Le bossu

A delight from top to bottom, packed with romance, adventure, beautifully executed swordplay and a sumptuous period look.

Splendid entertainment, young in spirit but accomplished in all aspects with the fullness of spirit and sense of ease that comes only with experience.

It revives an innocently pleasurable genre - shades of Burt Lancaster and Errol Flynn - that combines lusty adventure, humor, the great outdoors and satisfying storytelling without having to concoct it in a special-effects lab.

Generally delightful, and reminiscent of two vanished ages: when men were men, and when movies were movies.

Mr. de Broca's film is full of durable cinematic pleasures: a little sex, a lot of sword fighting and a plot that combines heady passion with complicated political intrigue.

De Broca never develops the transforming love onscreen and ends up with an awkward and indigestible movie.

de Broca's efficient fencing-mania melodrama brings little that's original to the table.