One of the big discoveries of 2009, Bardelys the Magnificent is nothing short of a 10/10 restoration of the 1926 King Vidor swash-buckler which M-G-M produced on a truly magnificent budget.
(True, the movie is missing a reel, but it is not particularly important and the missing footage is adequately supplied by stills and a clip from the trailer).
John Gilbert makes perfect work of the dashing, self-glorifying hero; while, to the last man, the rest of the players led by super-villainous Roy D'Arcy shine in likewise brilliance.
The only shadow in this otherwise truly luminous ensemble is cast by Eleanor Boardman who plays her Roxallane de Lavedan as a Macy's shop-girl rather than as the "unapproachable" noblewoman demanded by the script.
The movie comes to a truly spectacular action climax, doubtless designed to out-do such energetic Douglas Fairbanks blockbusters as Robin Hood.
(Available on a 10/10 Flicker Alley DVD).
(True, the movie is missing a reel, but it is not particularly important and the missing footage is adequately supplied by stills and a clip from the trailer).
John Gilbert makes perfect work of the dashing, self-glorifying hero; while, to the last man, the rest of the players led by super-villainous Roy D'Arcy shine in likewise brilliance.
The only shadow in this otherwise truly luminous ensemble is cast by Eleanor Boardman who plays her Roxallane de Lavedan as a Macy's shop-girl rather than as the "unapproachable" noblewoman demanded by the script.
The movie comes to a truly spectacular action climax, doubtless designed to out-do such energetic Douglas Fairbanks blockbusters as Robin Hood.
(Available on a 10/10 Flicker Alley DVD).