Knights of the Round Table, 1954 Is Playing on TCM on January 16 (USA)

Knights of the Round Table, 1954, is playing on Turner Classic Movies on Saturday January 16 at 5:45 p.m. est. Closed captioned.

Mel Ferrer, Ava Gardner, Stanley Baker, Anne Crawford, Felix Aylmer, Robert Taylor and Maureen Swanson.

This is a fine example of ’50’s style epics. Big name cast, colorful costumes,flashy swordplay, beautiful damsels and wild inaccuracies. The great Robert Taylor, who starred in several historical movies, is the honorable Sir Lancelot, a far more noble and pure portrayal than was recorded in all the legends, Ava Gardner is the stunningly beautiful Queen Guinevere, the ever dependable Felix Aylmer is the mysterious Merlin, Mel Ferer is a somewhat subdued and less than charismatic King Arthur. See it for the spectacle, costumes, word-play filled dialog and over the top Stanley Baker as Sir Mordred. Lancelot’s joust with Niall Mac Ginnis is very well done. 8 stars for pure eye filling entertainment value. Review by Wayner50 (United States) for the IMDB.

Some behind the scenes photos:

Left to right: phoning; photos; coffee; Mr. Taylor with Stanley Baker

Left to right: Mr. Taylor in armor (which he hated).

Left to right: Mr. Taylor with Mel Ferrer; Maureen Swanson; waiting for instructions.

Left to right: Robert Taylor and his co-star and friend and sometime lover Ava Gardner.

Left to right: Mr. Taylor with Richard Thorpe; taking a break; enjoying a ride on his huge horse.

About giraffe44

I became a Robert Taylor fan at the age of 15 when his TV show, "The Detectives" premiered. My mother wanted to watch it because she remembered Mr. Taylor from the thirties. I took one look and that was it. I spent the rest of my high school career watching Robert Taylor movies on late night TV, buying photos of him, making scrapbooks and being a typical teenager. College, marriage and career intervened. I remember being sad when Mr. Taylor died. I mailed two huge scrapbooks to Ursula Thiess. I hope she got them. Time passed, retirement, moving to Florida. Then in 2012 my husband Fred pointed that there were two Robert Taylor movies that evening on Turner Classic Movies--"Ivanhoe" and "Quentin Durward." I watched both and it happened all over again. I started this blog both for fans and for people who didn't know about Robert Taylor. As the blog passes 200,000 views I'm delighted that so many people have come by and hope it will help preserve the legacy of this fine actor and equally good man.

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2 Responses to Knights of the Round Table, 1954 Is Playing on TCM on January 16 (USA)

dianne345 says:

January 13, 2016 at 9:24 pm

I was a 14-year-old high school freshman when this movie first came out & I looked forward to it the way young (& some not-so-young) people looked forward to the latest “Star Wars” movie. I saw it with my mother in an elegant movie “palace” & thought it was the best movie I had ever seen. Subsequent viewings were enjoyed but never had that first-time “magic” for me, although I still watch it frequently. I liked the treatment of Lancelot & Quinivere as “innocent” – an interesting variation on what, after all, is legend rather than history. An appropriate variation for the time in which the film was made, so very different from the present.

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giraffe44 says:

January 14, 2016 at 10:25 pm

hi, dianne. This was one of the movies I skipped school in high school and went to see. I adored it on the screen (in a second run theater that had once been a “movie palace”) and continue to like it a lot today. I agree with you about the treatment of Lancelot and Guinevere, although I think Guinevere might have been ready to change things. Thanks again for writing. Judith

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