Review of The Crusades (1935) by Glen O — 15 Sep 2013

As a piece of film making this is an impressive piece of work especially for its costuming, set designs, and staged battles. It is certainly well deserving of its nomination for Best Cinematography at the 1936 Academy Awards.

However as a piece of anti-Moslem propaganda it's pretty outrageous. Still it's not entirely biased in one direction. Richard I is no saint here (as he was not in reality) and 'Saladin' is depicted as a man of honour (as by most reliable accounts he was).

Though there were prominent Christian monks such as Bernard of Clairveaux who preached up the crusades, this film would have us believe that one John the Baptist-like hermit led all Christendom to retake Jerusalem, while borrowing a line from the story of Constantine's conversion (probably equally fictional) - 'by this sign ye shall conquer!' The story of the marriage of Richard I to Berengaria of Navarre in spite of being betrothed to another is loosely based on fact.

In good 1930s Hollywood style the chaste queen tames the 'Lion Heart' with a little help from God. In reality Richard (who couldn't speak a word of English by the way) probably preferred young boys to virginal wives and while there is real doubt that his marriage to Berengaria was ever consummated, the reason is unlikely to have been as noble as that given here.

For all of its propaganda, the film does argue for peace between Christians and Muslims and places the teachings of Christ about peacemaking in the mouth of the Moslem sultan Salahadeen. An enjoyable epic even if (like all such epics) historically flawed.