The Black Arrow 1948

During the War of the Roses, Sir Richard Shelton, Louis Hayward, returns home to Tunstall Castle in Yorkshire and discovers that his father, Sir Harry Shelton, has been murdered. Richard’s uncle and Harry’s half-brother, Sir Daniel Brackley, George Macready, asserts that Sir John Sedley, Paul Cavanagh, murdered him in a clash of loyalties, and that Sedley’s execution was carried out only to clear a path for Brackley’s growing claim to power on behalf of the House of York. To shore up the narrative, Brackley is backed by three trusted associates: Nick Appleyard, Ray Teal; Bennet Hatch, Rhys Williams; and Sir Oliver Oates, Walter Kingsford.

The next morning, Richard is ordered to escort Sedley’s daughter, Joanna Sedley, Janet Blair, to Brackley’s ward at Tunstall. On their journey back, Appleyard is struck down by an arrow bearing a message signed “John Amend-All,” which accuses Brackley and his circle of murder and claims that Brackley killed Richard’s father. Appleyard dies at the castle, and Joanna confesses that “John-Amend-All” is really Sedley, who has survived his supposed execution. Richard and Joanna slip through a secret passage, but Hatch spots them; Richard defeats Hatch and compels him to reveal another way out of the fortress. They reach a watchtower, yet Brackley discovers them and orders the guards to intervene. Joanna is captured, Richard makes a perilous leap into the moat to escape, and he is shot in the back by a guard.

Waking in a forest, Richard learns from Sedley that Brackley murdered his father and framed Sedley for the crime, with Sedley’s fate faked thanks to the help of his ally, Lawless, Edgar Buchanan. Richard contemplates appealing to the Duke of Gloucester, but Brackley immediately places a bounty on his head and captures Sedley. The foresters rise against Brackley’s men, and Richard kills Hatch in a duel to turn the tide.

Brackley’s next move is to wed Joanna to seize Sedley’s land, a ceremony the Duke of Gloucester attends as the guest of honor. Richard and Lawless infiltrate Tunstall Castle disguised as monks; Lawless keeps the guards occupied, and the two men are briefly detained in Sedley’s cell before escaping once more. From a concealed stairway in the chapel, Lawless shoots and kills Sir Oliver Oates, halting the wedding. Richard, Sedley, and Lawless confront Brackley in his chambers, and Richard appeals to the Duke for a trial by combat, which is granted. In the ensuing joust, Brackley knocks Richard off his horse and destroys most of his weapons, but Richard defeats Brackley with his own lance. Sedley is pardoned and granted a position in the House of York, and Richard ends the ordeal with a kiss for Joanna.