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Best movie of this year hands down!

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Top-notch performances from TYRONE POWER, ORSON WELLES and EVERETT SLOANE are the main reasons for watching PRINCE OF FOXES, aside from some very striking B&W photography that makes the most of all the Italian Renaissance settings.Then too, Alfred Newman has composed a masterful score, although I couldn't help notice that the love theme for Power and Hendrix is actually taken from a brief theme from THE SNAKE PIT where de Havilland and Leo Genn are exchanging parting words.The fictionalized story of Cesare Borgia (ORSON WELLES) benefits from Welles' strong depiction of the elegant and evil man. He's impressive in a film that demands impressive work from its three main actors. TYRONE POWER is magnificent as Orsini, every bit the kind of hero Samuel Shellabarger wrote about for his historical romances. And EVERETT SLOANE, as Belli, a man who switches his allegiances so constantly that you never know which side he's on, is a scene-stealer in a role worthy of his talent.Only drawback is that Fox filmed it on actual location sites in Italy, giving added realism to all the palace interiors which cry out for Technicolor rather than B&W. Since the story dwells on the dark side, this is not as much of a disadvantage as it might have been. Rumors are that Power very much wanted Technicolor for the film, but Fox was suffering losses in the European market and settled for B&W.Summing up: Grand entertainment in the lavish, swashbuckling manner prescribed by these sort of historical romances.

If passionate love, convivial betrayals and loyalty one can change as quickly as one's shirt intrigues you, you'll most likely enjoy Prince of Foxes. If nothing else, you'll learn a great party trick that involves two eyeballs and two thumbs. Prince of Foxes, in my view, is one of the best of the Tyrone Power adventure films. It stands out in part because we find ourselves operating in the lusty, double-dealing world of Cesare Borgia. And while Orson Welles, who plays Borgia, can't resist slicing the ham with gusto, it must be admitted that he brings a lot of joie de vivre to villainy. Andrea Orsini (Tyrone Power) is one of Borgia's clever lieutenants. He's smart, charming, deadly with a blade and almost as opportunistic as his master. As Borgia says when describing the kind of man he needs for a mission to Ferrara to undermine the duke there, "who but a man as quick at deceit as a fox? He must have the grace of a dancer, the wrist of an assassin. He must have little regard for good faith, yet by his astuteness be able to confuse men's minds....He must charm as a snake charms birds, yet he must make no friends, except for those who may be of use to him, and for the same reason although he may make use of love, he must not love." His mission to Ferrara a success, Orsini is sent by Borgia to secure the fortified Citte del Monte, ruled by the aged and honorable Count Verano (Felix Aylmer) and his much younger wife, the Countess Camilla (Wanda Hendrix). Orsini brings with him the unscrupulous and deadly rogue Mario Belli (Everett Sloane). Poor Andrea Orsini. As he witnesses wisdom and humanity, as for probably the first time in his life he begins to feel an honorable love, and as he knows Cesare Borgia will soon arrive with an army to demand the capitulation of Citte del Monte, he discovers that most uncomfortable of feelings...a conscience. Before long a good man will die, love will blossom, a great battle will be fought, a rescue from a dungeon will be planned and executed, the difference between conscienceless nobility and the nobility of the soul will be pointed out to us, and two eyeballs will be put in danger. The movie, filmed in Italy, is briskly paced and well photographed. The battle scene is a rouser, with fat, stubby cannons blasting away. Great wooden trebuchets hurl stones and flaming balls of pitch into the city. Vats of boiling oil are tipped over onto Borgia's soldiers as they try to scale the city's walls. The screenplay is studded with clever, cynical observations about love, diplomacy and war. Unlike so many adventure movies, there really is no dud acting in Prince of Thieves. Even Wanda Hendrix manages the role of Camilla with enough dignity to win us over. The cast of featured players is strong, with solid performances by Felix Aylmer, Marina Berti as a cousin of Cesare who has her eye on Orsini, Katina Paxinou as Orsini's peasant mother and, especially, that first-rate actor Everett Sloane as Mario Belli. He went to Hollywood from the Mercury Theater with Welles and appeared notably in Welles' Citizen Kane and The Lady from Shanghai. He gets perhaps the best lines in the movie: "I discovered that the devil doesn't always pay best. This whole thing pleases me. Who betrayed who and where did it start? No matter. It shall be said among my fellow practitioners in double-dealing that I was the greatest of them all." But what of Cesare Borgia? The movie implies that the forces of justice will rise up one day and smite him. In fact, Borgia was the illegitimate son of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI. When his father became Pope, Borgia's career as a military conqueror blossomed. When the Pope died, Cesare discovered all his old friends quickly found new men to fawn over. After being imprisoned once or twice, he made his way to Spain, where he was killed in a battle against French forces most people have long forgotten.

Let me first point out that there is plenty of action in this movie to keep a viewer interested, while at the same time, giving thought provoking drama. You could expect no less from Welles, of course. This is probably Power's best acting role. It centralizes on some historical characters, notably the Borgias, who represented the "Prince" of Machiavelli's ideal. Power plays a noble born man (one of the Orsini), who adopts the principle and tries to fit in. The movie is timeless, and could be made today. Orsini (Tyrone Power) is the opposite of the Machiavellian prince, however. Instead of being generous on the outside, he presents a harsh exterior, but has a better man inside. This is revealed when he thwarts an assassin, and instead of killing the assassin, makes him a servant. The assassin, too, has the same dilemma, and we don't know until later on whether he is truly evil, or whether he also has a dangerous decent human soul. Welles plays the cruel Borgia. Historically, the Orsini were one of the two largest families in hereditary lines of cardinals, and they were usually pitted against the Colonna family in papal disputes. The two families were no doubt the basis for Shakespeare in the feud between the Capulets and Montagues. The Orsini were usually more opposed to the French, while the Colonna were more opposed to the German influence. None of that comes into play in this movie, so don't look for it. The movie has a different purpose. The theme is too controversial to be made today. One look at the movies of the last forty years shows that Machiavelli is too revered to have his ideals put in jeopardy. Audiences would scream in horror to see this polar opposite of a spaghetti movie.

Henry King was the prince of a genre which has completely disappeared today:storybook adventures,with never a dull moment;"Lloyds of London" "captain of Castillo" ,"Untamed" or "the bravados" ,to name but four were absorbing flicks.He wanted to film "Price of foxes" in color:it's unfortunate that he did not get his wish cause the lavish settings ,the beautiful landscapes (filmed on location in Italy) and the painstaking reconstruction deserved that.Of course ,Orson Welles steals every scene he's in,the best Cesar Borgia one ever saw on a screen.But the rest of the cast is excellent as well,particularly Katrina Paxinou,as Andrea's peasant mother.Tyrone Power was perfectly cast in the swashbuckler genre.Roughly,the film consists of three parts -Orsini helps Borgia with his problem:marrying his sister Lucrecia with Alfonso D'Este,in order to enter into an alliance with the dukedom of Ferrare.-Orsini must help Borgia with another problem :doing away with an old lord -who is married to a gorgeous young girl who "could be his granddaughter"Borgia dixit.-Having betrayed the Master , he will have to accept the consequences.Biggest flaw: the "enucleation":how can a man as smart as Borgia be fooled like a child?