Having first read the book, Men of Iron by Howard Pyle, I was very pleasantly surprised that the film was more enjoyable. From the title, through the plot and concluding with the climax, it was and is superlative. Although it has been in excess of six decades since my first viewing, the thrill from this movie has not lessened an iota. My rating is a solid "10." If, though, you are one who relishes nit-picking, you will probably be disappointed, as Falworth is definitely not an Oscar quality presentation.

Instead of trying to portray real historical events, Hollywood instead opts for a fictitious story set in the England of Henry IV. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Unusually for Hollywood, they actually make an effort to get things right historically, and broadswords are used as broadswords and not as rapiers. The weaponry and military techniques are pretty OK for a Hollywood film, and are, on the whole, accurate.The fight sequences are very exciting and, along with the training methods, are probably the best bits of the film.As to Tony Curtis's accent. Well, we have in Geoffrey Chaucer an authentic idea of what the English language in London was like in the early 15th century. It is ridiculous to write the script in Chaucerian English - not if you want to fill the cinemas, at any rate. Compare Tony Curtis in Black Shield with Olivier in Henry V. Is Olivier's accent any more correct or authentic? This is not the deepest film ever made, but there is plenty to enjoy about it.

To my mind, this is the best knights of olde movie ever made. Years ago it was the habit of British tv station BBC2 to have a movie on at 6pm most evenings and they were usually, either 40 & 50's westerns, historical yarns, melodramas or swashbucklers. One such film was The Black Shield of Falworth, I was a big fan of such films like The Vikings (Incidentally or co-incidentally both starred Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) and decided to record this movie, if it was any good I'd keep it, but if not just tape over the damn thing. The movie was that good I still have it after 15/16 years. The plot is similar to Henty's Novel 'St George for England' in as much as it tells the story of a peasant boy ignorant of his noble blood for most of his upbringing. though that's where the similarities end. The American accents in a film set in medieval England are ludricrous, but the plot of the film is so engaging that you don't mind as much. Torin Thatcher gives us another scene stealing performance as the firm but fair Sir James and if it's possible, betters his performance as Humble Bellows in The Crimson Pirate. This film has everything, action, romance, subtle comedy, and an excellent music score. This is not one to miss and I can't wait to get this movie on DVD so i can give my old VHS copy a well deserved retirement.

My brother and I would wait and wiat and wait for this movie to be shown on TV on a classics show, and growing up loving D&D this was the closest thing we had for a movie that was clean and enjoyable dealing with the awesome subject matter and decient story line, and "OK" acting. But we did not care it had knights, and damsels, and kings, and jousting, etc... Great for the whole family and manI wish it would come to DVD!!!!Even the used VHS is $100, that is just too much for me!If you ever get to watch this film do yourself a favor and go see it without any expectations and realize the date it was made and you will enjoy it!