Knights of the Round Table

A movie filled with beautiful scenery, knights in armor, the clashing of swords, lovely damsels, and chivalry at its finest. Remind you of Camelot? It should. Adventure and romance are blended deftly in this fine retelling of Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte D'Arthur." Taylor (well-cast as Lancelot) also played the title role in "Ivanhoe", which was released a year earlier and also directed by Thorpe and scored by Rozsa. Thorpe does another excellent job as director here, and Rozsa contributes another nonpareil score that has forever marked him for the esteemed composer he is. Interestingly enough, Aylmer (who played Merlin) also played Issac of York opposite Taylor's "Ivanhoe." Not to be overlooked either are Gardner (never lovelier as Guinevere); Baker's perfect portrayal of the diabolical Mordred; and Crawford, whose chilling Morgan le Fay is very reminiscent of Milady de Winter of The Three Musketeers saga. Ferrer deserves kudos as well for bringing nobility and sensitivity to the role of Arthur. As mentioned before, the scenery is a real treat; when coupled with the music and the action, one may get the urge to strap on their armor and grab their sword! Everyone, from medieval history buffs to those who just love a good movie, should see this one. It has intrigue, adventure, and romance, but above all, it forever proves that chivalry is a virtue worth abiding by.

The legend of King Arthur has been told, and retold, by movie makers several times. This may have been one of the first tellings, using Technicolor coupled with Cinemascope and drawing heavily upon the pageantry of the days of chivalry and knighthood in England. The story is simple, relating the coming of the throne of his country by Arthur Pendragon, and his attempts to establish justice and peace in the war-torn, divided land he called England. His efforts are to no avail, as there is simply too much greed and distrust among the small kingdoms of the country to allow the rule of one person, but this film has some fun in the citing of the Arthurian legend.

The cast members for 1953 read like a star-studded list from MGM. Mel Ferrer portrays King Arthur, with the lovely Ava Gardner as his queen, Guinevere. Stanley Baker plays the villain in the piece, Mordred, a knight sworn to capture the throne for himself, even if it destroys the unity of England. Playing the role of the greatest knight member of the Round Table, Lancelot, was Robert Taylor, who seemed to relish the sense of justice, decency, and moral standards as no one else of the time seemed willing to do.

"Knights of the Round Table" is meant to be viewed as an enjoyable touch with the past and the days gone by. Worth a view or two.

Knights of the Round Table is directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted to screenplay by Talbot Jennings, Noel Langley & Jan Lustig from the novel Le Morte d'Arthur written by Sir Thomas Malory. It stars Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Stanley Baker, Anne Crawford and Felix Aylmer. Music is scored by Miklós Rózsa and cinematography by Stephen Dade and Freddie Young.

An interesting spin on the Arthurian legend for MGM, who film it in Cinemascope (first time for the studio) and dress it up grandly as the actors have a good old time in the days of yore. Here the romantic angle comes via Lancelot (Taylor) and Guinevere (Gardner) having lusty lustations for one and other that cause a tremble in the stability of Camelot. With Guinevere to marry King Arthur, and both she and the heroic Lancelot loyal to the King and his ideals for Camelot, it's not a real problem until the dastardly Modred (Baker) and the scheming Morgan le Fay (Crawford) start to throw spanners into the works that result in murder, suspicion and war.

It's all very fanciful stuff, full of derring-do machismo, but the action is well staged by Thorpe (cracking finale between good and evil), the outer location photography at Tintagel in Cornwall is most pleasing, Rózsa's score sweeps in and out of the well dressed sets and the cast do their director proud by not overdoing the material to hand. Yes it inevitably hasn't aged particularly well, and modern film fans may balk at the many passages of detailed chatter in the well developed script, but this comes from a grand old time in cinema. When production value meant hard graft in front of and behind the camera . Honour and integrity is not only big within the story itself, it's also themes that apply to the film makers as well. Hooray! 7.5/10

This MGM's first Cinemascope production from the company and producers (Pandro S Berman)that gave you ¨Quo Vadis¨ , ¨Ivanhoe¨ among others and only MGM could bring it so magnificently to the screen . The classic story of romantic adventure come to life enriched by Technicolor and with such great stars as Robert Taylor (Lanzarote) , Ava Gardner (Guinevere) , Mel Ferrer(Arthur) in the classic love triangle . Adding apparition the ¨Knights of the Round Table¨ as Percival (Woof) looking for the Holy Grail , Gaiwan( Robert Urqhuart) , the evil Modred (Stanley Baker) and Merlin (Felix Aylmer) and Morgana LeFay (Crawford) . This is an overwhelming tale with adventures , villainy , romance and heroism in the grandeur of Cinemascope although in television set loses splendor .

In spite of there aren't real documents about legendary feats of King Arthur , allegedly in VI century King of Bretons , were created on XII century some writings by French notorious authors who romanticized the legend as Chretien of Troyes and Thomas Malory that wrote the Bretons series with their knights looking for the Holy Grail . Besides , Godofredo of Mormouth publicized in 1136 the ¨History Regnum Britanniae¨ and in XX century John Steinbeck wrote about the events of King Arthur . The story concerns when the Romans had withdrawn Britain and the Roman Empire dissolved into chaos , then rules the king Arthur , he achieved to maintain the Christianity and civilization in the west of England , though no exactly congruent with the VI century , time was presumed to have lived but the film is developed in a high medieval panoply .

The movie displays breathtaking battles and epic confrontation with a terrific final climax for a mortal duel . The magnificent battle scenes are obviously copied from Henry V at Agincourt , brought to life a decade earlier by Laurence Olivier . Excellent production design , the castles , outdoors and tournaments or jousts are well staged . Luscious costumes and gowns specially suited by Ava Gardner . Colorful wide-screen cinematography by Freddie Young( David Lean's usual cameraman) . Spectacular , sensational musical score by the classic Miklos Rózsa . However this epic film never takes off as it should despite of pomp and circumstance showed . The motion picture is professionally directed by Richard Thorpe . Later on , other movies on the matter of legends of Arthur resulted to be : the musical ¨Camelot¨ (Joshua Logan), the fantastic ¨Excalibur¨ (John Boorman) and recently ¨King Arthur¨(Antoine Fuqua). The picture will appeal to aficionados with chivalric ideals and historic movies fans .

Although Robert Taylor is top-lined alongside Ava Gardner in this MGM historical romp, he plays Lancelot, not Arthur. The King himself is played by Mel Ferrer with utmost seriousness. Despite a lot of bad reviews over the years, this movie from Richard Thorpe is actually quite enjoyable.

Taylor and Gardner (playing Guinevere, of course, and looking every inch the part) are particularly watchable, but there is sterling support from icy Brit Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay; Stanley Baker as Mo(r)dred; Felix Aylmer as Merlin; Maureen Swanson as Elaine (whose midsummer wish brings Lancelot into her life and into his first meeting with Arthur); and Niall McGinnis as the argumentative Green Knight.

Sumptuous colour and some exciting swordplay keep this film bumping along - just short of two hours and, if it veers away from the legend a bit, well, it is all in the spirit of 1950s cinema.