Frank Latimore stars in this over-scripted, bloated, silly and tedious terrestrial swashbuckler. Latimore's Captain Richard Stiller is one of three characters in the film endowed with a personality, but his amazingly monotone delivery and remarkably subtle facial expressions help the camera-crew to beat back any sort of character development. The cinematography though helped by beautiful and very rich period sets and costuming is generally awful. The cameras give us a plethora of landscape, set and context shots and virtually no close-ups or dyads. Even when Stiller and the love of his life - the lovely Louise (Emma Danieli) - are speaking hopefully of their possible future, they are positioned in the middle of a shot with room for at least five more people.
Set in France possibly late Renaissance The Devil's Cavaliers is the story of Captain Richard Stiller, a war weary man who may be a rogue, a rake, or an honorable hero (even at the end of the story, his personality is still a bit ambiguous), his seemingly doomed love affair with Countess Louise (though it is not entirely clear whether this is a matter of class, ethnic/national prejudice or simply bad attitudes), and his numerous sword-fights. He also has a number of amusing cronies whose main task seems to be comic relief (which will be greatly appreciated by confused and bored viewers), and there are some intrigues and subplots among his opponents (though the elaborate nature of these is never fully justified by the intended ends, and these plot devices end up looking remarkably silly).
Again, the sets and costumes are great. However, the directing, cinematography and the acting detract considerably from the experience. The script attempts to pack too much dialog into every scene, and the actors are forced to speed-read at times, which is especially problematic for the monotone and emotion-resistant Latimore. Still, some of the sword-fighting scenes are entertaining (the fight choreography is pretty good) and the sets alone may be worth the effort for some.
Recommended only for sword fight enthusiasts and southern European castle obsessives.
Set in France possibly late Renaissance The Devil's Cavaliers is the story of Captain Richard Stiller, a war weary man who may be a rogue, a rake, or an honorable hero (even at the end of the story, his personality is still a bit ambiguous), his seemingly doomed love affair with Countess Louise (though it is not entirely clear whether this is a matter of class, ethnic/national prejudice or simply bad attitudes), and his numerous sword-fights. He also has a number of amusing cronies whose main task seems to be comic relief (which will be greatly appreciated by confused and bored viewers), and there are some intrigues and subplots among his opponents (though the elaborate nature of these is never fully justified by the intended ends, and these plot devices end up looking remarkably silly).
Again, the sets and costumes are great. However, the directing, cinematography and the acting detract considerably from the experience. The script attempts to pack too much dialog into every scene, and the actors are forced to speed-read at times, which is especially problematic for the monotone and emotion-resistant Latimore. Still, some of the sword-fighting scenes are entertaining (the fight choreography is pretty good) and the sets alone may be worth the effort for some.
Recommended only for sword fight enthusiasts and southern European castle obsessives.