Knights of the Round Table (1953)

King Arthur's rule is threatened by the adulterous love between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a relationship the king's enemies hope to exploit.

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Talbot Jennings (screenplay), Jan Lustig (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Taylor	...	Lancelot
Ava Gardner	...	Guinevere
Mel Ferrer	...	Arthur
Anne Crawford	...	Morgan Le Fay
Stanley Baker	...	Modred
Felix Aylmer	...	Merlin
Maureen Swanson	...	Elaine
Gabriel Woolf	...	Percival
Anthony Forwood	...	Gareth
Robert Urquhart	...	Gawaine
Niall MacGinnis	...	Green Knight
Ann Hanslip	...	Nan
Jill Clifford	...	Bronwyn
Stephen Vercoe	...	Agravaine

Storyline

King Arthur establishes the greatest reign England has ever seen, and along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot. Then, Arthur finds himself a bride, the beautiful Guenivere. While she loves Arthur, she also loves Lancelot and though Lancelot repeatedly fights it, he loves her, too. Treachery is brewing as the evil Morgan le Fay and her knight Sir Modred work to trap them. So begins the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot.

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Plot Keywords:

king arthur | lancelot | king | knight | queen | 

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Taglines:

SEE! In CinemaScope! The miraculous feats of magic of the wizard Merlin! The beauty of Queen Guinevere that made a Kingdom tremble!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Knights of the Round Table

Filming Locations:

Luttrellstown Estate, Co Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$2,600,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The UK's first CinemaScope production, and also its first widescreen feature.

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Goofs

During the final sword fight, the long swords are clearly flimsy props. The blades bend and vibrate with each hit, one battler tried to spear his opponent and hit the rock face of the cliff behind him and the tip of the sword was crumpled like it was aluminum.

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Quotes

Agravaine: Traitor Knight! We'll have your head on a pole and your trollop too!

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Connections

Referenced in The Smurfs: Bananas Over Hefty/The Smurfs of the Round Table (1989)

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Soundtracks

A Lady White
(uncredited)
Music by Clifton Parker

User Reviews

Mighty spectacle about the King Arthur and the famed romance in color magnificence

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 .