In seventeenth century France, Pierre St. Laurent, a young nobleman, returns home from the war to discover his lands and chateau have been confiscated by Narbonne, the governor of the province, and sold to Katrina, a Dutch widow. Katrina agrees to return Pierre's land if he will help her recover the "Star of India," a sapphire that Narbonne stole from the Dutch. Pierre goes to Narbonne's castle while King Louis XIV is visiting, and befriends the King's misress, Mme. de Montespan. She tells him that Narbonne keeps the Star of India in the hilt of his sword. Pierre provokes Narbonne into challenging him to a duel, disarms him and steals the jewel. He escapes and returns the jewel to Katrina. To protect Katrina, Pierre allows himself to be captured, then escapes and joins Katrina on a ship bound for Holland. Narbonne and his men catch up with them on the ship, but Pierre kills Narbonne in a duel.
The film was based on a script by Herbert Dalmas which was optioned by British producer Raymond Stross. Stross arrived in Hollywood in March 1953 seeking directors and a star. Arthur Lubin signed and went to Britain to make the film the following month. The cast was to be Cornel Wilde, Herbert Lom and Robert Morley as Louis XIV. Wilde's then wife Jean Wallace was also cast. It was to be the first British widescreen film with Eros agreeing to distribute in the east and United Artists in the West. Stross said "We in England can benefit by using a blend of American and English talent in pictures. The results will be better box office in this country and the mutual understanding developed will also be beneficial. You unquestionably will have much to offer us in techniques and may we modestly assume that we will supply stimuli for you." Eventually Morley dropped out and was replaced by Basil Sydney. Filming was pushed back. Lubin arrived in England in May and filming started in Italy in June 1953. There was filming at Riverside Studios in London then two weeks of location work in Devon. It was completed by late September 1953. Director Arthur Lubin called the film "a disaster. Wilde wrote the script, he wanted to act, he wanted to direct. We had a producer who had never made a movie before, and I was stuck in the middle of Italy with a bad script". 20th Century Fox claimed they had rights to the title but later relinquished it at the request of Wilde, who had 55% of the western hemisphere profits. The film was made in several versions. Release of the film was delayed due to Wilde's unhappiness that the film did not present his wife in the best light. He sued to restrain release of the film until revisions were made. United Artists agreed to finance money to re-dub and re-score the film.
Reception
The film was not released in the US until 1956. The New York Times said it had a "silly script" but it had ""countless costumes, swordplay and high speedhorseback riding." Diabolique magazine wrote the film "should have been good – it has Italian locations and Cornel Wilde had appeared in some decent swashbucklers – but is sunk by a silly script."
