When Knights Were Bold: A dusty, charmingly weird trip back to 1936

Is it worth the time?

If you like old-school British whimsy, you will probably get a kick out of When Knights Were Bold. It is not exactly a masterpiece, and honestly, if you have zero patience for 1930s stage-play-to-film pacing, you will likely find it grating. But for anyone who enjoys watching people act like absolute goons in chainmail, it is a fun little afternoon watch.

Our hero, Guy De Vere, goes from being a happy-go-lucky soldier in India to some guy stuck in 'Little Twittering' with a bunch of relatives who look like they eat sawdust for breakfast. It is a classic setup. The movie really gets going once that suit of armor hits him in the head, though.

The transition into the 1400s dream sequence is… well, it is sudden. One minute he is dealing with snobbish relatives, and the next he is dealing with the horrors of medieval fashion. It is the kind of leap that modern movies would spend ten minutes explaining, but here it just happens. I kind of respect the bluntness of it.

Odd moments and observations

• The sound design during the armor-falling scene is bizarrely loud. It sounds like a kitchen explosion.
• The relatives are so stiff I kept wondering if they were actually mannequins for the first few scenes.
• I cannot get over the fact that they really leaned into the 'chivalry' bit for a comedy. It works, but it feels like a total fever dream.

There is this one reaction shot of Fay Wray that lingers for about three seconds too long, and you can practically see her trying to remember what her next line is. It is human, you know? It is nice to see these things weren't all perfectly polished back then.

If you have been watching stuff like Kissing Cup's Race, you might find the shift in tone a bit jarring. It is a lot less serious and a lot more concerned with making you chuckle at a guy tripping over his own sword.

Is it a life-changing film? Definitely not. Does it have a charm that a lot of modern comedies seem to have lost in their pursuit of being 'clever'? Absolutely. Sometimes, you just need a knight in a dream to fix a family drama.

The ending is exactly what you think it is, but honestly, I stopped caring about the plot about twenty minutes in and just started enjoying the costumes. They are ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.