Sword of Lancelot (1963)

Lancelot is King Arthur's most valued Knight of the Round Table and a paragon of courage and virtue. Things change, however, when he falls in love with Queen Guinevere.

Director:

Cornel Wilde

Writers:

Richard Schayer, Cornel Wilde (as Jefferson Pascal)

Stars:

Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Brian Aherne

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cornel Wilde	...	Sir Lancelot
Jean Wallace	...	Guinevere
Brian Aherne	...	King Arthur
George Baker	...	Sir Gawaine
Archie Duncan	...	Sir Lamorak
Adrienne Corri	...	Lady Vivian
Michael Meacham	...	Sir Modred
Iain Gregory	...	Sir Tors
Mark Dignam	...	Merlin
Reginald Beckwith	...	Sir Dagonet
John Barrie	...	Sir Bevidere
Richard Thorp	...	Sir Gareth
Joseph Tomelty	...	Sir Kaye
Graham Stark	...	Rian
Geoffrey Dunn	...	Edrick

Storyline

Lancelot is King Arthur's most valued Knight of the Round Table and a paragon of courage and virtue. Things change, however, when he falls in love with Queen Guinevere.

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Plot Keywords:

sir lancelot du lac character | queen guinevere character | king arthur character | merlin character | knights of the round table | 

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Taglines:

All the fiery passions of the lusty age of great kings....beautiful queens.....that heroic age of King Arthur and the gallant Knights of the Round Table!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Romance

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

5 June 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sword of Lancelot

Filming Locations:

Divicibare, Yugoslavia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emblem Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nine years earlier Brian Ahern played King Arthur in "Prince Valiant."

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Goofs

In the main battle scene, a soldier - apparently thinking he was out of camera range - can be seen at the bottom of the screen standing with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder and smoking a cigarette.

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Quotes

King Arthur: It seems that love and hate are so close akin, only the sharpest sword can separate one from the other.

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Crazy Credits

The Universal logo does not appear on this film.

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Connections

Version of The Sword in the Stone (1963)

User Reviews

Bloody for 1963 standards.

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.