I have heard that actor Tony Curtis is quoted in a medieval movie as saying: “Yonda lies da castle of my faddah.” Is there any historical basis to this and if so what film?
M2 - Chicago
The film the line supposedly appeared in is THE PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF (Universal, 1951), which gave Curtis his first lead role. Piper Laurie played the female lead.
Critic Lenny Maltin says the line does NOT appear in the movie, but I can’t verify because I haven’t seen it, and it’s not available on video.
Nope. It was The Black Shield of Falworth, as I havce heard it from several reliable sources. This movie is available on video. I have to admit I’ve never watched it.
Artist Robin Wood has titled one of her paintings “Yonder Lies the Castle of my Father”, obviously in homage.
{shrug}
Maltin implies in the bio in IMDB that Curtis didn’t say it in The Prnce Who Was a Thief, which mght suggest that it appeared in another film. I had read that it was The Black Shield of Falworth, but have never seen the film (and never felt compelled to shell out $20 to buy it and see), but it seemed reasonable. Certainly “Yonder Lies the Castle of my Father” sunds more likely in a film about knights (based on Howard Pyle’s book “Men of Iron”) than in TPWWAT, but that really proves nothing – Urban Legends grow that way. I’d hate to think I’d contributed to the spread of an UL, but it’s happened to me before. It comes of trusting your sources.
Mind you, nothing so far disproves that the line came from TBSOF, but now I have to regard that as unproven.
I remember seeing this movie quite often as a child and the line fits with the plot (or lack therof). Maybe someone with a better memory or copy of the movie can opine.
[smartass]
I didn’t know he’d been making movies that long!!
[/smartass]
{runs away}
From SHELLEY by Shelley Winters----“Bernie(Tony) was very nervous that day, so I went on the set with him for moral support. The first words he uttered on the screen have since become a sort of classic.----‘Yonder lies da castle of my fadder, de Prince.’” Shelley must be confused. SHIELD(1954) was NOT his first movie with dialogue. Scads of roles before that.
I HAVE seen BLACK SHIELD since hearing of this old quote. Unless I left the room to go get a Pepsi, I didn’t hear it. (unless, I too, am confusing it with THIEVES.)
My take is—he may have indeed said it, but; THAT’S not the “take” that they used.
As close as I can remember, the line he says is:
“Dis is my fadda’s castle, and yondah lies da valley of da sun.”
“Black Shield of Falworth” aired a couple of times on Encore a few months back. I recorded it in order to hear the famous quote. He never says it.
IIRC, according to the Medveds’s “Golden Turkey Awards” (1980?) the movie was “Son of Ali Baba” and the line was: “Yondah lies da palace of my faddah, da caliph.”
I’ve always heard of this line coming from The Black Shield of Falworth. I’ve watched this film - twice - and never heard it.
What? Yes, I said I’ve seen The Black Shield of Falworth twice.
Yes, voluntarily. Why do you ask? And why are you coming towards me with that syringe full of Thorazine?
Try The Vikings, 1958.