Ivanhoé

I love this film, especially the jousting tournament scene. I think one of the reasons why it touched me so deeply because the tournament scene was based on 'The Tournament of the Black Lady' held by King James lV of Scotland in 1507 at Edinburgh Castle. He competed against five knights (whom he defeated) and presented himself in black armour to conceal his identity. His Queen of Love and Beauty was his African attendant, Ellen, whom he dedicated to the tournament to. Sir Walter Scott would have had this fresh in his mind when he was re-writing the Robin Hood story.

It was in this film that the legendary stuntman, Paddy Ryan, did a spectacular fall into an amazingly small amount of water. I started working in the UK in 1960 and there was still talk among casts and crews of Paddy's famous fall. I met Paddy a few times and asked him about the stunt dive. He said it was no big deal. He remembered being asked by some publicist why he did such dangerous things. He replied that he looked down from the great height, imagined he saw his pay check lying there, and took off! I suggested that he should write his memoirs. He said he had started and had spent a long time writing it all out by hand and had almost finished when his manuscript was stolen from, if I remember correctly, his car. He said he was too fed up to sit down and do it all again. What a loss!

I can't comment on the film as an adaption but I did find that it was quite entertaining standing alone. Some have criticized Robert Taylor for being too stiff, but I found him to be suitably formal and chivalrous. Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine both provided ample glamour and grace to their roles. They are also both very photogenic to say the least. The performance of George Sanders intrigued me the most. Though a villain, he actually became more sympathetic to me as the movie progressed. The relationship of the four major characters was what kept me interested. Although I am sure it took careful planning and execution (and a lot of extras) to stage the fight scenes, I actually thought they were quite perfunctory. Solid if not spectacular, 7/10.

The basic plot:Ivanhoe tries to restore the throne to Richard the Lionhearted and away from his Evil brother John,who isn't very cool about that idea.

The praise:A big,glamorous,technicolor,adventure movie,(this is one of those films that's a movie,not a film).Suspenseful,action -packed plot has romance in terms of the jewish Rebbeca(Elizabeth Taylor),with thick jewish eyebrows,and the Lady Rowena(Joan Fontaine),a blonde.Just the right mix of perfectly staged ,suspenseful,action-packed raids,battles,jousts and trials,combined with romance,comic-relief, and Ivanhoe(Robert Taylor) himself. Miles of on location scenery.

The flaws:Too minor to quibble about.

An engrossing movie about 12th century England. It has everything you would want to see in a movie about medieval Europe: knights, fair maidens, jousting tournaments, battles, and feuding crowns. Yet the movie is not boring in any way. I enjoyed every minute of it. The title character is an Anglo-Saxon knight who's on a mission to return the imprisoned king, Richard the Lionhearted, to his throne. Along the way, Ivanhoe encounters some obstacles that may endanger his own life and threaten the future of England. Everything about this movie is enchanting. The movie is very colorful, the score is outstanding, and it's exciting to watch the battle scenes. I really enjoyed seeing one of my favorite actors, George Sanders, playing yet another villain. It was also great to see the always ravishing Elizabeth Taylor (at a very young age), who plays a jewish maiden. I liked the way the movie demonstrated the persecution of jews living in England at the time, and how they were looked down upon in spite of the different ethnic groups that made up the English population. Above all, I really liked the ending--it was awesome. Interestingly, this movie (which is from 1952) is more entertaining than and not as theatrical as some of the historical dramas that were made AFTER this movie.