When Knights Were Bold is a comedy play by the British writer Harriett Jay

Harriett Jay

Harriett Jay was a British writer and playwright who often wrote under the psuedonym of Charles Marlowe. Several of her plays were turned into films. She is best known for her 1906 comedy play When Knights Were Bold.-Selected plays:...

 writing under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 of Charles Marlowe which was first performed in 1906. A British officer Guy De Vere returns home from service in India after inheriting an estate and a baronetcy in the village of Little Twittering where he encounters a bunch of eccentrics. His cousin Rowena, meanwhile, falls madly in love with him. It should not be confused with the 1898 novel When Knighthood Was in Flower by Charles Major

Charles Major

Charles Major was an American lawyer and novelist.Born to an upper-middle class Indianapolis family, Major developed an interest in both law and English history at an early age and attended the University of Michigan from 1872 through 1875, being admitted to the Indiana bar association in 1877...

 which is sometimes known by this title.

Film adaptations

The film has been adapted into films on three occasions. In 1916 a silent film When Knights Were Bold

When Knights Were Bold (1916 film)

When Knights Were Bold is a 1916 British silent comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gerald Ames, Marjorie Day and Gwynne Herbert...

was made by Maurice Elvey

Maurice Elvey

Maurice Elvey was the most prolific film director in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year....

. In 1929 a second silent film When Knights Were Bold

When Knights Were Bold (1929 film)

When Knights Were Bold is a 1929 British silent adventure film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Nelson Keys, Miriam Seegar and Eric Bransby Williams...

was made by Tim Whelan

Tim Whelan

Tim Whelan was an American film director, writer, producer and actor.-Selected filmography:* Adam's Apple * When Knights Were Bold * It's a Boy * Aunt Sally...

. In 1936 a sound version When Knights Were Bold

When Knights Were Bold (1936 film)

When Knights Were Bold is a 1936 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Jack Buchanan, Fay Wray and Garry Marsh. Sir Guy de Vere inherits his father's estate while serving with the British army in India. He returns home to take up his new role, but is greeted with hostility by...

was made by Jack Raymond

Jack Raymond

Jack Raymond was a British actor and film director. Born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1886, he began acting before the First World War in A Detective for a Day. In 1921 he directed his first film and gradually he wound down his acting to concentrate completely on directing - making more than forty films...

 and starred Jack Buchanan

Jack Buchanan

Walter John "Jack" Buchanan was a British theatre and film actor, singer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Grossmith Jr., and was described by The Times as "the last of the knuts." He is best known in...

.