Hollywood had so much fun with Errol Flynn's "Robin Hood" they tried to do it again, with this big-budget, star-studded adaptation of Walter Scott's famous novel. Yes, "Ivanhoe" is weaker in many departments, yet the good outweighs the bad and there's much to applaud here.
Condensing a complex, sprawling novel into an hour-and-three-quarters could have been far worse. As it is, we a presented with the essence of the original story, its characters and contexts reduced to bare nubs. Director Richard Thorpe uses Scott's story lines as an excuse for plush settings and thrilling battle scenes that still pack a punch.
Saxon Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) seeks the restoration of Richard to the throne of England, but Richard's brother John and his evil knights conspire to keep Richard in prison abroad. For Ivanhoe to succeed, he must not only rally Saxon support but gain financing from the Jews, one of whom, Rebecca of York (Elizabeth Taylor), has fallen in love with the noble, albeit Christian, knight.
To start with the negatives, Robert Taylor is impossibly stiff in the lead role. For a long period, we are burdened not only by him but with the "comic relief" of Emlyn Williams' Wamba, a jester who Ivanhoe promotes to squire. Add to this a dead-on-arrival romance between Ivanhoe and the Lady Rowena (Joan Fontaine), who share only two dialogue scenes for the entire movie, and there's a lot of deadweight for this film to carry.
But the good on offer here is stronger. The secondary cast is really exceptional, especially Guy Rolfe as dastardly Prince John and George Sanders as one of his henchmen. Sanders walks a fine line in this film, presenting a character who garners our empathy if not sympathy. He loves Rebecca, and with real heart, too, but he's pretty awful otherwise.
The script, by Æneas MacKenzie, Marguerite Roberts, and Noel Langley, makes up for a choppy narrative with memorable dialogue. "Bid them enter in peace and depart in peace, or else depart in pieces," is the warning of Ivanhoe's father Cedric to a pair of imperious knights. Later, the Jew Isaac of York warns Ivanhoe "Money takes flight when might conquers right."
Roberts got in trouble around this time with the House Un-American Activities Committee for her communist beliefs, causing her name to be dropped from the credits. While not at all preachy, one can read into "Ivanhoe" messages of both popular hysteria (Rebecca on trial for witchcraft) and the exploitation of the powerless (both Saxon and Jew). Anti-Semitism comes up often.
"To whose god shall a Jew pray for a Gentile?" Rebecca is asked by her understanding if disapproving father.
"To the same God who made them both," she answers.
When Liz has a good line to deliver, she delivers it well. Fontaine is stronger, though, thoroughly winning as Rebecca's good-hearted but jealous rival and surprisingly holding her own against Liz for cinematic sexiness. I think Fontaine was far prettier in her thirties than in her late teens and early twenties.
Add to these virtues Freddie Young's fantastic cinematography that seems to squeeze every inch from Alfred Junge's set design. You can get lost in such details as the purple raven perched on a skull that decorates the helmet of Sanders' knight character, or the Bayeux-style tapestries that cover the walls in many scenes.
If only the film had a better lead, and maybe a few more minutes to run. Alas, you can only make a classic like "Robin Hood" once, or it wouldn't be a classic. Still, this is an engaging time-passer with some things about it worth seeing, hearing, and remembering.
Condensing a complex, sprawling novel into an hour-and-three-quarters could have been far worse. As it is, we a presented with the essence of the original story, its characters and contexts reduced to bare nubs. Director Richard Thorpe uses Scott's story lines as an excuse for plush settings and thrilling battle scenes that still pack a punch.
Saxon Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) seeks the restoration of Richard to the throne of England, but Richard's brother John and his evil knights conspire to keep Richard in prison abroad. For Ivanhoe to succeed, he must not only rally Saxon support but gain financing from the Jews, one of whom, Rebecca of York (Elizabeth Taylor), has fallen in love with the noble, albeit Christian, knight.
To start with the negatives, Robert Taylor is impossibly stiff in the lead role. For a long period, we are burdened not only by him but with the "comic relief" of Emlyn Williams' Wamba, a jester who Ivanhoe promotes to squire. Add to this a dead-on-arrival romance between Ivanhoe and the Lady Rowena (Joan Fontaine), who share only two dialogue scenes for the entire movie, and there's a lot of deadweight for this film to carry.
But the good on offer here is stronger. The secondary cast is really exceptional, especially Guy Rolfe as dastardly Prince John and George Sanders as one of his henchmen. Sanders walks a fine line in this film, presenting a character who garners our empathy if not sympathy. He loves Rebecca, and with real heart, too, but he's pretty awful otherwise.
The script, by Æneas MacKenzie, Marguerite Roberts, and Noel Langley, makes up for a choppy narrative with memorable dialogue. "Bid them enter in peace and depart in peace, or else depart in pieces," is the warning of Ivanhoe's father Cedric to a pair of imperious knights. Later, the Jew Isaac of York warns Ivanhoe "Money takes flight when might conquers right."
Roberts got in trouble around this time with the House Un-American Activities Committee for her communist beliefs, causing her name to be dropped from the credits. While not at all preachy, one can read into "Ivanhoe" messages of both popular hysteria (Rebecca on trial for witchcraft) and the exploitation of the powerless (both Saxon and Jew). Anti-Semitism comes up often.
"To whose god shall a Jew pray for a Gentile?" Rebecca is asked by her understanding if disapproving father.
"To the same God who made them both," she answers.
When Liz has a good line to deliver, she delivers it well. Fontaine is stronger, though, thoroughly winning as Rebecca's good-hearted but jealous rival and surprisingly holding her own against Liz for cinematic sexiness. I think Fontaine was far prettier in her thirties than in her late teens and early twenties.
Add to these virtues Freddie Young's fantastic cinematography that seems to squeeze every inch from Alfred Junge's set design. You can get lost in such details as the purple raven perched on a skull that decorates the helmet of Sanders' knight character, or the Bayeux-style tapestries that cover the walls in many scenes.
If only the film had a better lead, and maybe a few more minutes to run. Alas, you can only make a classic like "Robin Hood" once, or it wouldn't be a classic. Still, this is an engaging time-passer with some things about it worth seeing, hearing, and remembering.