Les chevaliers de la table ronde

The Arthur legend gets a grand production here, good photography and rousing battle scenes. The leads kind of go through the motions in their roles though, some of the supporting players really carry this film.

Robert Taylor was never comfortable in those 'iron jockstrap' movies as he called them. But he was the most dutiful employee MGM had and like Errol Flynn with westerns, Taylor just went with the flow. Funny thing is Taylor much preferred doing westerns as he reached his forties.

Was there ever a more beautiful Guinevere than Ava Gardner? I sincerely doubt it. If she never spoke a line in the film, you know this is a woman for whom you toss convention out for. Ava was in the middle of her tempestuous marriage to Frank Sinatra at the time, so I'm sure she was preoccupied.

And next to Richard Burton on stage and Richard Harris on the screen Mel Ferrer looks positively colorless. Not the guy to command the loyalty the legendary king was supposed to do.

But I did like the performances of Felix Aylmer as Merlin, Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay and Stanley Baker as Mordred. Felix Aylmer was never bad in anything he ever did, always a figure of wisdom and dignity in any role. Morgan Le Fay is quite the schemer here and Anne Crawford brings her to life. Sadly Ms. Crawford died only two years later of leukemia at age 36. American audiences probably only know her for this film, but she's fantastic.

But the best performance in the film has to be Stanley Baker. He was a rugged tough man in every film he did, good guy or bad guy. His Mordred has depth and passion and he's unrelenting in his plans to topple Arthur and the Round Table.

If they gave Oscars out for performances by animals than Robert Taylor's horse Varick would have won it that year. Except for Roy Rogers's Trigger, I don't think we've ever had a smarter movie horse. He's obedient and well trained and knight's horse certainly had to be back in the day. And he saves Taylor's bacon on one occasion.

It's a good film, not the best from either of the stars, but I think you'll like it overall.

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 is another one of those lavish 1950s historical epics that achieves visual beauty and grand action but cannot muster up a bit of audience involvement. The tragedies of the Lancelot and Guinevere affair and Arthur's kingdom are lost in this bland re imagining.

The characters are thinly drawn and none of the actors emote even once. They all just read through the script flatly, not a shred of feeling to be found, Robert Taylor and Mel Ferrer being the worst offenders. The supporting actors steal the show.

Once again, the music, costumes, and sets are nice, but good production values cannot save a mediocre movie.

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.