Beautiful, moving film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Is this a great cinematic achievement, in the sense that Citizen Kane and La Grande Illusion are great movies? No, of course not. But is this a thoroughly enjoyable movie? Most definitely! The high spots: Bing Crosby, as natural and charming as he has ever been in a movie; William Bendix, whose impeccably enunciated lines are a comic wonder - he made me believe he would have been great as one of the comical characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Cedric Hardwicke, who knows just how to deliver his lines to the greatest effect; and the script, which is really very funny.The low points: 1) the script for Rhonda Fleming's role. She looks radiantly beautiful, but her dialog is worthless, and so she comes off as dumb in a movie where the three leading men come off as very clever; she deserved better. 2) the music. Van Heusen and Burke wrote some great songs, such as "Swinging on a Star" for Crosby's 1944 hit Going My Way, but there isn't a memorable number in this movie. That's probably why this otherwise very enjoyable movie is so forgotten.You'll have a great time watching this.

Hank (Bing Crosby) suddenly finds himself transported to the times of King Arthur (Cedric Hardwick). He is captured by Sir Sagramore (William Bendix) and brought before the king who orders his execution on the advice of Merlin (Murvyn Vye). Come the day, Hank talks himself out of his predicament and into a title - "Sir Boss". He then talks his way through the rest of the film as he battles against Merlin, Morgan (Virginia Field) and Sir Logris (Joseph Vitale) until ..... all of a sudden .... he returns back from whence he came ..... and finds a surprise waiting for him.The film is good in the colour department. But that's it, I'm afraid. The songs are dreadful, the story is boring and the film goes on for too long. Bing is good enough as he breezes through the film. But that's just the trouble. There is never any danger or tension, whether Bing is being sentenced to death, arrested, chased - it's just endless lightweight tosh that he breezes through. It's one-gear (dull) all the way. William Bendix and Cedric Hardwicke do provide funny moments but they cannot halt the tedium.I also spotted something familiar in the denouement. As a boy, I remember reading the Tintin adventure "Prisoners Of The Sun" which was first published in 1946. I recall being impressed by the way in which Tintin got himself out of a predicament at the moment of his execution (he knew there was to be an eclipse of the sun at a certain time). At the appropriate moment, he cunningly ordered the sun to disappear and put the fear of God into all those present. He then made it re-appear once he had negotiated his release. Well, I think someone else had read the same book.

Although I have enjoyed Bing Crosby in other movies, I find this movie to be particularly grating. Maybe because I'm from a different era and a different country, but I found Crosby's continual references to the Good Old USA pleasant at first, trite after a while and then finally annoying. Don't get me wrong - I'm not anti-American whatsoever - but it seemed that the English could do no right and/or needed this brave, oh so smart American visitor to show them the way. It's a "fish out of water" story, but unlike most movies of this sort, this time it's the "fish" who has the upper hand. To be fair to both myself and the movie, I have watched it a few times spaced over a few years and get the same impression each time.(I watched another Crosby movie last night - The Emperor's Waltz - and that, too, produced the same reaction in me. And to my surprise even my wife - who for what's it's worth is American - found the "in your face" attitude of American Crosby to be irritating. One too many references to Teddy Roosevelt, as she put it.) As for the premise of the movie, it's unique enough for its day and the supporting cast is of course very good. The scenery and the music is also good, as are the great costumes - although I agree with a previous reviewer that the wig on William Bendix looks horrid (picture Moe of The Three Stooges).All in all for me this would be a much more enjoyable picture without the attitude of Bing Crosby but because he is in virtually every shot it's pretty hard to sit through this movie.

I understand that Paramount wanted to film this with the Rodgers and Hart score, but couldn't work out the copyright problems, so Burke and Van Heusen who wrote the between them the most songs for Bing Crosby contributed a very nice score.I read Leonard Maltin saying that this movie, "fit Crosby like a glove" and I couldn't have put it better. No, it's not Mark Twain's satire, it's a Bing Crosby film and in 1949 Crosby was the most bankable star in Hollywood. For once Paramount used technicolor and Rhonda Fleming was never lovelier on the screen. This was a woman that technicolor was invented for.William Bendix's Brooklyn origins kinda stand out, but it's to a good comic effect. The trio of Crosby, Bendix, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke have a rollicking good time with Busy Doing Nothing. Bing has one of his patented upbeat philosophical numbers with If You Stub Your Toe On The Moon.The third song he sings Once and For Always by himself and with Rhonda Fleming. That song was nominated for best song, but lost to Baby It's Cold Outside. Nice also that Bing managed to record the score for Decca with Rhonda Fleming and Bendix and Hardwicke.One thing I like about this film is that it shows Crosby's comic talents without Bob Hope. I like the Road pictures, but Bing was a comic talent onto himself and this film better demonstrates than any other.This is Crosby at the top of his game.