Knights of the Round Table (film)

Knights of the Round Table
Knights of the Round Table
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Screenplay by	Talbot Jennings; Jan Lustig; Noel Langley;
Based on	Le Morte D'Arthur; 1485 book; by Sir Thomas Malory
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Starring	Robert Taylor; Ava Gardner; Mel Ferrer;
Narrated by	Valentine Dyall
Cinematography	F. A. Young, F.R.P.S.; Stephen Dade;
Edited by	Frank Clarke
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Metro Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
Distributed by	Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release dates	December 22, 1953 (Hollywood); January 15, 1954 (USA); 12 May 1954 (London);
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$2.6 million
Box office	$8.1 million

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.

^ ^a ^b "The Eddie Mannix Ledger", Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles, 1962
^ "1954 Boxoffice Champs". Variety. 5 January 1955. p. 59. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
^ 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.

[Mannix-1] "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.

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