First one that came to mind.......this long forgotten but surprisingly robust and achingly romantic version of the story co-written and directed by Hollywood studio veteran Cornel Wilde....
To us, Wilde was an under-appreciated cinema figure who made the transition between Golden Age Hollywood and cutting edge 1960's movies without anyone taking much notice of him. He dutifully toiled as a serviceable leading man in a variety of studio dramas, noirs and swashbucklers throughout the 40's and 50's....and then re emerged as a director of aggressively violent action-adventure films....
You could think of him as the Mel Gibson of the 1960's.....except that Wilde's films never achieved enough worldwide recognition. to put him on the A list. But everyone snapped to attention with the release of his "The Naked Prey" in 1965, a primal, brutal survival tale of a Safari guide (Wilde himself) hunted down by African tribesmen. A cult hit was born, but it didn't do much for Wilde's career....he soldiered on, crafting tough little low budget adventures ("Beach Red", "No Blade Of Grass", "Shark's Treasure")
"Sword Of Lancelot" blended elements from the two filmmaking eras that Wilde traveled through.....combining the lush romanticism of old school Hollywood costume epics with Wilde's groundbreaking in-your-face bloody visuals. His battle sequences were not only spectacular in their scope, but startling in their level of carnage......with audiences treated to the sight of heads and bodies completely bisected by broadswords. Wilde threw everything into the mix, with what looks like the entire Yugoslavian army at his command........point-of-view shots from inside a knight's helmet as a lance-wielding opponent bears down on him.....and a jaw dropping moment when he jump cuts from the heat of combat to a corpse strewn battlefield. This guy definitely knew the power of pure cinema.
The old school pleasures include a rousing symphonic score by Ron Goodwin (you'll never get the love theme out of your head)....an engaging, vulnerable performance by Brian Aherne as that eternal cuckold King Arthur.....and backed up by a cream-of-the-crop British supporting cast. All of them skillfully navigate their way through typically overwritten, florid costume epic dialogue.....but it's well crafted stuff and fun to listen to....(Guinevere (Jean Wallace), having been rescued from a public flaming pyre by Lancelot, bitterly cracks wise about Arthur's dealing in "burning women in the marketplace...")
Which brings us to the film's only major detriment, its Guinevere......Wilde cast his then 40 year old wife Jean Wallace......never much of an actress and at least 20 years too old for the role....(she regularly pops up in Wilde's movies, much like Sondra Locke did in Clint Eastwood films). Wallace gamely throws herself into it, but unlike the British cast, her delivery of the overly ornate dialogue comes out flat and dangerously close to silly. Film buffs like to ridicule Wilde's Hollywood-ized french accent,as well, but that never bothered us......we just wish he'd cast a younger, genuinely skilled actress for his leading lady.....but then again, their husband-wife chemistry's sees them through Wallace's miscasting.
So put away that twenty five dollars or more you planned on spending for a couple of "King Arthur" tickets.....(wait a year and you can nab the blu-ray at Wal-Mart for six bucks)....BQ recommends the simple joys of "Sword Of Lancelot".....broadswords,lances, axes, castles, flaming arrows, pig-tailed, horn-helmeted Norsemen and blonde princesses burning at the stake like shrimp on the barbie......what more could you ask for? We'll blow 4 royal trumpet blasts...(****) and we've got another great alternate Arthurian choice for you in the next post.......
No comments:
Post a Comment