Product Description

Historical drama exposing the famous love triangle in King Arthur's Court.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16779 in DVD
• Brand: TAYLOR,ROBERT
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.55:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 115 minutes

Features

• Long live King Arthur and Camelot! Yet in all of ancient England's newfound peace there is "a fraying link in Arthur's chain:" the growing passion between heroic knight Sir Lancelot and beautiful Queen Guinevere.One of history's most beloved legends is vibrantly retold in an adaptation downplaying fantasy elements and giving 6th-century England a new kind of fantasy: a dazzling Hollywood sheen bur

Amazon.com
This 1953 follow-up to the successful teaming of actor Robert Taylor and director Richard Thorpe on Ivanhoe isn't quite as good a film, but it is a sumptuous adventure-romance shot on location in England. MGM's first widescreen production finds Taylor playing Sir Lancelot to Mel Ferrer's King Arthur. Based in part on Thomas Malory's 14th-century version of the Camelot legend, Knights of the Round Table tells the familiar tale of Arthur's construction of a Utopian kingdom, where virtue, courage, and a sense of possibility rule the hearts of strong men. Lancelot is there every step of the way, but after Arthur marries a particularly bodacious Guinevere (Ava Gardner), Lancelot can't stifle his love for her, nor can she stifle her own for him. That chink in the wall of the Camelot dream is exploited by detractors Morgan le Fay (Anne Crawford) and Mordred (Stanley Baker), who set up the lovers for their downfall. The script by Talbot Jennings is proficient at capturing the outsized passions of Malory's epic, which may be one reason why Ivanhoe, with a bit more understatedness, is the better of the two adaptations. True-blue Arthurians, however, will want to see this for its visual sweep and loyalty to the source. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Splendidly miscast, beautifully photographed, and watchable
Well, folks, it was 1954. Not many of you were there, but speaking as someone who was 10 years old when he first saw this film, it was the "thing that dreams were made of." You have to look at films from the early fifties without reference to what you get today. Good special effects meant that he studio fans actually blew all of the costumes in the same directions. The studio system was about to die. Movies paid the bills with star's faces. A 10 year old went to see the story, and this is a great story. You can watch this movie. It isn't history, or fantasy. It is just a lot of fun from a time when you could set through it a second time for free if you called you mom and asked her not to come get you for two more hours. Put this in your collection and you can watch it once a year and enjoy it. And if you really want historical accuracy, this film is it. It is just exactly what films were all about in 1954 before TV came along and shrunk everything into one syllable.

good for Dads to watch with little boy-knights
Three cheers to fellow reviewers who identified problems discerning adults will have with this film: the miscasting, the dull acting of Robert Taylor, the AWOL acting of Mel Ferrer, the bad accents, the lost plot threads (what about that Holy Grail?).

But for watching with a little boy, plastic sword in hand, this is great stuff. It's good where it needs to be good: the action, particularly the battle scenes; the scenery; the costumes and weaponry. Moreover, the talk of honor is done seriously, and the Christian piety expressed is a very good thing (and a rare thing, too, in films these days). One can talk around the business of adultery and talk about trust and promises and love on the one hand, and gossip and intrigue on the other. Overall, a delightful film for the young; my six year old son and I will be seeing this a few times. Recommended.

Calvary Charges, Fierce Battles and Pageantry
KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE is a movie about the classic tale of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot and Guinevere. Lancelot's ill-fated love for Guinevere is played out against a background of cavalry charges, fierce battles and pageantry. The plot is amplified by the rivalry between Lancelot and Mordred as well as Sir Percival's quest for the Holy Grail. Merlin appears in the film as an advisor to Arthur and Lancelot's wife dies while giving birth to the future Sir Gallahad.

Robert Taylor as Lancelot and Mel Ferrer as Arthur are both superb. Ava Gardner makes a beautiful Guinevere but her acting seems to be a little flat. The strong supporting cast includes Stanley Blake, Felix Aylmer and Robert Urguhart.

KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE received Academy Award nominations for Best Color, Art Direction and Sound. The main competition for Oscars in 1953 came from STALAG 17, ROMAN HOLIDAY and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.

Richard Thorpe also directed Robert Taylor in IVANHOE in 1952.