A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949 film)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Directed by	Tay Garnett
Produced by	Robert Fellows
Written by	Mark Twain (novel) Edmund Beloin
Starring	Bing Crosby Rhonda Fleming Sir Cedric Hardwicke William Bendix
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	April 22, 1949
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a 1949 musical comedy film (though produced in early 1948) adaptation of the Mark Twain novel of the same name . It does not use the score of the 1927 stage musical A Connecticut Yankee. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

Bing Crosby as Hank Martin

Hank Martin (Bing Crosby), an American mechanic, is knocked out and wakes up in the land of King Arthur. Here he finds romance with Alisande la Carteloise (Rhonda Fleming) and friendship with Sir Sagramore (William Bendix).

Unfortunately, the heroic Hank also incurs the hatred of both Merlin (Murvyn Vye) and Morgan le Fay (Virginia Field). While Hank persuades King Arthur, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke as an aged, semi-perpetual, cold-in-the-nose invalid, to tour his kingdom in disguise to see the true, wretched condition of his subjects, Merlin and Morgan plot to usurp his throne. When Hank tries to stop them, he is returned to his own time.

Heartsick over losing the woman he loves, he goes on a tour of a British castle. Its owner, Lord Pendragon (Hardwicke again), sends him to see his niece, who looks just like Alisande.

A highlight of the film is the scene in which Hank Martin teaches the court musicians how to "jazz up" the medieval music they are playing.

Cast

• Bing Crosby as Hank Martin
• Rhonda Fleming as Alisande la Carteloise
• Sir Cedric Hardwicke as King Arthur
• William Bendix as Sir Sagramore
• Murvyn Vye as Merlin
• Virginia Field as Morgan le Fay
• Joseph Vitale as Sir Logris
• Henry Wilcoxon as Sir Lancelot
• Richard Webb as Sir Galahad
• Alan Napier as High Executioner
• Alec Harford as Little Man

Songs

• "If You Stub Your Toe on the Moon"
• "When Is Sometime"
• "Once and for Always"
• "Busy Doing Nothing"
• "Once and for Always" (Reprise)
• "Twixt Myself and Me"

All music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Johnny Burke. The orchestral score was written by longtime Paramount staff composer Victor Young, who also conducted the orchestra for many of Crosby's Decca Records recordings.

Reception

The film was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Fantasy Films list.

External links

• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court at the TCM Movie Database
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court at the Internet Movie Database
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court at AllRovi