TCM showed CAMELOT recently, and that has made me curious about which Arthurian movies and TV shows are best regarded. I love Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace and Brian Aherne in LANCELOT AND GUINEVERE=SWORD OF LANCELOT.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
In the last decade, there has been a trend to make alternative versions of the legend.
Example 1: "Mists of Avalon". (I know the novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley is much older than a decade, but the mini series is only ten years old.) This is a Feminist version of the legend, where the women are in focus. It's also interesting because it might be the only version, where Morgaine is portraited as a good person.
Example 2: "King Arthur". This movie tries to answer the question: If the legend about king Arthur goes back to real events, what might those have been? Even though it still might have some historical inaccuracies, it tries to give a realistic view about what it might have been like back in the 5th century AD. And there's no magic, not even Merlin is a wizard in this movie.
Example 3: "Merlin". Also this version is much different from the traditional legend. Merlin is not an old man, but a young man in Arthur's age. Arthur has grown up with his father Uther (but without his mother Igraine). Guinivere is not a princess, but a black servant girl. Arthur and Morgana are half siblings through their father, and not through their mother.
All of these are good in their own way though. And it's interesting how differently these three versions handle of the character of Guinivere. Samantha Mathis in "Mists of Avalon" plays a not that likable woman, who's a little bit too influenced by Church doctrines. Keira Knightley in "King Arthur" plays what almost is her total opposite: a tough warrior princess, who rather is against the growing Catholic Church. And then, we have Angel Coulby in "Merlin", who plays a black servant girl. Out of these three, I guess the first one is the closest to the traditional legend.
Intelligence and purity.
By far my favourite Arthurian film is Robert Bresson's Lancelot du Lac ['Lancelot od the Lake'].
www.imdb.com/title/tt0071737/
BBC Television's 1979 TV series, The Legend of King Arthur, with Andrew Burt playing Arthur and the gorgeous David Robb as Lancelot, was a lot of fun.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0404196/
www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsR/tve14736-00000003-437.gif
Snobbery is a form of romanticism, the chastity of the perfectionist
John Boorman's Excalibur, but I would love to see a really good remake of the legends - perhaps by Peter Jackson, I think the Arthurian legends would make a good trilogy, ala LOTR.
Music expresses the inexpressible
What annoys me with Arthurian films are their anacronisms. They are supposed to take place in the sixth century but it looks like the fourteenth or fifteenths century.
I can recommend the last legion about how the sword Excalibur came to England with Colin Firth and Ashwariya Rai.
Exactly. That's why a more realistic updating of the films is long overdue.
Music expresses the inexpressible