Lancelot and Guinevere

After playing "Constantin IL Grande" ,a sword and sandal made in Italy ,it was only natural that Cornel Wilde wanted his own costume drama ; then again ,with wife Jean Wallace ,his usual leading lady , he opted for another version of "knights of the round table ",hardly ten years after Richard Thorpe's and a few years before Joshua Logan's musical "Camelot" .

LIke most of the versions (including more recent versions such as Boorman's) , the story essential deals with the legendary triangle .Guinevere is beautiful ,but perhaps too "Iseut" ,too "Germanic " ,too nordic and I have a tendency to prefer Ava Gardner.

There's an unusual humor in the first part : the foam of the soap -which had been known since antiquity (the Gallic used it) - which scares Lancelot's companion is a good idea ;and during the bath they share in a small lake (in full clothes!) , soap may be the magic potion which causes eternal love between the knight and the soon-to-be-queen.

As it has already been pointed out ,the villains provide the movie with its low point :they are insignificant and cannot hold a candle to Stanley Baker and Anne Crawford in Thorpe's movie ;Brian Aherne is a noble king ,but he remains passive and listless .

And that's probably what Wilde wanted : to enhance the beauty of his co-star/wife (who ,unlike Gardner,can wield a sword) and his feats ;his film is pleasant and compares favorably with the other versions .

Little did the critics -who considered Wilde a lightweight as far as directing is concerned- know that his following effort "the naked prey ",would be a genuine masterpiece which would influence countless other movies ,especially Gibson's "Apocalypto" .

A stirring tale of knights, chivalry, and the days of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur is brought to the screen with full pomp and pageantry . It deals with ARTHUR-LANCELOT-GUINEVERE triangle that brings to life again , including a sincere respect , though also fictitious , of the old legend . Set during the civil wars of 6Th-century England where rules the king Arthur (Brian Aherne) , 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 . Wandering swordsman Lancelot (Cornel Wilde) falls for beautiful Guinevere (Jean Wallace) , soon to be Arthur's queen . Later on , Lancelot fights evil renegade knights , Barbarians invaders and villainous Mordred , Arthur's son .

Big-scale battles , tournaments , betrayals , passion , and impressive outdoors , all of them are pieces for a tremendous epic , are all here . However, it just doesn't woork , at times . The result is almost always the handsomest of films to behold and the plot will cause much eye-rolling . Dramatically , it has its moments , too , blending grandeur and intimacy . The battles scenes hold all the excitement and gore by that time the censorship allowed , which was not for the fainthearted . This period action classic features Lancelot, the bravest knight of the Round Table and the moving story of the romantic triangle starred by Cornel Wilde, who is badly miscast , and his real wife , the lovely Jean Wallace . The real-life marriage yearn , gaze and kiss intensely ; it is worth the time it takes to watch . In spite of lack real documents about legendary feats of King Arthur, allegedly in VI century King of Bretons , during XII century was created 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 motion picture was professionally directed by Cornel Wilde . Cornel Wilde, who also acted , co-produced and directed this film, as he ambiously romps some Arthurian legends in this spectacular slide of sword , blood and battles . Other movies on the matter of legends of Arthur resulted to be : ¨Knights of the round table¨(Richard Thorpe, 53) with Robert Taylor , Ava Gardner , Mel Ferrer , Stanley Baker ; the musical ¨Camelot¨ (Joshua Logan), with Franco Nero , Richard Harris , Vanessa Redgrave ; the fantastic ¨Excalibur¨ considered the best and tremendous epic (John Boorman, 81) with Nigel Terry , Helen Mirren , Nicholas Clay , Nicol Williamson , Cherie Lunghi ; ¨Merlin and the sword (Clive Donner , 85) with Malcolm McDowell , Candice Bergen , Edward Woodward; ¨Merlin¨(1998) with Sam Neill , Miranda Richardson , Rutger Hauer , Isabella Rossellini , Martin Short ; First knight¨ with Richard Gere , Sean Connery , Julia Ormond ; and recently ¨King Arthur¨(Antoine Fuqua, 2004) with Clive Owen , Stephen Dillane , Ioan Gruffud , Mikkelsen , Kiera Knightley . The picture will appeal to aficionados with chivalric ideals and historic movies fans .

Cornel Wilde had an interesting career as stand-by leading man for Tyrone Power at Fox. His biggest role there was in Forever Amber, made when Power was doing another big budget spectacle, Captain from Castile and was unavailable. Wilde should have had a bigger career, but never got the breaks.

He and Mrs. Wilde (Jean Wallace who played Guinevere)dusted off the Lancelot and Guinevere story for another go. Wilde supposedly sank a lot of his own money in this film and lost a bundle. This kind of film really needs the full backing of a big studio.

MGM did this far better with Knights of the Round Table. Although Robert Taylor was a stoic Lancelot in that film, the overall production values were far better with that product. Wilde dusted off the French accent he perfected in The Greatest Show On Earth and played Lancelot properly as a Frenchman. But Ava Gardner was a Guinevere to die for as opposed to what Mrs. Wilde did with the part.

Brian Aherne plays a noble Arthur. But Stanley Baker and Anne Crawford as Mordred and Morgan LeFay were light years better than the two who played the parts here.

WHAT's this? Not a solitary comment on one of the really good medieval flicks of this period?

Actually it was one of the last, coming at the end of the cycle that had included KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, PRINCE VALIANT, THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH, THE BLACK KNIGHT....all big moneyspinners in the 50's. It was also just 4 years shy of Richard Harris' beloved, but overblown musical CAMELOT.

The film performed disappointingly at the box office as audiences tastes had changed and biblical spectacle was all the rage by the early 60's. By '63 even THAT had waned, THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH having closed the chapter on epics the previous year.

But hey, Cornel Wilde was a ragingly in-form Lancelot and pulled out all stops to impress his lady Guinevere. Course, her husband, King Arthur was majorly disgusted with both of them and things were messy there for a while. But you know, simply nothing overcame life's little set- backs in those days of yore, like crushing a few skulls in with a mace or broadsword and Lancelot was the champion after all. Some reviewers at the time took exception to Lancelot's french accent (Ah, my GuineVERE, u know 'ow I love you non?, ees not your coleurs 'anging from my lance-tip cherie?) Well ze franch accent or not, Cornel made as good a Lancelot as anyone ever has. This film rocked.

Think A KNIGHT'S TALE handled seriously!

King Arthur sends his trusty right hand man, the knight Sir Lancelot to a rival kingdom to win the hand in marriage of Guinevere. He succeeds, but falls in love with the maiden. She marries Arthur but secretly yearns for Lancelot. After a time, they become lovers & when Arthur finds out, their friendship – sabotaged by a rival knight – becomes very strained.

Originally released in the United Kingdom as Lancelot & Guinevere, this 1963 adventure film was directed by its star, Cornel Wilde. Wilde also produces & cast his wife at the time, Jean Wallace, as Guinevere.

While not the definitive version of the Camelot story, Sword of Lancelot is still reasonably watchable. The film has some passable acting &, like most of Wilde's directorial efforts, filled with action scenes. The fights & battles are the showpiece of the film & are quite violent, even by 1963 standards. There is some passable plotting but the pace tends to drag a little inbetween the battles. Wilde & Wallace might be a good pair on the screen but they are both a little too old for their roles. Having said that, Sword of Lancelot is still a pretty reasonable Dark Ages adventure film, although I still prefer something like Under the Red Robe over this.