I agree with other posters that Black Knight would prove generally harmless and generically virtuous for home-schooled kids and their retro ilk. For grown-ups who were children in the era when the film was made, Black Knight offers a range of minor pleasures. The most universally appealing quality may be the color processing and the castles' airy-pastel set design (best when John visits his future father-in-law at the latter's castle, sacked by Vikings). Plus the cathedral and banquets bankrolled by Arthur show a surprising lavishness in production values.
Beyond those visuals, most of the film's aesthetics are campy or eery. Alan Ladd gets my benefit of the doubt as a haunting screen presence, but as other posters comment, his casting as a swashbuckler exposes his limits. His stunt-double seems to have more screen time than Ladd himself--much of the time the Black Knight fights with his visor down.
An over-the-top bonus reason to see the film is the Stonehenge scene. Set right after the all-boy cathedral scene, this 50s romp begs for an analyst's couch. Nubile babes in lingerie writhe around phallic stones while horned Vikes look complacently on. Let's sacrifice the brunette heroine Livey to Stonehenge's sun god! But said god insists that sacrificial chicks must be blonde, so an on-site witch pulls a wig from a skull at Stonehenge's gift shop. Uh, what might our sun god think of this deception. As a finale to this hectic scene, Stonehenge is pulled to the ground, raising questions how it came down to us upright, but the film's quickly over after that.
The eery element is Cushing's Palimedes as a medieval Osama bin Laden. Those salaams he performs at every leave-taking are a reminder even George W. Bush might cop to: this evildoer sure does act like a Muslim! Just goes to show how history--from the actual Middle Ages to our Hollywood adaptations--conditions such images and our reactions.
Beyond those visuals, most of the film's aesthetics are campy or eery. Alan Ladd gets my benefit of the doubt as a haunting screen presence, but as other posters comment, his casting as a swashbuckler exposes his limits. His stunt-double seems to have more screen time than Ladd himself--much of the time the Black Knight fights with his visor down.
An over-the-top bonus reason to see the film is the Stonehenge scene. Set right after the all-boy cathedral scene, this 50s romp begs for an analyst's couch. Nubile babes in lingerie writhe around phallic stones while horned Vikes look complacently on. Let's sacrifice the brunette heroine Livey to Stonehenge's sun god! But said god insists that sacrificial chicks must be blonde, so an on-site witch pulls a wig from a skull at Stonehenge's gift shop. Uh, what might our sun god think of this deception. As a finale to this hectic scene, Stonehenge is pulled to the ground, raising questions how it came down to us upright, but the film's quickly over after that.
The eery element is Cushing's Palimedes as a medieval Osama bin Laden. Those salaams he performs at every leave-taking are a reminder even George W. Bush might cop to: this evildoer sure does act like a Muslim! Just goes to show how history--from the actual Middle Ages to our Hollywood adaptations--conditions such images and our reactions.