The tales of King Arthur, the knights of the round table, and their quest for the Holy Grail have enchanted cinema goers for generations.
The Arthurian legend, which perhaps never had more than a shallow rooting in history, has over the centuries been swollen and distorted by countless different interpretations, passed down through folk lore and by historians, through epic poems and medieval romances, opera, theatre and modern literature.
So by the dawn of the age of cinema, there were already many stories of Arthur, some interweaving, some openly contradicting. Some film makers have chosen to dip into this melting pot and adapt existing works, while others have preferred to invent still more new versions of the legend.
Films Based on the Traditional Tales of King Arthur
The swashbuckling mixture of jousts, duels and pitched battles made the ancient tales of King Arthur rich fodder for cinema. As early as 1915 a version of the tale entitled The Quest of the Holy Grail was produced, although little is now known about it. This was followed in 1953 by Knights of the Round Table, based on the Thomas Mallory’s epic Fifteenth Century novel Le Morte Darthur. Mallory’s version was also the basis for Excalibur (1981) which featured an all-star cast including Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren and Gabriel Byrne.
Of course, the legends of Camelot also contain a healthy dose of courtly romance, and the star-crossed love of Lancelot and Guinevere has been the focus of many films. In 1963 Cornel Wilde co-produced, co-wrote, directed and starred as Lancelot in Lancelot and Guinevere, a film which raised the bar both in terms of action (the versatile Wilde was also a fine swordsman) and romantic tension. Lancelot du Lac (1974) provided a more stylised take on the romance, as Luc Besson’s sparse direction grounded the tale in the reality of the middle ages.
Richard Wagner, Mark Twain, and the Knights of the Round Table
Other films have eschewed the traditional folklore of Arthur, and drawn from more modern sources. The works of Richard Wagner, a Nineteenth Century German composer, account for many of these.
Wagner wrote two operas about Knights associated with the Round Table. Tristan and Isolde, a romantic tale with parallels to that of Lancelot and Guinevere; and Parsifal which tells of Sir Percival and his quest for the Holy Grail. Both have been filmed many times, Parsifal first in 1908, making it perhaps the earliest film to contain elements of Arthurian lore.
Another writer whose adaptation of the legend has in turn been often adapted is Mark Twain, whose novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has made it onto film several times. Camelot, a musical based on the book The Once and Future King by T.H.White, was also brought to the big screen, in 1967.
Revisionist and Modernist Versions of the Arthurian Legend
The Disney take on King Arthur, The Sword in the Stone (1963) was also inspired by White’s work, while the 1954 movie Prince Valiant was based on a comic strip. But many Arthurian films owe little or nothing to anything that went before, freely altering not just the plot, but the time and location of the original narrative.
Some, like The Black Knight (1954) or the 1998 animation Quest for Camelot keep the action in Camelot, but portray original characters. While others, like the Richard Gere vehicle First Knight (1995) keep the characters but play merry hell with the plot.
More successful have been the films which transport the action into the modern world. Arthur Askey played ‘Arthur King’ in the 1942 comedy King Arthur was a Gentleman, set during the Second World War. Knightriders (1981) featured jousting on motorcycles, whilst perhaps the most famous Grail movie of them all starred not the noble knights of old England, but an American archeologist in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Sean Connery who played Henry Jones Snr in that movie, also stars in two other Arthurian films, having played King Arthur in First Knight, as well as the Green Knight in Sword of the Valiant (1984) an adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The only film to rival Indiana Jones in modern Grail folklore might be Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - another somewhat revisionist take on the saga.
Modern Adaptations - the real King Arthur?
The most recent films to tackle the subject have much in common. King Arthur (2004) starred Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, and claimed historical accuracy, portraying Arthur not as King of Britain, but as a Roman Officer. The Last Legion (2007) based on the novel by Valerio Massimo Manfredi also roots the legend in real Roman history. Neither film won many plaudits, but even so it would be surprising if the King, who it is said is fated to rise again when his country needs him most, does not make it back into the cinema soon.
