Camelot (film)
"Camelot" is a 1967 film musical adapted from the acclaimed 1960 Broadway production by Lerner and Loewe. The narrative revolves around the legendary King Arthur, his marriage to Guinevere, and her affair with Lancelot, his most trusted knight, set against the backdrop of the mythical Round Table. Although the film received mixed critical responses, it attracted large audiences, partly due to the enduring fascination with Arthurian legends and its connection to contemporary events, notably the Kennedy administration, which was often referred to as "Camelot." The film featured lavish production values, with significant investments in costumes and sets, and was the last project produced by Jack Warner at his studio.
Despite its three-hour running time and some criticism regarding casting choices, the acting was widely praised. The film won three Academy Awards, including best costume design and best art direction, and was nominated for additional accolades, showcasing its artistic contributions. "Camelot" serves as a cultural reflection of its time, intertwining themes of love, loyalty, and ideals while contributing to the ongoing narrative of King Arthur in popular culture.
Camelot (film)
- Release Date: 1967
- Director(s): Joshua Logan
- Writer(s): Alan Jay Lerner
- Principal Actors and Roles: Richard Harris (King Arthur); Franco Nero (Lancelot du Lac); Vanessa Redgrave (Guenevere); David Hemmings (Mordred); Lionel Jeffries (King Pellinore); Laurence Naismith (Merlyn)
Camelot is a 1967 movie musical that was adapted from the 1960 Lerner and Lowe Broadway musical of the same name. The story line is a romance about King Arthur, his mythical Round Table at Camelot, his marriage to Guinevere, and her affair with his most trusted knight, Lancelot.
The stage musical was a huge success, running for 873 performances and winning multiple Tony Awards. The movie wasn’t quite as successful, but it still drew large audiences despite its three-hour running time.
Tapping into the audience’s enduring love of the King Arthur legends may have assured a certain level of interest. But Camelot also touched on very topical issues. For one thing, "Camelot" was commonly used to describe the brief years of the Kennedy administration before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. This was in part because his widow said Camelot was one of Kennedy’s favorite records. The musical also related to and provided an escape from the dissent surrounding the Vietnam War.
Camelot was the last movie produced by Jack Warner for his eponymous studio. He spent $14 million on it, a princely amount in the mid-1960s, and although the movie did not make back his investment, the production values of the finished product are noteworthy. Vanessa Redgrave’s costumes alone cost one million dollars. As a movie adaptation of a Broadway show, though, it was in very good company. Camelot joined West Side Story (1961), The Music Man (1962), My Fair Lady (1964), and The Sound of Music (1965) in a cavalcade of screen adaptations of well-loved stage shows.
The director perceived flaws in the stage musical that the movie version of Camelot should "correct," the Broadway rendition’s tremendous success notwithstanding. Some of his decisions, such as using actors who were not accomplished singers in singing roles, drew criticism at the time. However, the quality of the acting was universally praised.
Plot
The opening credits run over an overture that is a pastiche of the songs in the musical, just as would have been the case in a theater. Then the action opens in predawn darkness. As a chorus sings a few lines from the song "Guinevere," King Arthur speaks with an unseen Merlyn. Arthur is preparing for a battle against his former greatest friend, Lancelot, and is wondering how he has come to this moment. Merlyn appears and tells the king to recall one of the most important days of his life.
The movie then shifts into flashback, where it stays for almost the entirety of the film. The first flashback is of Arthur’s childhood meeting with Merlyn. The wizard snaps Arthur out of the recollection, telling him to think about his wedding to his estranged wife Guinevere instead.
As with any other musical, each plot development is expressed in song. The king sings of his fear at marrying someone he has never met. His prospective bride sings her own song about the same fears in her heart, and when they meet, she is unaware of who he is. He assures her that the kingdom she is entering is a wonderful place, singing "Camelot." In the process they fall in love.
Five years later, Arthur discusses his plan for a round table with his queen, and the democratic ideal begins to form. The plot then shifts forward another five years. The Round Table is internationally famed. A self-righteous knight named Lancelot hears of it and travels to England where he brags of his personal perfection in the song "C’est Moi."
Arthur admires Lancelot’s abilities as a knight and welcomes him as a friend, but other knights dislike the Frenchman’s self-righteous manner. Guinevere shares their distaste and encourages three of them to challenge Lancelot to a joust.
Lancelot easily defeats all three and nearly kills one of them. Desperate to save the fallen knight’s life, Lancelot implores him to live while laying hands on him, and the knight miraculously revives. Guinevere is smitten. Soon Lancelot is ready to abandon his vows of chastity for Guinevere. Rather than confront two people whom he dearly loves, Arthur chooses willful blindness about their love.
Then Arthur’s illegitimate son Mordred arrives, embittered and hoping to destroy the Round Table. The multiple pressures begin to affect Arthur. Mordred engineers it so that Arthur will discover Lancelot and Guinevere in bed together. Lancelot escapes but Guinevere is sentenced to burn. Arthur is dedicated to the rule of law and cannot intercede. To Arthur’s relief, Lancelot rescues the queen at the last moment.
The plot then returns to the present. Arthur is preparing for battle with Lancelot. England is on the verge of destruction. Guinevere arrives to tell Arthur she has become a nun, and they say goodbye to one another. But the battle is still to be fought.
Arthur meets a boy who is inspired by the Arthurian ideal: It is "not might makes right, but might for right." Arthur knights the boy and asks him to remember for the world the ideals of Camelot.
Significance
The critical reception of Camelot was mixed. A typical response was great praise for the actors but a generally negative review of the movie as a whole. However, it won three of the four Academy Awards for which it was nominated: best art direction, best costume design, and best adapted musical score.
At the Golden Globes the movie won in three of the six categories for which it was nominated: best actor, best original score, and best original song. The latter two were a little odd, since the score and song were both adapted from the stage musical.
Lerner and Lowe based the musical on The Once and Future King by T.H. White. The movie’s most lasting value may be its contribution to the mythic story of King Arthur. This is particularly true set against the backdrop of Kennedy’s Camelot—and its echoes of a young president who was cut down on a Dallas street in November, 1963.
Awards and nominations
Won
- Academy Award (1967) Best Costume Design: John Truscott
- Academy Award (1967) Best Music-Scoring of Music (Adapted)
- Academy Award (1967) Best Art Direction-Set Direction
- Golden Globe (1967) Best Motion Picture Actor (Musical or Comedy): Richard Harris
- Golden Globe (1967) Best Original Score: Frederick Loewe
- Golden Globe (1967) Best Original Song
Nominated
- Academy Award (1967) Best Sound
- Academy Award (1967) Best Cinematography
- Golden Globe (1968) Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy)
- Golden Globe (1967) Best Motion Picture Actress (Musical or Comedy): Vanessa Redgrave
- Golden Globe (1967) Most Promising Newcomer (Male): Franco Nero
Bibliography
Barrios, Richard. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2014. Print.
Callhan, Dan. Vanessa: The Life of Vanessa Redgrave. Cambridge: Pegasus, 2014. Print.
Callan, Michael Feeney. Richard Harris: Sex, Death, and the Movies. London: Anova, 2004. Print.
Davidson, Roberta. "The ‘Reel’Arthur: Politics and Truth Claims in Camelot, Excalibur, and King Arthur." Arthuriana, Summer 2007: 62–84 JSTOR Web. 30 Aug. 2015. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/27870837?seq=1 - page‗scan‗tab‗contents>.
Jablonski, Edward. Alan Jay Lerner: A Biography. New York: Holt, 1996. Print.
Kurti, Jeff. The Great Movie Musical Trivia Book. Milwaukee: Applause, 2000. Electronic.