Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Harris, Franco Nero, and David Hemmings
Directed by Joshua Logan
Music by Fredrick Loewe; Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
By the late 60's, in the wake of smash hits like The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady, movie musicals became grander and more costly. On Broadway, Camelot was already a big deal. Lerner and Loewe's follow up to the massive success of Lady featured Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, huge sets and costumes, and the biggest advance sale in New York history up to that time. Warners initially wanted to keep things close to the stage version, but Burton and Andrews were both busy. Logan saw Vanessa Redgrave onstage and thought she'd be a perfect Guinevere, and Harris practically begged him to play Arthur. Harris also brought in Nero, whom he worked with on The Bible: In the Beginning. How does this lavish retelling of King Arthur and his ultimately tragic reign look now? Let's begin with Arthur (Harris) telling his story just as he's about to go battle Sir Lancelot (Nero) and find out...
The Story: Arthur returns to the beginning, when he's a nervous young man about to enter an arranged marriage to lovely Lady Guinevere (Redgrave). She's enchanted by his rough ways, even after she figures out he's not out to rescue her from a life of boredom. As the years go by, he creates the Knights of the Round Table to encourage democracy and unifying England's many small kingdoms.
Attracted by Arthur's ideals, French knight Lancelot (Nero) offers his services. Guinevere isn't crazy about him at first and encourages three knights to joust with him. She and Arthur are a lot more impressed when he defeats all three and heals the injuries on one. Guinevere is so impressed, she falls for Lancelot, and him for her. This is perfect fodder for Mordred (Hemmings), Arthur's illegitimate rabble-rousing son, to stir up trouble among the Arthur and his knights that ends with not only the dissolution of Arthur's marriage, but the end of his ideal pastoral "Camelot" as well.
The Song and Dance: Big, bigger, and biggest is the best way to describe this one. The massive sets depicting mystical Camelot and Arthur's castle were among the largest and last constructed on an American backlot; by this point, most movies preferred authentic location shooting. The sets and relatively historically accurate costumes won Oscars, as did the booming score by Alfred Newman. Hemmings makes a decent sneering Mordred; Lionel Jeffries has a few good moments as doddering King Pellinore, the oldest member of the Round Table who somehow managed to lose his kingdom. We even get a number that was dropped from the show, "Then You May Take Me to the Fair," with Guinevere convincing three knights to take on Lancelot.
Favorite Number: We open with Arthur in a tree, asking "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight" and admitting he's scared to death about his coming nuptials. Likewise, when Guinevere shows up with her entourage, she's wishing she could continue to enjoy "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood." Lancelot's bragging introductory song is "C'est Moi," in which he's so certain he'll be taken, he rides right up to the Round Table.
Guinevere leads the court to revel in the delights of spring and "The Lusty Month of May" as they dance and frolic around the sun-dappled woods. Later, after he realizes he's losing his wife's love, Arthur laments Merlin never teaching him "How to Handle a Woman." Gene Merlino, who dubbed Nero, joins Redgrave for the show's two ballads, the intense "If Ever I Would Leave You" and regretful "I Loved You Once In Silence." Guinevere tries to cheer Arthur up by reminding him "What Would the Simple Folk Do?" in a charmingly goofy dance routine.
Trivia: While not the runaway blockbuster My Fair Lady was, Camelot did run almost three years in its original 1960 production with Burton, Andrews, and Roddy McDowell as Mordred. The cast singing several numbers on The Ed Sullivan Show helped eventually spread the word. The original London production also did well, running a little over two years. Burton and Harris appeared in Broadway revivals in 1980 and 1981, but neither lasted more than three months (though Harris' was filmed for TV). A 1993 revival with Goulet as Arthur barely did two months. Another revival is set to open on Broadway this December.
John F. Kennedy was said to be a huge fan of the cast album; the show and the title song are still associated with his presidency to this day.
What I Don't Like: For a swashbuckling sword-and-sorcery tale, this is slow-moving and heavily lacking in magic, both literal and figurative. Redgrave and Nero are miscast; Nero's Italian accent is thick enough to drive a pasta truck through, and he was dubbed (and not well). Redgrave can't sing, which is a problem in songs like "Simple Joys of Maidenhood," and is way too old to make us believe she's a young girl about to be married. Harris, no matter how badly he wanted the part, overdoes it to the point of being annoying. He did play the role onstage for years, including in that Broadway revival, so maybe it's Logan's lumbering and scattershot direction.
The movie doesn't look great nowadays, either. The costumes and sets may have won Oscars in 1967, but they seem more drab and weird in the 21st century, with their ridiculous giant hats and dull orange-and-brown color scheme. Logan keeps rapid-cutting and montaging, including during "If Ever I Would Leave You," when he's not cutting to knighting and wedding ceremonies that slow the film to a crawl. Everything is stiff and boring, which isn't a good thing for a movie that stands at three hours. They really, really should have trimmed a lot of the first half and moved quicker into Lancelot and Guinevere's affair.
The Big Finale: The movie does have its fans, but I'm afraid I've never been able to get into this one. It's just too slow and dull to be much fun. Only if you're a huge fan of Harris or Redgrave or the epic Broadway adaptations of the late 60's and early 70's.
Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming; HBO Max currently has it with a subscription.
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