''Knights of the Round Table'' is a 1953 British
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
historical film
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...
made by
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
in England and Ireland. Directed by
Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Biography
Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe began his en ...
and produced by
Pandro S. Berman
Pandro Samuel Berman (March 28, 1905July 13, 1996), also known as Pan Berman, was an American film producer.
Early life
Berman was born to a Jewish family in Pittsburgh in 1905. His father Henry was general manager of Universal Pictures durin ...
, it was the first film in
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
made by the studio. The screenplay was by
Talbot Jennings
Talbot Lanham Jennings (August 25, 1894 – May 30, 1985) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received two Academy Award nominations for co-writing the screenplays for ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935) and '' Anna and the King of Siam' ...
, and
Noel Langley
Noel Langley (25 December 1911 – 4 November 1980) was a South African-born (later naturalised American) novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director. He wrote the screenplay which formed the basis for the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz'' an ...
from
Sir Thomas Malory
Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'Ar ...
's ''
Le Morte d'Arthur'', first published in 1485 by
William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer (publisher), printer to be the first English retailer of printed boo ...
.
The film was the second in an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and starring
Robert Taylor, coming between ''
Ivanhoe
''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...
'' (1952) and ''
The Adventures of Quentin Durward
''The Adventures of Quentin Durward'', known also as ''Quentin Durward'', is a 1955 British historical film released by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The screenplay was by Robert Ardrey, adapted by Geo ...
'' (1955). All three were made at
MGM's British studios at
Borehamwood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...
, near London and partly filmed on location. The cast included Robert Taylor as Sir
Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
,
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
as Queen
Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
,
Mel Ferrer
Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', ''Lili'' and ''Knights of the Round ...
as
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
,
Anne Crawford
Imelda Anne Crawford (22 November 1920 – 17 October 1956) was a British film actress, born in Palestine of a Scottish father and an English mother, and brought up in Edinburgh.
Biography
A contemporary of Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calver ...
as
Morgan Le Fay
Morgan le Fay (, meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morg e, Morgant Morge , and Morgue namong other names and spellings ( cy, Morgên y Dylwythen Deg, kw, Morgen an Spyrys), is a powerful ...
,
Stanley Baker
Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...
as
Modred and
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby.
Earl ...
as
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
. The film uses the Welsh spelling for Arthur's nemesis, ''Modred'', rather than the more common ''Mordred''.
In addition to the same producer, director and star, the first two films in the trilogy had the same cinematographer (
F. A. "Freddie" Young), composer (
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...
), art director (
Alfred Junge
Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry.
Junge had wanted to be an artis ...
) and costume designer (
Roger Furse
Roger Kemble Furse (11 September 1903 – 19 August 1972) was an English painter who worked as a costume designer and production designer for both stage and film.
Career
Roger Furse was the son of Lieutenant General Sir William Furse and Je ...
). The costumes for this film were executed by
Elizabeth Haffenden
Elizabeth Haffenden (18 April 1906 – 29 May 1976) was a British costume designer who won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, for '' Ben-Hur'' at the 1959 Academy Awards and '' A Man for All Seasons'' at the 1966 Academy Awards. She al ...
. In 1955, she would take over from Furse as costume designer for the final film in the trilogy, ''Quentin Durward''. Alfred Junge remained as art director.
Plot
With the land in anarchy, warring overlords Arthur Pendragon and his half-sister Morgan LeFay meet as arranged by the sorcerer Merlin to discuss how to end the bloodshed. Merlin leads them to
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
, a sword embedded in an anvil and says that according to legend, whoever can remove the sword shall be King of England. Arthur removes the sword easily. Morgan's lover Modred accuses Merlin of witchcraft and a hearing is arranged with the Council of Kings at the
Ring of Stones. The next spring, Arthur goes to war against Modred and wins, earning him the crown.
