Ivanhoe
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Movie Reviews of Ivanhoe
Movie Review: Medieval adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
MGM was probably best known for its lavish musicals (see my review of That's Entertainment! The Complete Collection, but it turned out a great many fine historical swashbucklers as well, including several adapted from classic fiction. This is one of the best of them. Robert Taylor, who starred the following year in Knights of the Round Table, plays Sir Walter Scott's "parfait gentil knight," Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who defied the wishes of his father, the very partisan Saxon baron Cedric of Rotherwood (Finlay Currie) to join the Norman King Richard Lionheart (Norman Wooland) on Crusade. When Richard went missing on his way home, Ivanhoe set out to learn his fate, and eventually found him imprisoned by Leopold of Austria and denied ransom by his brother Prince John (Guy Rolfe). Returning to England, Ivanhoe asks Cedric to help assemble the ransom, but to Cedric one Norman on the throne is no better than any other, and he orders his son away. More helpful is Isaac of York (Hugh Aylmer), a Jew whom Ivanhoe saves from muggers; he agrees to try to raise part of the money among his own people, while his daughter Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor) lends Ivanhoe her jewels to finance his effort to equip himself for the great tournament at Ashby. Intrigue and romance are everywhere as Ivanhoe uncovers plots, overcomes four knights at the tournament, tries to win over his father and get his permission to marry his ward Rowena (Joan Fontaine), is captured by a trio of treacherous Norman knights (George Sanders, Robert Douglas, Francis DeWolff), fights his way free while rescuing Cedric, Rowena, and Isaac, and at last stands champion for Rebecca, who has been accused of witchcraft.
The script doesn't exactly follow Scott's original (Sir Brain de Bois-Gulbert, for example, isn't a Templar, just an ordinary knight), but even so its twists and turns are much too complicated to describe in a brief review. What makes the movie work are the two Taylors: Robert makes his character seem real and believable even with the formal language he's given, and Elizabeth, though only 20 (this was one of her first adult roles), gives a convincing portrayal of a young woman torn between her faith and a helpless passion for the knight who barely knows she's alive. With plenty of action and vivid color, this, like The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition) (and Robin himself, played by Harold Warrender, has a prominent role in the story, though you won't hear him called by his usual name), may not be historically accurate, but it's great fun to watch and a deserved classic.
Movie Review: The Middle Ages
Summary: 4 Stars
Since the publication of Sit Walter Scott's enormously popular 1819 historical novel IVANHOE, almost no one has been satisfied with Scott's decision to marry off his hero Wilfrid of Ivanhoe to the proper and pious Lady Rowena instead of the glamorous and mysterious Rebecca of York, with whom Wilfrid's (and Scott's) sympathies clearly lie but who seems disqualified merely because of her religion. Thackeray spoofed this in his hilarious unofficial 1850 sequel to Scott's novel REBECCA AND ROWENA, and MGM dealt with the problem for this famous 1953 adaptation by making their Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor) not only much, much younger than both their Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) and their Rowena (Joan Fontaine) but everyone else in the entire cast: even though she is at the height of her beauty in this film (especially in the trial scene, where she is dressed entirely in white), Elizabeth Taylor as Rebecca seems to have wandered into the wrong movie since she doesn't seem like anyone else in the entire cast. (Elizabeth Taylor complained she was miscast, and for a while it was considered replacing her with Deborah Kerr, who was much closer to Robert Taylor's and Joan Fontaine in age.)
This may have solved the Rebecca/Rowena problem for MGM, but it does make for a strange movie of epic heroism. Fortunately everyone in the cast rises to the occasion pretty quickly, and you forget that Robert Taylor was forty-two when the film was made since he's so excellent at bounding about the ramparts of Torquilstone Castle and fighting at swords with the Norman villains. The siege of Torquilstone is a tremendous success--one of the most exciting fight scenes in any MGM swords-and-tights film of its era--, and while the final battle with battleaxe and spiked flail between Ivanhoe and the villainous Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders, looking thick and unhandsome) may lack subtlety, it certainly lacks nothing in suspense. The location shooting in England is terrific, and the actors are exactly whom you might expect in a movie of this kind from 1953, although all of them from Megs Jenkins to Emlyn Williams (to Fontaine and Elizabeth Taylor) have oddly been instructed to forego their own natural British accents instead for American received theatrical diction. The film may be a bit silly, but in terms of sheer fun it's one of the most exciting of its era.
Movie Review: KNIGHTS AND THEIR LADIES FAIR - IVAHOE DELIVERS!
Summary: 4 Stars
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer developed a kick for swashbuckling in the early 50s, just as Warner Bros. and Errol Flynn were bowing out of the sword play. Valiantly throwing down the gauntlet, MGM launched into an impressive roster of knights and their ladies fare with this adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe." Among the most thrilling epics, the film stars Robert Taylor as the medieval champion destine to raise the ransom for captured King Richard (Norman Wooland). Ivanhoe's unpopular rescue of Isaac (Felix Aylmer), from anti-Semites subverts his attempts to reconcile with his own estranged father (Findlay Currie) but it does yield a fruitful bounty in Isaac's daughter, the fair Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor), to pay Ivanhoe's entry fee in a tournament. The mischief grows as Ivanhoe's closest associates, Sir Brian (George Sanders) and Sir Hugh (Robert Douglas) conspire with the evil Prince John (Guy Rolfe), to steal Rebecca and Rowena (Joan Fontaine) for themselves. Alas, both maidens fancy the raven haired Ivanhoe instead. What's any other strapping paragon of viral manhood squeezed into nylon leggings and a breast plate to do? Director Richard Thorpe lavishes "Ivanhoe" with nonstop adventure and thrills, making the film a veritable feast for the romantic in all of us. Yikes and tally ho for the old country. "Ivanhoe is pure entertainment!
