The masked cavalier

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Movie
German title The masked cavalier
Original title The Highwayman
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1951
length 83 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Lesley Selander
script Jan Jeffries
idea: Jack De Witt
and Renault Duncan
production Hal E. Chester
music Herschel Burke Gilbert
camera Harry Neumann
occupation

The Masked Cavalier (Original Title: The Highwayman ) is an American coat and sword adventure film from 1951 directed by Lesley Selander . Philip Friend plays the "masked cavalier" who fights the corrupt Lord Walters, minister of the king, and his vassals, embodied by Charles Coburn . His love belongs to Bess ( Wanda Hendrix ), the innkeeper's daughter.

The film is based on the ballad The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes , first published in Forty Singing Seamen and Other Poems (London, 1907).

action

England around 1760: Bess, the daughter of a tavern keeper, loves Jeremy, the masked gentleman who robs the rich to give to the poor. He has many friends among the needy people who are exploited by criminal nobles and, if necessary, their support. Once again he was on one of his raids and is being pursued by the king's soldiers. At the inn he found refuge in the disguise of a Quaker. He also takes Robin Merry with him, whom he saves at the last moment from being hung for treasonous remarks against King George II and for favoring prisoners who are to be deported from the colonies. Robin recognizes him as a childhood friend, the son of Lord Northwood, for whom his father worked as a gardener.

Lord Walters, a minister to the King, receives Lord Douglas and Lady Ellen, who have come from the colonies. The men are concerned that they see their benefices dwindling. They all agree that the masked cavalier must be stopped immediately before he can influence any more people. Douglas should render him harmless. Only a little later, the carriage in which Douglas and Lady Ellen are, is stopped by the masked gentleman, who, after looking at the lady, decides against a robbery. Ellen Douglas was once engaged to Jeremy. When he had to go to war and she didn't hear from him anymore, she assumed he had died. In accordance with the king's wishes, she married Lord Douglas, although she felt neither love nor respect for him. Jeremy, Robin and Ellen were playmates when they were children.

Jeremy, Lord Northwood, receives an invitation to the Ball with Lady and Lord Douglas. He appears there in his disguise as a Quaker. In a personal conversation, Ellen offers him her help. She wants to see to it that he gets property in the colonies and people who work for him as it is his due. At the ball, however, there was a momentous conversation in which the devious Lord Barton involved Lord Herbert. Using false pretenses, he gets the Lord to take him into his confidence, so that he reveals his belonging to a group of influential people. He speaks of measures to be taken against the improper conduct of Walters and his henchmen in order to curtail their powers. Barton immediately passes what he has learned from Herbert on to Douglas, who shortly afterwards has Lord Herbert captured by his henchmen. In order to get a name out of it, one does not shrink from torture. Jeremy and Robin, who join in and want to free Herbert, cannot save the subtle lord. At least he dies knowing that Jeremy will continue his fight.

Jeremy, who before his death was given the names of influential men who were dear to him by Herbert, wants to campaign for the rights of the exploited people in parliament and to end the free Brits being sold as slaves in the colonies. Walters has meanwhile arranged for numerous upper-class men to be arrested. He promises that they will be so intimidated that they will no longer rebel. With a blank signature, which Jeremy forced from Walters, he succeeds in getting leading men whose support he needs free again. Lord Oglethorpe, influential leader and supporter of the men gathered around Lord Herbert, has prepared a speech and vote in Parliament and is expected shortly. Jeremy swears the men gathered around him to Oglethorpe, who stands for freedom and human dignity, and also refers to Herbert, who died for his convictions.

Walters plans to have Oglethorpe killed. He can completely count on Lord Barten, who is two-pronged and immediately transmits everything he learns. Fortunately, when he visits Douglas to inform him of a planned conspiracy, only Lady Douglas is there. She assures him that she will forward the message to her husband. Since he also mentioned to her that Northwood was the leader of the conspirators, she warns Jeremy immediately. After you've weighed Oglethorpe safe, you want to kill him. Again it is Jeremy who intervenes along with Robin. In the course of the fighting, there is a bitter fencing match between Lord Douglas and Jeremy, in which Douglas is stabbed to death.

Walters, who by now also knows who the masked gentleman is and where he usually resides, has ordered the king's guards to the bar in Forsythe, where they are to receive the rebel accordingly. So that Bess cannot warn him, they gag and tie her and also keep the other people present in check. When Bess hears Jeremy's horse neighing and the guards report that Jeremy is close, she manages with great effort with her handcuffed hand to pull the trigger of a rifle standing next to her, the barrel of which is pointed at herself. Jeremy hears the shot and is warned. However, Bess gave her life for the man who was her great love. When Jeremy learns from Robin how Bess died, he rides furiously and without any protection on the street to meet his enemies. He is struck down with one shot.