French knight Sir Lancelot rescues Arthur's fiancée Guinevere from being kidnapped by a mysterious knight. After Arthur and Guinevere's wedding, Lancelot pledges his allegiance. Arthur swears to join the select group of knights at the Round Table and England enjoys a period of peace and prosperity. During this time, Lancelot rides north to defend
England's border with Scotland and Sir Percival goes in search of the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...
.
Morgan and Modred continue to harbor ill feelings against Arthur, and note with interest the growing warmth between Lancelot and Guinevere. Modred calls a meeting of Arthur's enemies in Scotland and urges them to make peace so that Lancelot will be exposed as Guinevere's lover.
Late one night, jealous after seeing Lancelot kiss another woman, Guinevere goes to his rooms, and Modred's men soon arrive to arrest them for high treason. Lancelot and Guinevere are tried in absentia at the
Round Table
The Round Table ( cy, y Ford Gron; kw, an Moos Krenn; br, an Daol Grenn; la, Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that e ...
and declared guilty. Lancelot walks in and surrenders, and when he confesses his chaste love for Guinevere, Arthur revokes their death sentence. Outraged, Modred turns the other knights against Arthur, and
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
returns to the land.
Arthur is mortally wounded in battle. With his dying breath, Arthur commands Lancelot to destroy Modred and give Guinevere his love and forgiveness. Lancelot conveys Arthur's message to Guinevere, then rides to Modred, challenging him to a fight to the death.
Plot Notes
In this film, Arthur's half-sister
Morgan LeFay is uniaul portrayed as
Modred's mother. In most legends Modred's mother is
Morgause
The Queen of Orkney, today best known as Morgause and also known as Morgawse and other spellings and names, is a character in later Arthurian traditions. In some versions of the legend, including the seminal text ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', she is ...
, another of King Arthur's half-sisters. Morgan LeFay is more widely recognized as the mother of Sir
Ywain
Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urie ...
(or Owain) of the Round Table.
Also, Percival is said to be brother of
Elaine of Corbenic
Elaine (''Helaine'', ''Oisine'') or Elizabeth (''Eliabel'', ''Elizabel'', ''Elizabet'', ''Heliabel'', ''Helizabel''), also known as Amite (''Amide'', ''Amides'', ''Anite'', ''Aude'', ''Enite''), and identified as the "Grail Maiden" or the "Grail ...
(Lancelot's wife). But this relationship is not found in Arthurian literature.
Cast
*
Robert Taylor as
Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
*
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
as
Guinevere
Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
*
Mel Ferrer
Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', ''Lili'' and ''Knights of the Round ...
as
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
*
Anne Crawford
Imelda Anne Crawford (22 November 1920 – 17 October 1956) was a British film actress, born in Palestine of a Scottish father and an English mother, and brought up in Edinburgh.
Biography
A contemporary of Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calver ...
as
Morgan Le Fay
Morgan le Fay (, meaning 'Morgan the Fairy'), alternatively known as Morgan , Morgain /e Morg e, Morgant Morge , and Morgue namong other names and spellings ( cy, Morgên y Dylwythen Deg, kw, Morgen an Spyrys), is a powerful ...
*
Stanley Baker
Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...
as
Modred
*
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby.
Earl ...
as
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
*
Maureen Swanson as
Elaine
*
Gabriel Woolf as
Percival
Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...
*
Anthony Forwood
Ernest Lytton Leslie Forwood (3 October 1915 – 18 May 1988), known professionally as Anthony Forwood, was an English actor.
Early life
Ernest Lytton Leslie Forwood was born on 3 October 1915 in Weymouth, England. The Forwood family were lande ...
as
Gareth
*
Robert Urquhart as
Gawaine
*
Niall MacGinnis
Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances.
Early life
MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913. as
Green Knight
The Green Knight ( cy, Marchog Gwyrdd, kw, Marghek Gwyrdh, br, Marc'heg Gwer) is a character from the 14th-century Arthurian poem ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' and the related medieval work ''The Greene Knight''. His true name is revea ...
