From Camelot to Hollywood! The Story of King Arthur on Film
The tales of King Arthur and his knights, not to mention the wizard Merlin, have been entertaining audiences for over a millennium and are now some of the most recognizable tales in Western storytelling. The ancient tales are full of action, drama, romance, and suspense, making them excellent source material for film and television, a medium that has breathed new life into the stories. This is a brief look at the history of King Arthur on the silver screen, from grand epics to absurdist comedies to gritty re-imaginings and everything in between.The Source Material for King ArthurHeroes Tapestries featuring King Arthur, Netherlands, c. 1400-1410. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtKing Arthur, or whoever inspired him, was probably a British warlord who lived shortly after the Romans left the British Isles in the early 5th century CE. Britain was swarmed by Germanic invaders, and this warlord defended the island against these incursions. Very little is known about this time, and the historical events were combined with legend in Welsh poetic and oral tradition, obscuring things even further.The first mentions of Arthur were in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE. His character was codified in the 12th century in Geoffrey of Monmouths History of the Kings of Britain. This work of history would go on to inspire troubadours and storytellers. They embellished the tale, adding elements that would become staples of the legend, such as the knights, the Round Table, the Holy Grail, and the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. If there was a definitive version of the Arthurian legend, it would be Le Morte DArthur by Sir Thomas Malory, written in the late 15th century.After the Middle Ages, Arthurian legend fell out of favor, only to be revitalized in the 19th century, being a centerpiece of the Romantic movement. Operas, novels, and stage plays all featured the drama surrounding Camelot. This revived interest carried on into the 20th century. In addition to films, the Arthurian legends inspired TV shows, video games, comic books, and virtually every other form of media. Even works that do not directly follow the legend but reference it tangentially are popular, such as the appearance of Excalibur or tales inspired by Gawain and the Green Knight.Early Arthurian FilmsMovie Poster for Knights of the Round Table, 1953. Source: MGM StudiosArthur and his knights were the subject of many movies during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Some of these included The Adventures of Sir Galahad in 1949, Knights of the Round Table in 1953, and Lancelot and Guinevere in 1963. These films used the Arthurian myth, but the historical accuracy is, at best, a suggestion. The real Arthur, or whoever inspired the legends, was a Romano-British chieftain in the 5th or 6th centuries, though these films show characters in 15th-century clothing, armor, and buildings, or at least what a mid-20th-century movie costume and set designers thought the 15th century looks like. This is no doubt due to the influence of Malory on the mythos. In many ways, their connection to Arthur is limited, and these films are medieval dramas with a thin Arthurian coating.Possibly the most famous work of this early era would be the film Camelot in 1967. Based on a Broadway musical by the same name, the film features legendary actors Richard Harris as King Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere, and Franco Nero as Lancelot. The film was the tenth highest-grossing movie of the year, though it received mixed reviews from critics, who complained about the overly elaborate sets and costumes and the bloated three-hour run time. Another criticism was the location shots, or more specifically, the lack of any. Instead of the rolling green hills of England or the mountains of Wales, the film was shot in the sagebrush-covered hillside of Burbank, California. To even the most casual moviegoer, it was obvious that this was a film set rather than an authentic location, which breaks the tenuous yet vital suspension of disbelief.An Absurdist TakeMovie Poster for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975. Source: IMDbIf the Golden Age of Hollywoods attempts to depict Arthur could be described as anything, they would be colorful and sincere, telling an earnest story in a vibrant, campy, yet heartfelt manner. This changed with the irreverent countercultural movement of the 1970s. When this new attitude was combined with Arthurian tales, the result was one of the most famous and popular movies featuring King Arthur and his knights.Released in 1975 and made on a shoestring budget, Monty Python and the Holy Grail is an absurdist comedy from the British troupe. Centered around the quest for the Holy Grail, the movie features coconuts as a substitute for horses, uppity peasants who are part of an anarcho-syndicalist commune, an annoying Frenchman, a Trojan Rabbit, an indestructible knight, foes who want a shrubbery, a perilous castle filled with young nubile women, a vicious bunny, Tim, and an appropriate anti-climax. The film not only breaks the fourth wall, but shatters it, and occurs simultaneously in the 10th century and the modern day.The movie, of course, plays fast and loose with the legends of Arthur, choosing absurdist comedy over accuracy at every opportunity, However, there are some aspects that are faithful to the original tales. It was mostly filmed in Scotland and features real medieval castles, which automatically makes it more accurate than Camelot. Other aspects, such as the Black Knight refusing to allow Arthur to pass, resulting in single combat, are common tropes in medieval literature. Lancelot flying into a berserk rage and slaughtering innocents, only to offer up a half-hearted apology, is something that occurred in several tales about the legendary warrior. These, and other small aspects of the movie, are used for laughs but are welcome additions. They were almost certainly included by Monty Python member Terry Jones, who was also a medieval historian and lover of English literature.Movie still from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975. Source: Rotten TomatoesReceiving mixed reviews when first released, the movie has gained in popularity over the years and is today considered one of the greatest comedies of all time. Like an inverse of the musical-turned-film