Production notes and background

The shooting took place in Calabasas and at the Ray Corrigan Ranch in Simi Valley , California . They started on February 19 and went through mid-March 1951, where they ended in the Motion Picture Center. It is a Jack Dietz production, Standard Productions, Inc., Allied Artists Productions Inc.

The film premiered on October 21, 1951 in the United States. In Germany it started on April 30, 1954, in Austria in June 1954.

Hollywood Reporter reported in articles from 1946 and 1947 that producer James S. Burkett bought Alfred Noye's ballad and included him in the work on the script. Then there were negotiations with large film studios. In 1949 it was reported that Allied Artists had acquired the film rights to the ballad from Burkett. Columbia also produced a film loosely based on Noye's ballad called The Lady and the Bandit . It was also published in 1951. 1958 was ashort film producedby McGraw-Hill , based on Noye's ballad, under the title The Highwayman .

The writer Henry Blankfort, who wrote the final screenplay, was blacklisted at the time , and wrote under the name Jan Jeffries. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the original director Richard L. Bare has been replaced by Lesley Selander. Alan Napier, who plays Lord Barton in the film, was originally intended to be the narrator, but was replaced by Brian Aherne.

During the reign of King George II , during which the film is set, there was a well-known British general and philanthropist named James Edward Oglethorpe who may be the basis for the film character Lord Oglethorpe. In 1733 he accompanied settlers to America and in 1734 founded Savannah . In 1743 he returned to England to continue his parliamentary career.

Quotation from the ballad at the beginning of the film: “The wind shakes wildly on the branches of the trees all around, the moon swims like a pale barge in the middle of the sea of ​​clouds, a silver ribbon shines the road over the dark moor and the mugger rides, rides, rides Highwayman rides straight to the inn gate. The feather flows from the three-cornered hat, a cloth hides his face, the trousers made of soft leather tightly encircle his thighs. He flies like an arrow through the darkness of the dark, stormy night and the rider's weapons sparkle, pistol butts sparkle and faun and sword sparkle under the starry glory. There is a loud echo across the courtyard, but everything remains locked. Then he whistles a little song and who will open it? One of the innkeepers' pretty daughter, Bess, the innkeeper’s daughter, weaves a red bow into her lover’s hair. At the very back of the dark courtyard a stable gate creaks very slightly, where Tim, the stable boy, is listening and his face turns pale. An evil light climbs into his flickering eyes, for he loves the innkeeper’s daughter, the innkeeper’s beautiful daughter. He stands there in silence and listens and hears what the other is saying. "

At the end of the film there is another quote from the ballad: “It was late the next morning when the news was that Bess, the innkeeper’s daughter, the innkeeper’s beautiful daughter, who was waiting for him by moonlight, was dying for her lover. Then, in pain from his senses, he bursts back through the country and he spurs the horse, holding the sword tightly in his hand. The spurs on his shoes shine in the bright sunlight, so they shot him on the street - like a mangy dog. And so he was lying in the blood on the street, the black cloth still covering his face. The wind rattles wildly on the branches of the trees all around, the moon swims like a pale barge in the middle of the sea of ​​clouds, the mugger rides, rides, rides, the mugger rides straight to the inn gate. The hoofbeat echoes across the courtyard, as he reins his horse and knocks on the window with his whip, but everything remains locked. Then he whistles a little song very softly, and who will open it? One of the innkeepers' beautiful daughter, Bess, the innkeeper’s daughter, braids a red bow in her lover’s hair. "

The German editing was done by Berliner Synchron GmbH, overall management Wenzel Lüdecke , dialogue book: Fritz A. Koeniger , dialogue direction : Rolf von Sydow .

criticism

For the lexicon of international film , the film presented itself as a “clichéd adventure story from England in the 18th century, also very mediocre in terms of acting”.

Cinema spoke of a "tragically ending, old-fashioned ballad adaptation". The conclusion was: “Colorful robber pistol from the moth box”.

Cinefacts judged: "Colorful variant of the Robin Hood theme".

TV Movie gave a point of three possible for fun and action, two for suspense and summarized its criticism in the sentence: "Rapid revenge story with a saber rattle."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The Highwayman Notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ The Highwayman Original Print Info at TCM (English)
  3. ↑ The masked cavalier In: synchronkartei.de
  4. ↑ The Masked Cavalier. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ^ The masked cavalier In: Cinema.de. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  6. ↑ The Masked Cavalier ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Cinefacts.de. Retrieved July 26, 2015.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cinefacts.de
  7. ↑ The masked cavalier  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: TV Movie.de. Retrieved July 26, 2015.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.tvmovie.de