Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

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

An obscure but highly engaging piece of trash, this treads the comedy-action mould far more successfully than more recent blockbusters from Hollywood such as A KNIGHT'S TALE. The unbelievable plot evolves around the overused idea of a gang of vigilantes outside of the law trying and executing criminals who have got away scot-free from their crimes, although this time at least the criminals get a chance at beating their opponent in a medieval joust before they die. TRIAL BY COMBAT really is a film of two halves, moving from a straightforward mystery/thriller in the first half to an all-out action spectacular in the second half, directed impressively and surehandedly on a low budget by the underrated Kevin Connor.The comedy comes thick and fast and most of it is fairly surreal or oddball in nature. Half of the time it misses and fails miserably but for the other half, the movie offers plenty of laughs and entertainment. Camera-work is solid and carefully makes the film a violent spectacle without earning it anything more than a PG certificate thanks to some well-placed branches and horses in the death scenes. Most of the action takes the form of some rather routine jousting, but then there are some excellent chase set-pieces scattered throughout including a hair-raising battle in a vegetable patch! The long-running finale in which the knights finally get disbanded is also engaging stuff and a wonderfully exciting (if slightly predictable) way in which to end the picture. The effort and energy put into the action alone makes it work.A quick glance at the cast list and you know you're in for a treat with some standout performances from film veterans. But first we have the leads, two imported Americans in the rugged, handsome but slightly boring David Birney and the young, attractive love interest as played by Barbara Hershey. The fun value is heightened considerably by the appearance of John Mills in a comedy role as an eccentric retired detective out to solve one last string of crimes, and his Doctor Doolittle-style conversing with the animals and 'creating all kinds of calamity mishaps' is very enjoyable.Also in it for comic performances are an over-the-top Margaret Leighton and Brian Glover, as good as he ever was, as an unstoppable dynamo of a gangster named Sidney Gore who makes life a misery for the knights after they tangle with him! Great comic work from Glover who steals his scenes and puts in the best performance, narrowly beating the veteran Mills. Donald Pleasence makes for a fine omnipotent villain, evil in the old-fashioned sense of the word, and his piercing eyes and imposing frown make him a great casting choice - plus he's one of the few men not to look slightly silly in a suit of armour. Finally, Peter Cushing makes a welcome, if small, pre-credits cameo whose murder sets off the plot in motion. It may be bizarre and it may fall flat on its face at times, and the mystery/comedy/thriller/action elements may not always gel, but when it works TRIAL BY COMBAT is fantastic entertainment.

I was faintly surprised that I'd never heard of this film: Made in Britain with John Mills, Donald Pleasance, Peter Cushing, Brian Glover, Bernard Hill, Margaret Leighton, John Savident and that tarty bird from The Rag Trade - it sounds like the kind of film that should be lodged somewhere in the consciousness of a British movie fanatic. Then I watched it and I immediately realised why it has been consigned to the 'forgotten' files of filmdom.It's silly and it's stupid.The plot revolves around a group of toffs who dress up as ye knights of olde to off miscreants they feel the justice system has overlooked - usually at the end of a jousting... stick. They then dump the bodies on the same stretch of road within site of Tower Bridge, wrapped in a bright red banner, from a bright yellow vintage Rolls Royce. Donald Pleasance plays the lead baddie and he's probably the best thing about the whole sorry mess. John Mills is the lead good guy (C-lister Burney's there for the American market) and he seems to be the only one who's treating it with the appropriate degree of levity. Watching actors like Mills, Pleasance and Cushing in a film like this really gives you an insight into what a moribund condition the British film industry was in back in the mid-70s: they'd probably have appeared in a Carry On or Confessions film if they'd been asked.Avoid at all costs unless you really want to see how low the British film industry had sunk in the 70s.

Strange, I don't remember going to "Medieval Times" and actually see people executed. Nor do I remember them taking the body outside and throwing it on the street. Maybe somebody poisoned me.In any case, this is one strange movie. And actually, it came off funny in an odd sort of way. There was a running gag with animals appearing at the desk of the man investigating the mysterious killings by the "Knights of Avalon".I found it funny that nobody really did anything about it until the final showdown and the strange somewhat funny ending. The ending being funny because it was abrupt.Overall, not your typical comedy with knights, but it has its moments. "C"

A British aristocrat played by Peter Cushing is killed by the Knights who say "ni" and it's up to his son coming all the way from America to solve the case. The whole thing is extremely silly, but Donald Pleasence, the head of "The Knights of Avalon" (a society dedicated to the medieval values of live, unfortunately gone vigilante), manages to look fairly omnious in full knights armour. Quite hard to track down these days.