MovieChat Forums > Knights of the Round Table (1954) Discussion > Best King Arthur film

Best King Arthur film

posted 17 years ago by DracenWolfe
12 replies | jump to latest

Which do you think is the best King Arthur film?

I don't think there has been a definitive King Arthur film, but Excalibur is the best that I have seen.

King Arthur is alright, but there are too few knights in it.

First Knight is pure rubbish (the King's sword isn't even called Excalibur).

I hope Bernard Cornwell's Warlord series will be filmed one day.

I have heard that Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Last Legion has had it's film rights bought, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be made at all.

Just found out, The Last Legion has been made into a film and will be released later this year. Sorry.

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[–] doravale 17 years ago

Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

And I'm not joking.

[–] Blueghost 16 years ago

The last legion was okay entertainment, but kind of on the kampy end of things.

I liked King Arthur, and Boorman's Excalibur is a real pleasure to look at.

[–] bluerisk 16 years ago

Excalibur

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[–] Black_Ruby 16 years ago

the mists of avalon

and merlin

[–] pol-edra 16 years ago

I mostly agree with your opinion, except I really like Knights of the Round Table and the more I watch these two, the more I think it's better than Excalibur. Maybe because of all the bright Technicolor, maybe because of Robert Taylor, maybe it's so deliciously old-fashioned it's got to be charmingly irresistible... Excalibur doesn't come close to that yet, maybe it will as it gets older. Plus, I don't mind scriptwriters changing whole chunks of sorylines from the books they claim to adapt (both KOTRT and Exc. claim Malory as their source), but making Arthur the Fisherking was kind of pushing it for me.
I do hope to see Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles turned into an epic trilogy; that might give us something very close to the ultimate Arthurian movie.

Other movies not discussed: Bresson's Lancelot and Rohmer's Perceval. What did you think? I found both very, very difficult to like, to say the least. But I know many find beauties in them.

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[–] elisabethmariaschmidt 10 years ago

Merlin(1998) and Knights Of The Round Table

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

I agree that there still is no definitive King Arthur film.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5947) 4 years ago

The definitive King Arthur story should be a mini-series rather than a film. There are so many stories in it to explore.

I'd like to show this film in a double feature with Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Would be a real hoot.

[–] rudeboymurray (3241) 4 years ago

Discounting the brilliant Monty Python film, I do think that Excalibur is by far the best film focused on Arthur.

The French films Lancelot du Lac (by Robert Bresson) and Perceval le Gallois (Eric Rohmer) are just as good, but Arthur is a secondary character in both cases.