August 2007

King Arthur’s tale has never been so well done.  The classic love triangle that brought about the end of Arthur’s (Nigel Terry) reign and the downfall Camelot is beautifully told here by director John Boorman.  The movie tells the tale of Arthur’s origins and birth including Uther’s (Gabriel Byrne) mad lust for Igrayne (Katrine Boorman) that leads to his death and the birth of Arthur.  The movie’s main focus is on Arthur’s Camelot, his wife Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi) and his best knight and stalwart friend Lancelot (Nicholas Clay).  The consummation of Lancelot and Guenevere’s love along with the scheming of Arthur’s half-sister Morgana (Helen Mirren) bring Camelot crashing down and lead to Arthur’s death.  Not the happiest of tales but an unbelievably romantic one nonetheless.

Director Antoine Fuqua gives us a dirty, brutal, and more realistic look at Arthur (Clive Owen), Guinevere (Keira Knightley), Merlin (Stephen Dillane), and the Knights of the Round Table: Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Tristan (Mads Mikkelsen), Gawain (Joel Edgerton), Galahad (Hugh Dancy), Bors (Ray Winstone) and Dagonet (Ray Stevenson).  For those who love the magic and the mystery of the Arthur legend you should look elsewhere, but for a different take which tries to place the characters of legend in the real world it’s an entertaining adventure.  The Director’s Cut DVD includes extra footage, alternate and deleted scenes, featurettes, and commentary from the director.

In this regrettable, and better off forgotten, take on the legend an aging Arthur (Sean Connery) prepares to marry the younger Guinevere (Julia Ormand) who falls for the dashing and troubled Lancelot (Richard Gere).  Gere and Ormand bat eyes at each other before stealing a kiss that brings down the kingdom.  King Arthur was never so much a soap opera as it is here.  And to make it worse the film ends with Arthur’s death, Camelot’s ruin, and Lancelot and Guinvere living happily ever after???  Seriously, WTF!!  Not worth the film stock which was used to shoot it, and don’t even get me started on the spotlessness of the entire movie!  What, there was no dirt in Camelot?  A long way from director Jerry Zucker‘s best film.

Disney does T. H. White’s King Arthur.  One of the most lasting Arthur tales, even for those (like me) who aren’t in love with White’s Arthur, is this animated 1963 take on the young boy known as Wart (Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman, Robert Reitherman) and his fulfillment of destiny as he pulls the sword from the stone.  Mostly memorable for its music and Merlin’s (Karl Swenson) battle with Madam Mim (Martha Wentworth) as the pair transform into every creature imaginable to a young child.  Far from Disney’s finest hour, but a good film to introduce the legends of King Arthur to younger children, and sweet and memorable in its own way. The “Gold Classic DVD” includes a deleted song, a scrapbook, short animatics, featurettes, and sing-a-long versions of “Higitus Figitus” and “That’s What Makes the World Go Round.”