The War Lord

Charlton Heston is probably best known for playing muscular hero types in commanding lead in performances such as the titular role in Ben-Hur, Moses (and God) in The Ten Commandments and the Mexican detective Mike Vargas in Orson Welles' masterpiece Touch of Evil. After all those, he appeared in a series of films (he was an extremely prolific actor), one of which was the 1965 America-International film The War Lord.

In this historical drama, never before released for home viewing in the UK, Heston plays a Norman Lord, Chysagon, who is despatched by the Duke of Normandy to a poor, Pagan area of northern France to set up home in the castle there as it lies uninhabited and surrounded by superstitious locals and violent barbarians who saw off the previous occupant.

It's not long before Chysagon has set his eyes on one of the local women, Gwendolyn, and fall in love but, to complicate matters, she is betrothed to another of the Pagans, her foster brother with whom she has lived since she was a young girl when his father took her in. Chysagon has kept himself chaste until the right woman came along and hasn't enjoyed in the rather rampant raping and pillaging that his brother, Draco, and other members of his household have enjoyed.

Egged on by Draco and other men who are completely dismissive of the Pagan's way of life and the value of their marriage ceremony, Chysagon seeks advice from the priest who informs him that he, as the Lord, has 'droit de seigneur' - the Lord's right to take a wife on her wedding night. Clearly, this doesn't go down at all well with the locals, who begin plotting a way to get Gwendolyn back and, to compound matters, the Barbarians from the North are sore about one of their children who was taken by the Normans in an earlier skirmish.

The scene is set for a showdown between the war lord Chysagon, his men and the combined forces outside who want to get into the castle and claim their people back.

If, around the 1950s and '60s, you wanted an actor who would look suitably convincing wearing tights and other 11th century clothing who would be called upon to ride a horse, wield a sword and lead a rearguard defence of his castle against barbarian attackers and be reasonably credible in seducing a woman, luring her away from her 'husband', Chuck Heston would've been near the top of your list. Certainly, Heston is at his best in the combat scenes and when having a heated discussion with his scheming, jealous brother, superbly played by Guy Stockwell and the weaker scenes are when he is playing the romantic lead opposite Rosemary Forsyth.


Eureka Entertainment's releases tend to fall into two camps: those in conjunction with The Masters of Cinema Series, which are of classic films by great directors and have been given loving treatment and the rest which can be of the type of film you'd see on BBC2 around midday. These matinée movies aren't up there with the films that would fit into the Masters of Cinema category, but are hugely enjoyable and generally very good quality. The War Lord is no exception as it is extremely well directed by Franklin Shaffner who really knows how to make an action sequence work. He may not be at his best when dealing with characterisation as Chysagon doesn't seem to have a consistent or particularly involving personality and the script, adapted from Leslie Stevens' play The Lovers, has some slightly clunky dialogue that all the action direction in the world can't overcome.

All that being said, The War Lord is a rollicking watch that barely drags in its near two hour running time and is a perfect film to put on one afternoon when whether isn't so good or one evening when there is nothing on television. The film will undoubtedly provide great entertainment for those who have fond memories of seeing this at the cinema and will welcome its DVD debut in the UK.

The Disc

Extra Features
As per usual for a Eureka disc like this, the special features are sparse, but what you get is a welcome addition to the disc. Aside from the theatrical trailer (an almost compulsory feature that is only occasionally interesting is) you have an isolated music and effects track so you can get the most out of the suitably rousing score (which does have its more tender and suspenseful moments) by Jerome Moross and Hans J Salter. These tracks are always a welcome addition as they allow you to see how much work went into writing the music and the sound mixing without being distracted by the dialogue.


The Picture
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, this Panavision movie looks extremely good for its age. I'm not sure if there was any restoration work done, but the picture generally looks extremely good with bright colours, deep contrast levels and fine sets. Sometimes it is quite clear that the castle isn't made out of stone but the production design and set decoration is, for the most part, of an extremely high standard.

The Sound
Now, call me a sad old film nerd if you will, but I found it extremely interesting that Eureka chose to forego the Dolby Digital option altogether and instead go with an uncompressed PCM 2.0 Mono track. Compared to other DVDs, this is on the quiet side and there are some scenes where the optional English HoH subtitles come in very useful. By and large, the dialogue is quite clear, although even those with good hearing may choose to watch the film with the subtitles on. I wonder if the Dolby Digital Mono track would have been any better...


Final Thoughts
The War Lord is an extremely watchable film with her impressive performance by Charlton Heston at its centre. It's by no means one of Chuck's best performances, nor one of his best films, but it is a movie that is well worth a watch and, for those who have been clamouring for a DVD release in the UK, your long wait is at an end.