Warner's DVD is remarkably clean and solid. The Technicolor image exhibits only marginal deterioration in its illustrious fidelity. For the most part colors are rich and vibrant. Fine details are nicely realized for a very textually dense picture that will surely please. Occasionally the image appears slightly blurred. There is also a hint of haloing which occurs during several of the matte process shots and draws undo attention to the fact that much of the glory of the realm is actually a painting on glass that has been recomposited with the foreground action sequences. Black levels are deep and solid. Whites are generally clean. The audio is mono but impressive in its balance and blend. Extras, alas, are limited to a Tom & Jerry cartoon already available on the Tom & Jerry 2-disc set from Warner and a swashbuckler's theatrical trailer gallery - total 3. Ho-hum. For DVD Decision DVDs more was and should have been expected herein. But overall, this is a very nice visual presentation.
Movie Review: A spectacular motion picture rich in action epics...
Summary: 4 Stars
This loyal colorful classic account of Sir Walter Scott about knighthood flourishing in 12th Century medieval England is filmed under the direction of Richard Thorpe...
We see lavish sets, splendid scenery, castles, halls, courts, noble knights, gorgeous maidens, sumptuous ornaments, fancy dresses, jousting fields, tournaments, elegant pavilions, brilliant tents, costumed horses, armors, swords, shields, bows and arrows...
To seek the freedom of King Richard The Lion-Hearted imprisoned by Leopold of Austria, a Saxon knight, Wilfrid of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor), asks the help of Isaac of York (Felix Aylmer), a persecuted Jewish merchant, to raise l50,000 marks of silver... Prince John (Guy Rolfe), his treacherous brother, was conspiring with the Norman Knights to seize his throne..
The best moments of film were: When Ivanhoe, disguised as a Black Knight, enters the tournament at Ashby; the siege of Torquilstone Castle; the attack of Locksley and his bowmen; and the dramatic fight-to-the-death, with mace and ax, between Bois Guilbert and Ivanhoe...
Robert Taylor is the exact choice for a handsome, vigorous, gentile medieval hero who loves Rowena, and he is loved by Rebecca, creating a romantic triangle... Taylor plays the part with dignity, vitality and energy, rising high the age of Chivalry...
Elizabeth Taylor is sweet, sincere and beautiful... We see love through her beautiful violet eyes... Joan Fontaine, at the contrary, is far to be engaged with the part... She seems so cold and indifferent as the Saxon heiress...
George Sanders gives a splendid performance as the villainous Norman knight whose heart was stronger than his sword... He wants Rebecca at any price...
Robert Douglas plays the ambitious Sir Hugh De Bracy who had a taste for beauty and love for money... This great actor crossed swords with Errol Flynn in "Adventures of Don Juan," with Burt Lancaster in "The Flame and the Arrow," with Cornel Wilde in "At Sword's Point," and with Lawrence Harvey in King Richard and the Crusaders."
With three Academy Award Nominations for Best Picture, Best cinematography, and Best Score, "Ivanhoe" remains a spectacular motion picture rich in action epics...
Movie Review: Deleted scenes destroy a good film
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a great print of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. Unfortunately it also contains several cuts in scenes, usually of less than a minute's duration, that remove key points and seriously disrupt the film's overall effect. Two particular ones: When Womba, an untrained servant is killed brutally by being forced into the flames by the Norman knight Le Boeff, there is a shot of Ivanhoe's reaction. He is disgusted by this, and kills Le Boeff with his dagger, in a simple killing, not a combat between knights. Probably not connected, but ther's a very similar scene in Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky, where a Teutonic knight is spat on and dispatched rather than fought with after his casual killing of a defeated and now defenceless youth. There is the same shot of the protagonist's reaction, and the same swift followup. Removing this simplifies Ivanhoe's character, removes the quality of Womba's death (possibly some is also cut from the Womba-Le Boeff fight itself)and lessens the film. Again, in the final scene where Ivanhoe acts as Rebecca's champion in a trial-by-combat with Guibert (who loves her), a key scene, where during their fight on the ground Guibert looks at Miriam than drops his guard, allowing Ivanhoe to kill him, is cut, as is Ivanhoe's stunned reaction. All this is lost as Ivanhoe now appears to kill Guibert off screen with the first blow, leading to a long section of Richard the Lion-Heart's galloping to the contest with his Crusaders (a scene explaining this is also gone). This effectively removes any real ending from the film, again simplfying Ivanho's character and any moral ambiguity involved. The contradictory traits in people, including genuine feeling and chivalry in what in other novels would have been stereotyped villains, is a characteristic of Scott's work that got across in the original film, and is now lost. This is a real and unnecessary destruction of a good film. It's worth getting this DVD for the quality of the print, but first get hold of somebody's old video of a TV transmission to see the real movie.