* Ann Hanslip as Nan
* Jill Clifford as Bronwyn
* Stephen Vercoe as
Agravaine
*
Howard Marion-Crawford
Howard Marion-Crawford (17 January 1914 – 24 November 1969), the grandson of writer F. Marion Crawford, was an English character actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Watson in the 1954 television adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. In 19 ...
as Simon *
* John Brooking as
Bedivere
Bedivere ( or ; cy, Bedwyr; la, Beduerus; french: link=no, Bédoier, also Bedevere and other spellings) is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally described in several Welsh texts as the one-hand ...
*
*
Peter Gawthorne
Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upo ...
as Bishop *
* Alan Tilverne as Steward *
* John Sherman as Lambert *
*
Dana Wynter
Dana Wynter (born Dagmar Winter; 8 June 19315 May 2011) was a German-born British actress, who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. Her best-know ...
as Morgan Le Fay's servant
s Dagmar Wunter*
*
Mary Germaine
Mary Germaine is an English film actress.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1933 births
English film actresses
People from Westcliff-on-Sea
Living people
Actresses from Essex
20th-century English actresses
{{England-a ...
as Brigid *
*
Martin Wyldeck
Martin Wyldeck (11 January 1914 – 29 April 1988) was an English actor who played a wide range of parts over many years on stage, screen and TV.
He also appeared in the first episode of the TV series '' Fawlty Towers'', as Sir Richard Morri ...
as John *
*
Barry MacKay as Green Knight's first squire *
* Derek Tansley as Green Knight's second squire *
* Roy Russell as
Leogrance *
* Gwendoline Evans as Enid *
* Michel de Lutry as Dancer *
All names with an asterisk (*) are credited on the "Cast" page (p62) of ''Knights of the Round Table: A Story of King Arthur - Text based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film'' (Ward, Lock • London and Melbourne)
954
Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in th ...
Cast notes
Some performers - the first two here appearing in several scenes and with several lines to speak - were uncredited. These include:
Ralph Truman
Ralph du Vergier Truman (7 May 1900 – 15 October 1977) was an English actor, usually cast as either a villain or an authority figure. He possessed a distinguished speaking voice. He was born in London, England.
Truman originally studied at t ...
as King Marr of the Picts,
Henry Oscar
Henry Wale (14 July 1891 – 28 December 1969), known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Dram ...
as King
Mark of Cornwall
Mark of Cornwall ( la, Marcus, kw, Margh, cy, March, br, Marc'h) was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. He is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the husb ...
,
Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn (; 12 September 1914GRO Register of Births: DEC 1914 11a 490 NEWPORT M. – Desmond W. Llewelyn, mmn = Wilkinson – 19 December 1999GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 2000 A70E 247 EASTBOURNE – Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn, D ...
as a herald, and
Patricia Owens
Patricia Molly Owens (January 17, 1925 – August 31, 2000) was a Canadian-born American actress, working in Hollywood. She appeared in about 40 films and 10 television episodes in a career lasting from 1943 to 1968.
Early work
Owens moved ...
as Lady Vivien.
Valentine Dyall
Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908 – 24 June 1985) was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series '' Appointment with Fear'' ...
spoke the opening narration.
Production
The film had some sequences shot near
Tintagel Castle
Tintagel Castle ( kw, Dintagel) is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Romano-British pe ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, with local people as extras. Scenes for the first battle were shot at
Luttrellstown Castle
Luttrellstown Castle
Luttrellstown Castle, dating from the early 15th century (c. 1420), is located in Clonsilla on the outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. It has been owned variously by the eponymous and notorious Luttrell family, by the bookseller ...
Estate in Co. Dublin, Ireland. Woodland scenes and the hawking scenes were shot at
Ashridge Forest, Herts. The Torquilstone Castle set designed by
Alfred Junge
Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry.