Camelot, it would inspire its own musical stage production, Spamalot. The internet has given Monty Python and the Holy Grail a resurgence, with the film constantly referenced or made into memes on message boards, in comment sections, and on social media.And Now for Something Completely DifferentNigel Terry and Cherie Lunghi as Arthur and Guenevere in Excalibur, 1981. Source: Warner BrothersA few years after Monty Python made their version of Arthurs tale, another filmmaker took the genre in a totally different direction. As early as the 1960s, director John Boorman had made plans to create an Arthurian epic for the big screen. After talks with movie studios, he was offered the chance to direct a live-action Lord of the Rings, and even had a brief correspondence with JRR Tolkien, though this fell through. Several elements of the planned fantasy movie were incorporated into his eventual epic, 1981s Excalibur. Like the earlier films, Excalibur was anachronistic. While technically set in the early Middle Ages, it depicts Arthur, his knights, and Camelot in the late Medieval Era, with plate armor-wearing knights, stone castles, and concepts such as chivalry and courtly love. The film was intended not to be historical but mythological, and takes the bulk of its story from Le Morte DArthur, bringing the legend to life.Featuring an all-star cast, including Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, and Nicol Williamson, it also featured other upcoming actors such as Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, and Ciaran Hinds. The story loosely centers around the love triangle between Arthur, Guenevere, and Lancelot, culminating in the search for the Holy Grail. The overall tone of the film is serious and earnest, with grand sweeping locations, larger-than-life characters, and a score that utilized the bombast of Richard Wagner to great effect.Movie still from Excalibur, 1981. Source: IMDbReviews were mixed, with critics praising the cinematography but also critical of the seemingly disjointed plot and overly dramatic acting. Despite its flaws, Excalibur still maintains a cult following and is considered the definitive Arthurian movie and a cornerstone of the sword and sorcery genre.Arthur Meets ModernityMovie poster for King Arthur, 2004. Source: IMDbAfter the classical sincerity of Excalibur, there were several other adaptations of Arthurian legend that were put on the silver screen. By this point, the culture had shifted, and the 1990s and 2000s focused more on realism and deconstruction. One of the first of this era was the 1995 adventure-romance First Knight, starring Sean Connery, Julia Ormond, and Richard Gere, which rids itself of magical elements, which made it little more than any other medieval drama.Still of Sam Neill in Merlin, 1998. Source: IMDBWhile technically a TV mini-series rather than a movie, this was also the period that gave us Merlin, starring Sam Neill as the titular character and Paul Curran very much as a supporting character as Arthur. There are also memorable performances from Helena Bonham Carter as Morgan le Fay, Miranda Richardson as Queen Man/The Lady of the Lake, and Martin Short as an invented character called Frik. The movie tells the legend of Merlin and how he became the wizard who helped Arthur, and it delves deep into the magical side of the story while placing the fantasy within a convincing context. It was incredibly popular, with an estimated 70 million people tuning in when it was first released in 1998 and being nominated for a swathe of awards. The follow-up mini-series Merlins Apprentice in 2006 did not win the same acclaim.In 2004, the realism trend was pushed further with the release of King Arthur. Starring Clive Owen and Kiera Knightly, the movie was intended to be a historical retelling of the legends, stripping away the elements that were added in later eras. Arthur is not the king of Camelot but a Roman officer at the time of the Saxon invasion of Britain. Other factors are made more realistic, such as the knights being Sarmatian auxiliaries employed by Rome and Merlin being a Celtic druid rather than a wizard. The film is gritty in tone, and though it was intended to be more historically accurate than other movies, it leaves much to be desired. The movie features fantasy leather armor, any number of vaguely medieval-esque weapons, trebuchets in open-field battles centuries before trebuchets were invented, and tactics that would make even the most casual medieval history buff cringe.Dev Patel as Sir Gawain in The Green Knight, 2021. Source: IMDBThe 2010s saw the cultural zeitgeist shift yet again. By far, the most popular genre of the decade was superhero movies, and King Arthur got the comic book treatment. Released in 2017, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, starring Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law, is a larger-than-life action movie that relies on visual spectacle and fast-paced action, punctuated with rapid-fire dialogue, to make up for its thin story. It was planned as a launch for six movies, but due to its low box office returns, this plan was scrapped.Promotional image for Merlin, 2008-2012. Source: BBCProbably the most successful reimaging of the tale of King Arthur of the modern era was not a movie but the BBC series Merlin, which ran from 2008 to 2012 and looked at the lives of a young Merlin, played by Colin Morgan and Arthur, played Bradley James, in the kingdom reigned over by Arthurs father Uther Pendragon, plated by Anthony Stewart Head. It combined Medieval drama with teenage angst and a touch of magic, which made the show incredibly popular for its full run. Katie McGrath delivered a memorable performance as Morgana, transforming from naive girl of the court to evil enchantress, creating an empathetic villain.These are just a few of the movies that deal directly with the King Arthur mythos. There are countless others that are interpretations of other tangentially related works like Mark Twains A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tristan and Isolde, and the Sir Valiant comic strip. These diverse films all share the same source for their inspiration but are each the products of the cultural spirit in which they were made. If there are any further King Arthur films made, they will no doubt follow the same trend, tapping into the spirit of the times to tell a classic story.
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