King Arthur at the start of the film) needs a complete rest.

Other than that, I have nothing to add to the reviews by Jonathan Dabell and Paul Round, which are both spot-on.