Camelot (1967)

The story of the marriage of England's King Arthur to Guinevere. The plot of illegitimate Mordred to gain the throne and Guinevere's growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, threaten to topple Arthur and destroy his "round table" of knights.

Director:

Joshua Logan

Writers:

Alan Jay Lerner (based on the play "Camelot" book by), T.H. White (novel)

Stars:

Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero

Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Harris	...	King Arthur
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Guenevere
Franco Nero	...	Lancelot Du Lac
David Hemmings	...	Mordred
Lionel Jeffries	...	King Pellinore
Laurence Naismith	...	Merlyn
Pierre Olaf	...	Dap
Estelle Winwood	...	Lady Clarinda
Gary Marshal	...	Sir Lionel
Anthony Rogers	...	Sir Dinadan
Peter Bromilow	...	Sir Sagramore
Sue Casey	...	Lady Sybil
Gary Marsh	...	Tom of Warwick
Nicolas Beauvy	...	King Arthur as a Boy

Storyline

The story of the marriage of England's King Arthur to Guinevere is played out amid the pagentry of Camelot. The plot of illegitimate Modred to gain the throne and Guinevere's growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, whom she at first abhors, threaten to topple Arthur and destroy his "round table" of knights who would use their might for right.

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Plot Keywords:

sir lancelot du lac character | sir mordred character | king arthur character | merlin character | queen guinevere character | 

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Taglines:

The Most Beautiful Love Story Ever!

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 October 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Camelot

Filming Locations:

Alcázar de Segovia, Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$31,102,578

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

179 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Raymond Bussières and Maurice Sarfati were possibles for Dap.

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Goofs

About 30 minutes in, a close-up of Guenevere shows her lying on a couch on her stomach, while Arthur is talking. Cut to a long shot of Arthur, still talking, while Guenevere, in the background, is suddenly sitting up, discreetly holding a blanket over her torso.

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Quotes

[first lines]
A Knight: The rules of battle are not for Lancelot Du Lac, Your Majesty! Let us attack now while they sleep!
King Arthur: [firmly] We will attack when I give the command - at dawn.
[the knight leaves, and Arthur begins to talk to himself]
King Arthur: Oh, Merlyn, Merlyn, why is Ginny in that castle, behind walls I cannot enter? How did I blunder into this agonizing absurdity? Where did I stumble? How did I go wrong? Should I not have loved her?
[sighs]
King Arthur: Then I should not have been born! Oh, Merlyn, I haven't got much ...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

The "30th Anniversary Edition", released on video in 1997, features the original sound mix as it was originally intended. Because of this, some sound effects and fragments of dialogue previously nearly drowned out by music are now heard distinctly. There is even a section--the comically disastrous, very first meeting of Guenevere and Lancelot, in which we hear offscreen court musicians playing on mandolins, whereas previously this scene was acted without music.

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Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays (2004)

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Soundtracks

C'est Moi
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Sung by Gene Merlino (dubbing Franco Nero)

User Reviews

Deadly--even with a great score...

There's a reason why Hollywood in the late 1960s went into its worst recession since the direst years of the Depression in the 30s--it was lavishing ridiculous amounts of money on bloated musicals like this that totally *tanked* at the box office.

For some reason, the studios kept handing these big-budget adaptions of hit Broadway musicals to Joshua Logan to direct, even though they always ended up complete failures (check out the horrible use of color filters in "South Pacific" [1958], or Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin *singing* in "Paint Your Wagon" [1969])). Like that later film, "Camelot" seems to go out of its way to cast its musical with stars who can't sing or dance to save their lives. Instead, the cast seems to be trying to tap into the interest in swinging "Mod" London of the mid-60s. (With Vanessa Redgrave and David Hennings, you have half the cast of Antonioni's "Blow Up" [1966]!) The film also tries to appeal to both a family audience *and* discerning adult viewers simultaneously. I can't imagine parents being happy about the frank earthy sexuality of "The Lusty Month of May," or the overt adultery of the plotline--but people looking for adult fare would be annoyed at the attempts at sweetness and light being thrown in as well.

Obviously, no one from either side was too happy, because this was a *big* flop for Warner Bros. when it came out. Seeing it in a *huge* theatre in 70mm may help maintain interest visually (the costumes are striking), but this will be lost if watching it on video (esp. if it's a "pan-and-scan" instead of a letterboxed version). This is a movie only for those who are die-hard musical fans that are willing to sit through anything--because this is one of the movies that effectively killed the genre's popularity.