... how does this stage and movie musical compare to such as KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, SWORD OF LANCELOT, and this year's TV series?
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
Hablando en espan~ol argentino: !Po's pare'sce que yo soy el u'nico que ha visto todos esos programas!
Speaking in Argentinian Spanish: Seems I'm the only one who has seen all those shows!
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
Everyone has their take. Mallory's original tales are essentially a series of fights and short chapters. How do you translate that to the big screen?
Camelot has got the basics right. That's about all you can ask for.
Well, the thing is, this isn't so much based on Malory as it is on T.H. White's The Once And Future King, which used Malory as a jumping-off point for a new take on the Arthurian legend.
shareMallory used the French Arthurian stories as the basis for Morte d'Arthur. If he had used the English tales, we wouldn't recognize the stories or characters. Lancelot was a footnote in the English stories, while the hero's mantle was worn by Gawain and Launfal. Arthur himself is little more than a co-star, and Guinevere was the whore of Camelot, who tried to seduce several of the knights, banishing those who refused her. Now that I think of it, the English stories would make a better movie.
shareThere are a ton of accounts to choose from, aren't there?
From what I heard, in some early accounts Guinevere was quite faithful to Arthur. It wasn't until (as you say) the French got their hands on the legend that the Lancelot love triangle developed. (I guess it's no coincidence that Lancelot's French...)
But I believe (though I could be wrong) that White was the first to use Arthurian legend (the Mallory version in particular) to hang some philosophical and political discussion on. That's what I find so interesting about The Once and Future King.