The War Lord

In eleventh-century Normandy, a knight named Chrysagon is sent by his duke to a marshy coastal region where an earlier castle-building attempt failed. With a small band of companions, he is to restore the duke's authority and hold the frontier against Frisian raiders from across the sea. The local people, who keep older customs, initially welcome the protection. Chrysagon's position unravels when he falls in love with Bronwyn, a village woman promised to another man, setting the lord against the community he was charged with governing. The film is based on Leslie Stevens's novel "The Lovers."

Franklin J. Schaffner directed, working from a screenplay by Millard Kaufman and John Collier, with Walter Seltzer producing for Universal Pictures. It was Schaffner's first theatrical feature, preceding the Planet of the Apes test reel, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Nicholas and Alexandra, Papillon, The Boys from Brazil and Lionheart. Charlton Heston plays Chrysagon, alongside Richard Boone as Bors, Rosemary Forsyth as Bronwyn, Maurice Evans, Guy Stockwell and Niall MacGinnis, among twenty credited cast members.

On IMDb the film holds 6.6 out of 10 from roughly 4,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.2 from a much smaller sample. A critics' rating of 5.9 from nine reviews sits below the audience score on IMDb. The drama runs 123 minutes.