Knights of the Round Table (1953)

Calificación de los usuarios:

6.2/10   

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Escritores:

Thomas Malory (based on "Le Morte D'Arthur")
Talbot Jennings (screenplay) ...

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

15 enero 1954 (USA)

Género:

Acción | Aventura | Drama

Plot:

King Arthur establishes the greatest reign England has ever seen, and along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table...

Plot Keywords:

Lancelot | Knight | Camelot | England | King

Premios:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Very Shakespearian Take on the Arthurian Legend

Reparto

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

También conocida como:

Los caballeros del rey Arturo (Spain) [es]

Duración:

115 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

1.75 : 1

Sonido:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Sound System)

Clasificación:

West Germany:6 (f) | Finland:K-12 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #16742) | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G

Locaciones de Filmación:

Dartmoor, Devon, England, UK

Compañía:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Trivialidades:

First MGM to be shot in CinemaScope.

Errores:

Anacronismos: A truck is visible in the background of a large battle scene.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Grandma's Boy (2006)

Very Shakespearian Take on the Arthurian Legend

For those of you with an interest in Shakespeare, you're in luck! The script is beautiful ("I am for thee, lone knight!" and "Is he a king or is he a man of straw?") and Mel Ferrer is excellent as King Arthur (he is my favorite American actor, and he speaks as though he has had some classical acting experience).

Who cares if this film is accurate or not? One should just sit down, relax, and savor the vast widescreen pageantry and battle scenes, the beautiful production and music, and the great dialog (which should have been Oscar-nominated) and cast. Alas, some of the acting is wooden (Robert Taylor, as with almost all Lancelots, is miscast and it's kind of funny hearing Shakespearian dialog with a "cowboy" accent and incorrect pacing of the beautiful lines) and some scenes are slow (due to the staginess of the inexperienced widescreen crew), but these six things listed above make up for it.

Ava Gardner is extremely lovely, and Stan Baker is suitably cast is the evil Modred. The film is more faithful to the legend than other film versions, but there's no supernatural elements whatsoever. It's a shame that Shakespeare films, then and now, aren't made like this, where every scene is made to make one truly sink into the action.

But Shakespeare fans, like me, as well as classic movie buffs and medieval fans (especially those who love Errol Flynn's "The Adventures of Robin Hood"), will very much enjoy this film. As Mel himself says on the DVD, "Good viewing!"

*** (out of four)