Knights of the Round Table (film)

Knights of the Round Table
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Thorpe
Screenplay by
Based onLe Morte D'Arthur
1485 book
by Sir Thomas Malory
Produced byPandro S. Berman
Starring
Narrated byValentine Dyall
Cinematography
Edited byFrank Clarke
Music byMiklós Rózsa
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Metro Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
Distributed byMetro Goldwyn Mayer
Release dates
  • December 22, 1953 (1953-12-22) (Hollywood)
  • January 15, 1954 (1954-01-15) (USA)
  • 12 May 1954 (1954-05-12) (London)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.6 million[1]
Box office$8.1 million[1][2]

Knights of the Round Table is a 1953 British adventure historical film made by MGM in England and Ireland. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in CinemaScope made by the studio. The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig and Noel Langley from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, first published in 1485 by William Caxton.

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 Borehamwood, 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, Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay, Stanley Baker as Modred and Felix Aylmer as Merlin. The film uses the Welsh spelling for Arthur's nemesis, Modred, rather than the more common Mordred.

In addition to the same producer, director and star, the first two films in the trilogy had the same cinematographer (F. A. "Freddie" Young), composer (Miklós Rózsa), art director (Alfred Junge) and costume designer (Roger Furse). The costumes for this film were executed by Elizabeth Haffenden.[3] In 1955, she would take over from Furse as costume designer for the final film in the trilogy, Quentin Durward. Alfred Junge remained as art director.

  1. ^ a b "The Eddie Mannix Ledger", Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles, 1962
  2. ^ "1954 Boxoffice Champs". Variety. 5 January 1955. p. 59. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  3. ^ Knights of the Round Table: A Story of King Arthur - Text based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope film. (Ward, Lock • London and Melbourne) [1954] page 5.