Junge had wanted to be an artis ...
for ''
Ivanhoe
''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...
'' (1952) was expanded and re-dressed as Camelot. Most of the indoor filming was at
MGM-British Studios
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established (as MGM London Films Denham) at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquire ...
,
Borehamwood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...
, Herts.
George Sanders
George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...
was originally cast as
Modred but fell ill prior to shooting and was replaced by
Stanley Baker
Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...
, who had just made an impression in ''
The Cruel Sea'' (1953).
The film was apparently shot on Eastmancolor stock, like ''Quentin Durward'' (1955), but it was advertised only as being 'in COLOR magnificence'.
ee poster on Infobox above.The film itself credits no color process. IMDb attributes the prints to Technicolor's laboratory, but it is not listed as one of the corporation's film prints in Fred E Basten's book ''Glorious Technicolor''.
Production was interrupted by labor disputes when two hundred extras (all members of the British extras' union) struck, demanding a pay increase. After a month-long strike that affected other productions, MGM finally agreed to meet the union's demands.
MGM was sued for $5 million for plagiarism in 1956 with a claim that the film was based on a script submitted to them in the 1930s. The judge ruled that both the film and the earlier script were based on ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' and
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
's ''
Idylls of the King
''Idylls of the King'', published between 1859 and 1885, is a Literature cycle, cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knig ...
'' and rejected the claim.
Film reception
Box office
According to MGM records, the film earned $4,518,000 in the US and Canada and $3,578,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,641,000.
Responses
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports that 67% of six surveyed critics gave ''Knights of the Round Table'' a positive review; the average rating was 6/10.
Moreover, ''Knights of the Round Table'' has received mixed reviews from the majority of critics.
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' found ''Knights of the Round Table'' to be a refreshing, enjoyable film that resembled "a spectacular, richly costumed Western film", stating that the new CinemaScope technology brought the film to life. Decent Films Guide reviewer Steven D. Greydanus gave the film a "B", stating, "a solid adaptation of the King Arthur legend, ''Knights of the Round Table'' benefits from its colorful pageantry and strongly Christian milieu, including a royal Catholic wedding and a transcendent moment of revelation involving the Holy Grail."
Awards and nominations
''Knights of the Round Table'' was nominated for two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (
Alfred Junge
Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry.
Junge had wanted to be an artis ...
,
Hans Peters,
John Jarvis) and
Sound Recording
Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording te ...
(
A. W. Watkins).
It was also nominated for the Grand Prix at the
1954 Cannes Film Festival.
Bibliography
''Knights of the Round Table: A Story of King Arthur - Text based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope film'' (Ward, Lock • London and Melbourne)
954
Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in th ...
Both the crew and cast credits published at the front (crew) and back (cast) of the book are much fuller than those in the U.S. prints. They appear to come from variant U.K. prints prepared for British cinemas. It's known that contractual obligations required that Miklos Rozsa's score had to be recorded in England (by the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
conducted by
Muir Mathieson
James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films.
Career
Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...
) as well as being recorded in Hollywood by Rozsa himself. This version of the score may have been used in British prints. Currently (2018) only a U.S. print is available on DVD.
Comic book adaptation
*
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
Four Color
''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...
#540 (March 1954).
Full-color photo-cover • 34 pages, 33 in full-color • Drawn by
Dick Rockwell
Richard Waring Rockwell (December 11, 1920 – April 18, 2006)
at the Lambiek Comiclopedia was an American comic st ...
• Copyright 1954 by
Loew's Incorporated uthorised movie tie-in
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{Films based on Arthurian legends
1953 films
1953 adventure films
British historical adventure films
1950s English-language films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films directed by Richard Thorpe
Films scored by Miklós Rózsa
Films adapted into comics
Films set in castles
Films set in England
Films shot in England
Films shot in Hertfordshire
Films with screenplays by Noel Langley
CinemaScope films
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
1950s British films