Prince Valiant is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Robert L. Jacks, in Technicolor and Cinemascope from 20th Century Fox. Based on the King Features syndicated newspaper comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster, the film stars James Mason, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, Debra Paget and Sterling Hayden.
Plot
Usurper Sligon, a worshipper of the old Norse god pantheon, and other rebel Vikings have forced into exile the Christian royal family of the Viking kingdom of Scandia: King Aguar, his wife, and their son, Prince Valiant. Aguar and his family come under the protection of King Arthur. When Valiant has grown to be a man, he is sent to Camelot to undergo training as a knight under the tutelage of Aguar's family friend, a noble knight of the Round Table, Sir Gawain.
During his wanderings, Valiant witnesses a clandestine meeting between a group of Sligon's Vikings and a black-clad knight. Valiant is discovered by the Vikings, but with cleverness and improvisation he manages to elude his pursuers. During his flight, Valiant runs into Sir Gawain. After Valiant convinces Gawain that he is indeed the son of Aguar, Gawain listens to the prince's story of the mysterious Black Knight, a knight known only by rumor in Camelot. He takes Valiant to King Arthur. Arthur decrees that Valiant be trained as a prospective knight by undergoing the rigors of a squire's training. One of Arthur's knights, Sir Brack, offers to take him on, but Valiant is instead made squire to Sir Gawain.
Brack offers to take Valiant to the place where the young prince has seen the Black Knight in order to backtrack the mysterious figure. Once there, they separate, but shortly afterwards Valiant is ambushed by a group of bowmen and escapes with an arrow in his back. He stumbles into the territory of King Luke and is taken in by his daughters, Aleta and Ilene. Aleta and Valiant fall in love, but Luke disapproves of Valiant's Viking origin; so their relationship must remain a secret. From Aleta, Valiant also learns that Ilene is secretly attracted to Sir Gawain.
Valiant returns to Camelot and discovers to his shock that Gawain tried to find him, also ran into an ambush by the Black Knight, and barely escaped with his life. Noting that Sir Brack had disappeared around the same time, Valiant becomes suspicious but on the advice of Gawain and with no evidence he takes no action.
Some time later, Aleta and Ilene attend a tournament held in Camelot in their honor. As an added prize, the victor of the tournament will win Aleta's hand. Sir Gawain, who fancies Aleta, is too seriously wounded to participate. Valiant dons Gawain's armor in order to win Aleta, but fails to win his joust and is unmasked. Another contender appears and wins the bout before falling off his horse. This knight is revealed to be to be Gawain, who has reopened his earlier wound. Awakening on his sickbed, Gawain beholds Aleta and falls head over heels in love with her. Out of respect for his patron, Valiant does not tell him it is Ilene who loves him, not Aleta.
For the presumption of a squire fighting a knight – and in borrowed armor, no less – Valiant is confined to his quarters and forced to tend his wounded knight. A mysterious messenger comes to the castle to see Brack, and the same night Aguar's seal ring is thrown through the window of Gawain's chambers. Realizing that his parents are in trouble, Valiant immediately leaves Camelot, leaving a bewildered Aleta behind. But as he prepares to return to his home he is ambushed and captured by Sligon's Vikings and the Black Knight, who reveals himself as Sir Brack. Brack has made a pact with Sligon: For delivering Aguar's family, Sligon will aid him in conquering Camelot and becoming the King of Britain.
Shortly Aleta, unwilling to let Valiant run off, arrives and is captured. The two are brought to Scandia, where Sligon prepares to execute them and Valiant's captured parents. However, a group of Christian Vikings, led by Aguar and Valiant's old friend Boltar stage a revolt.
Boltar infiltrates the castle to assassinate Sligon. Valiant escapes his cell and teams up with him, who orders Valiant give the attack signal to their fellow Vikings once Sligon has fallen. But Valiant is discovered before Boltar manages to kill Sligon; and during his struggle with a guard a false signal is given, causing the Christian Vikings to attack too soon. As the situation turns grim for the Christian Vikings, Valiant sets several parts of the castle ablaze, breaching the wall and throwing the defenders into confusion. He then slays Sligon in single combat and retrieves his father's sword.