Crossed Swords (1977) on Netflix
PG19771h 53mAdventureComedyDrama
In sixteenth-century London, the pauper Tom Canty flees a crowd and falls into the palace chamber of Edward, Prince of Wales, his double. The boys swap clothes for a masked ball.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb6.3/102,443 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Tom Canty is a poor boy in sixteenth-century London. His father, John Canty, threatens him with a beating unless he steals five shillings by suppertime, so Tom snatches a purse in the city square. A crowd chases him through the streets, and he escapes over a wall and drops down a chimney into the royal chamber of Edward, the Prince of Wales. Edward, son of King Henry VIII, is struck by how closely Tom resembles him and suggests that they trade clothes for that evening's masked ball; the Prince's Seal remains with the real prince. The Duke of Norfolk then has Edward escorted out of the palace, and the swordsman Sir Miles Hendon comes to his aid.
Cast
- Julian Orchardas St.John
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Crossed Swords (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In New York it was the last film planned to be shown at Radio City Music Hall when the cinema was threatened with closure in April 1978, and it drew large crowds wanting a final visit, setting a house record of $468,173 in the week ending 29 March.
- A key change in the adaptation was raising the ages of Prince Edward and Tom Canty from nine in the novel to sixteen. George Cukor was to direct and wanted to go back to the novel with the nine-year-old boys played by Mark Lester, but the Salkinds wanted someone older and had Leonard Whiting in mind.
- Richard Fleischer agreed to direct only on the condition that he could have a new script and a bigger budget of $7 million, and the Salkinds agreed.
