Knights of the Round Table (film)

Knights of the Round Table
Cinema poster showing Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner
Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Written by	Sir Thomas Malory (book) Talbot Jennings Noel Langley Jan Lustig
Narrated by	Valentine Dyall
Starring	Robert Taylor Ava Gardner Mel Ferrer Stanley Baker Anne Crawford Felix Aylmer
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography	Stephen Dade Freddie Young
Editing by	Frank Clarke
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	January 15, 1953
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 Cinemascope historical film made by MGM. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in Cinemascope made by that studio. The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig and Noel Langley from the book Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.

The film was the second in an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and starring Robert Taylor, coming between Ivanhoe (1952) and The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955). All three were made at MGM's British Studios at Elstree, near London and partly filmed on location. The cast included Robert Taylor as Sir Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Queen Guinevere, Mel Ferrer as King Arthur, Stanley Baker as Mordred, Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay, Felix Aylmer as Merlin.

Plot

King Arthur (Mel Ferrer) establishes the greatest reign England has ever seen through peace and prosperity, and along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot (Robert Taylor). Then, Arthur finds himself a bride, the beautiful Guinevere (Ava Gardner). While she loves Arthur, she also loves Lancelot and though Lancelot repeatedly fights it, he loves her, too. Treachery is brewing as the evil Morgan le Fay (Anne Crawford) and her knight Sir Mordred (Stanley Baker) work to trap them. So begins the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot. At the end, Arthur, and therefore England, fall in battle against Mordred and his men. Lancelot and Mordred then enter an epic fight, resulting in Mordred's death. Lancelot goes back to the hall of the round table where Percival (Gabriel Woolf) sees the Holy Grail.

In this version of the legend Mordred and Morgan Le Fay appear to be lovers, not nephew and aunt as in the original stories, although this is never directly stated.

Cast

• Robert Taylor as Lancelot
• Ava Gardner as Guinevere
• Mel Ferrer as Arthur
• Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay
• Stanley Baker as Modred
• Felix Aylmer as Merlin
• Maureen Swanson as Elaine
• Gabriel Woolf as Percival
• Anthony Forwood as Gareth
• Robert Urquhart as Gawaine
• Niall MacGinnis as Green Knight
• Ann Hanslip as Nan
• Jill Clifford as Bronwyn
• Stephen Vercoe as Agravaine
• Desmond Llewelyn (uncredited) as a Herald

Filming

The film had some sequences filmed near Tintagel Castle with local people as extras. Most of the filming was at Elstree Studios.

Awards and nominations

Knights of the Round Table was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Alfred Junge, Hans Peters, John Jarvis) and Sound recording (A. W. Watkins). It was also nominated for the Grand Prix at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival.

External links

• The Knights of the Round Table at the Internet Movie Database
• The Knights of the Round Table at the TCM Movie Database
• Knights of the Round Table (film) at AllRovi