Customer Reviews

Sword Of Lancelot

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This version of King Arthur et al concentrates more on Lancelot and Gueneviere rather than developing the other central characters of the Camelot gang. What makes this movie good is that it has some very good battle scenes, first against a Viking horde and then the final battle sequence against Mordred and his buddies. The love story aspect is really not too bad. There is one major problem with the DVD...it's an awful transfer. The colors are faded and it appears that only an old film copy could be found to use in the transfer. It's the worst dvd transfer I've seen so far...even worse than El Cid. The problem appears that there are companies using China and other 'outsourced' countries to make these copies...and they suck.

Playing opposite his real wife, actor-producer-director Cornell Wilde wanted to make an adult version of Mallory's Le Morte de Arthur, the most well-known King Arthur myth. He also pioneered some truly graphic special effects in wonderful battle scenes, using live actors. No CGI here, just great story-telling, wit, and a reverence for the old theme and a modern art form. Under-rated.

The film is very good, but the the quality of the pictures, colours are very bad. It should be remastered.

I bought this movie for $1.00 in a big discount bin. I paid too much.

First of all, Cornell Wilde and Jean Wallace (his real life wife) are at least 20 years too old to be playing these parts. Get yourself a good bottle before you begin the movie, you will need it.

Although Cornell Wilde could act at times, with the right direction, this is not one of those cases, since he directed (and produced) the film. It was a vehicle for his wife, but she just could not act. In this version, she has to carry the film, and although given a lot of screen time, she just had no presence and no acting ability. Add to that a very bad 1960's blonde dye job, teased hair and a swimming scene that had even more fantasy to it than the Legend itself, and you have an absurd camp recreation of the Arthurian Legend.

However, if you can stand the phony French accent of Cornell Wilde, which already takes away from the bad script, there are some very good battle scenes that are well done. The supporting cast (Brian Aherne as Arthur), Archie Duncan are very good. It's too bad that Mr. Wilde insisted on playing the lead role and the same goes for Ms. Wallace. The air brush job of Cornell Wilde and Jean Wallace on the cover should have been done on every frame of film for this to be believeable. Cornell Wilde can fence, and it shows, but it is too little, too late and they are too old.