Director: Rowland V. Lee
Writer: Robert N. Lee
Stars: Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Barbara O’Neil, Vincent Price
1 Hour, 32 Minutes
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In 1471 Edward IV has violently deposed feeble Old Henry VI and now holds him prisoner. We start off with Boris Karloff as Mord, the executioner. He’s getting to ready to execute Lord Devere. There’s an interminably long scene where they all prepare for the execution, and at long last Karloff removes Devere’s head.
After things wrap up, we see that the king’s brother, Richard, has little dolls that represent all his enemies in a little cupboard. He explains to us that all of these men are between him and the throne.
Richard and Edward need to solidify an alliance, so they force Wyatt to marry the Duchess of Norfolk, even though he is betrothed to Alice. He refuses. Edward threatens to remove his head, and plans to follow through with it. Wyatt breaks free from the guards, but Mord tackles him easily.
The Duke of Wales attacks, and Richard and Edward see it as an opportunity. They trick the unstable old king into “leading” the battle, with the assumption that someone will cut him down. The old king doesn’t even realize they’ll be fighting against his own son.
There’s a great battle with hundreds of extras fighting each other. Richard defeats Wales in single combat. The old king is confused, but survives the battle. Old Henry comes home a hero, but Mord kills him on Richard’s orders. Richard then removes one of the dolls from his little throne room diorama and burns it.
The king and Richard scheme to fix it so that Ann, the widow of Wales, can only be spared if she marries Richard. This builds up Richard to the point where it takes power and money away from the Duke of Clarence, played by Vincent Price. Clarence threatens, “You’ll be sorry!” Clarence then starts plotting revenge.
Mord hears about the conspiracy from one of his little birds, who quickly arrests Clarence. Richard challenges Clarence to a drinking contest to win his freedom. Clarence, who is constantly drinking, is eager to take up the challenge. Clarence wins, but Richard and Mord drown him in a huge barrel of wine. One more doll taken down.
The following year, King Edward gets very sick And dies. Before he dies, he pardons Wyatt, who is now free to return to the castle. Edward’s son will succeed him, but Richard is named his protector until the son comes of age. He tricks the old queen into allowing the young king’s brother to come stay with them. The queen suspects that this is a ploy to kill them both, but she has no say in the matter.
The queen conspires with Wyatt to steal the treasure from the Tower of London, which they do, very easily. They capture Wyatt and torture him. Alice comes down the chimney and gives Wyatt a file to work on the chains. That night, Wyatt escapes.
In retaliation, Richard has Mord take the two young princes to the Tower. Mord then kills both of them. Finally, the only doll in the box is Richard’s own. On the other hand, Wyatt takes the treasure to Richard’s enemy, Henry Tudor, who plans to retake the kingdom. There’s another big battle. Henry kills Richard and then Mord. Afterward, Wyatt and Alice get married and live happily ever after.
Commentary
Another non-horror movie released in the “Shock Theater” package. I was considering skipping this one until I saw it had both Karloff and Vincent Price in it, with Basil Rathbone as a bonus.
I didn’t notice until near the end that Richard has a slight hunch back. Yes, he’s that Richard. Was this based on Shakespeare’s play or the similar events in real-world history?
Mord has a clean shaven head and is clearly also the “Master of Whispers,” as he gets information from and gives orders to his “little birds.” Unfortunately, Karloff has very little to do here, as Mord isn’t much more than a background character. Still, he beats a lot of similarities to a certain GOT character.
There are a lot of extras in this movie, both in the battle scene and in the wedding scenes. It looked quite expensive.
Overall, well, it’s no Game of Thrones. As far as non-horror Universal films go, I enjoyed The Night Key a few weeks ago, but I was just eager for this one to end.