Reasonably enjoyable swashbuckler which however fails to hit the heights of the genre, due, if anything, to a lack of real star-power in the lead roles. An attempt to cash in on Robert Taylor's previous success in "Ivanhoe" and shot on location in and around Britain, it never feels large-scale enough to convince that it's dealing with something as important as the power-struggle to rule a country.
The location work is impressive enough and provides variety in avoiding the more usual back-projections or set-bound stagings of similar films, but too often the big fight scenes just look like a modern-day recreation of battle, with lots of ardent amateurs dressed up in period clothes hitting each other with fake weaponry. In addition, there just aren't enough of them either, the fate of the nation apparently being contested by armies in the dozens rather than what should have been a more realistically pitched hundreds or thousands.
The episodic story is engaging, taking in the requisite aspects of chivalry, courage and romance, although despite figuring prominently in the first half of the feature, the character of Merlin displays precisely no powers of magic or even intrigue, instead being reduced to a sort of elderly statesman and adviser to the king, lessening his impact considerably.
As King Arthur, Mel Ferrer is pretty wooden and Robert Taylor, in the central role of Launcelot, does appear too old for the part and acts pretty one-dimensionally throughout, likewise Ava Gardner as the weakening Queen Guinnivere. Better is Staney Baker as the treacherous Mordred but his character could have been given more prominence, I felt.
On the whole, the film was entertaining enough but fails to achieve the top rank of Hollywood period action-romances, for which it too strenuously strives.
The location work is impressive enough and provides variety in avoiding the more usual back-projections or set-bound stagings of similar films, but too often the big fight scenes just look like a modern-day recreation of battle, with lots of ardent amateurs dressed up in period clothes hitting each other with fake weaponry. In addition, there just aren't enough of them either, the fate of the nation apparently being contested by armies in the dozens rather than what should have been a more realistically pitched hundreds or thousands.
The episodic story is engaging, taking in the requisite aspects of chivalry, courage and romance, although despite figuring prominently in the first half of the feature, the character of Merlin displays precisely no powers of magic or even intrigue, instead being reduced to a sort of elderly statesman and adviser to the king, lessening his impact considerably.
As King Arthur, Mel Ferrer is pretty wooden and Robert Taylor, in the central role of Launcelot, does appear too old for the part and acts pretty one-dimensionally throughout, likewise Ava Gardner as the weakening Queen Guinnivere. Better is Staney Baker as the treacherous Mordred but his character could have been given more prominence, I felt.
On the whole, the film was entertaining enough but fails to achieve the top rank of Hollywood period action-romances, for which it too strenuously strives.