''The Saracen Blade'' is a 1954 American adventure film directed by

William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Orphaned at 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in the theater. He came to the attenti ...

and starring

Ricardo Montalbán Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG (; ; November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009) was a Mexican and American film and television actor. Montalbán's career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for performances in a var ...

, Betta St. John and Rick Jason.Review of film
at

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

The film was produced and distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. It is based on the 1952 bestselling novel of the same name by Frank Yerby. It is set in Italy at the time of the Crusades, when great families made war on each other between trips to the Holy Land.

Cast

as Pietro Donati * Betta St. John as Iolanthe Rogliano * Rick Jason as Enzio Siniscola * Carolyn Jones as Elaine of Siniscola *

Whitfield Connor Whitfield Connor (December 3, 1916 – July 16, 1988) was an American actor, director and producer. Career Connor started in radio in the 1930s. In 1945 he made his Broadway debut as Horatio in a production of Hamlet and by 1948 had won his ...

as Frederick II *

Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...

as Count Alesandro Siniscola *

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on '' The Saint'' ...

as Baron Rogliano * Nelson Leigh as Isaac * Pamela Duncan as Zenobia * Guy Prescott as Donati (as Frank Pulaski)

Production

Castle said "it was a herculean task for me to adhere to the schedule of the movie... for three years I had been up to my ass in queens, kings and jokers" but he enjoyed working with Montalban.

References

External links

* 1954 films 1950s historical adventure films American historical adventure films Columbia Pictures films Crusades films Films based on American novels Films directed by William Castle Films set in the 13th century Films set in Italy 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{adventure-film-stub