Knights of the Round Table (1953)

Touches You

Good concept, poorly executed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Very weak, populist, adaptation of the famous tale. Plot is full of holes and doesn't follow King Arthur legend very closely. Not at all gritty, concentrating more on contrived, unconvincing sword- fight sequences and flowery, empty language than on any substance. So devoid of any substance, if it was made in the 2000s it would have been directed by Michael Bay!Acting is incredibly unconvincing. Think John Wayne trying to do Shakespeare. Shallow, hammy, machismo actors reciting lines they hardly understand.Even the presence of the stunningly beautiful Ava Gardner can't save this.If want to see a good adaptation of the King Arthur legend, see Excalibur (1981) instead.

Sir Thomas Malory's traditional tales of King Arthur and Lancelot are made even more commercially palatable with this costumed version from the British arm of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The narrative has become so basic (and dull), presumably for mass consumption, that all we have left to respond to is the ornate production. Robert Taylor's Lancelot devotes himself to being Guinevere's champion (not that her husband--Mel Ferrer's vacuous King Arthur--would notice!), but Taylor seems to have wandered in from another picture; his diction is thudding and his hangdog face never brightens, not even in the presence of a ravishing Ava Gardner as Guinevere (who doesn't so much flirt with Lancelot as she does beam and glow with silent affection). The overlong film is a sumptuous spread, and there's plenty of action, but the episodes fail to come together as a whole and the sound recording (Oscar nominated!) is barely adequate. Consequently, the legendary characters rarely come to life. ** from ****

MGM's foray into CinemaScope is a lavish thing to behold--the costumes are as bright as anything that ever came from the costume department, the swords are flashy, the settings are photographed with loving care and artistic ability although they're suspiciously paper-mache in some instances. And the romantic triangle inherent in all of King Arthur's tales is represented by AVA GARDNER at her most beautiful but pallid and remote, ROBERT TAYLOR as Sir Lancelot in an underwhelming performance and MEL FERRER, whom I found equally colorless as King Arthur. The most vigorous performance in the film comes from STANLEY BAKER as the villainous and scheming Mordred and by GABRIEL WOOLF as Percival, who recites his lines with Shakespearean flourish.All of them are victims of some banal dialog and uninspired direction by Richard Thorpe, who did an equally unimpressive job on IVANHOE, an uneven spectacle that shared a lot in common with the background and characters of THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD but paled in comparison.The film moves from one set piece to another without any style or pace except for careful placement of actors to fill the widescreen process. Miklos Rozsa must have found it difficult to find inspiration for writing music, but he does manage to fulfill his end of the bargain with a serviceable enough score even when the action on screen is not up to the standards one expects in these sort of costume adventures.Taylor seems bored with his role and Gardner often looks as though she's far away in her thoughts, although she has seldom looked more beautiful as Guinivere. I never was particularly fond of the Arthurian legend so I have to confess to an initial bias that persisted as I watched the film unfold at its leisurely length.For adventure and romance, there are hundreds of other better examples than this, a film that never really comes to life.

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 .