Camelot: Am Hofe König Arthurs (1967)

Camelot: Am Hofe König Arthurs: Directed by Joshua Logan. With Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero, David Hemmings. The story of the marriage of England’s King Arthur to Guinevere. The plot of illegitimate Mordred to gain the throne and Guinevere’s growing attachment to Sir Lancelot, threaten to topple Arthur and destroy his “round table” of knights.

“I wish I had seen the original Broadway production of Camelot. As a lad the Broadway cast album was a treasured staple in our house, played over and over again by my parents. Can you imagine a cast led by Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and introducing Robert Goulet as Lancelot?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo why couldnu0026#39;t Warner Brothers sign the original cast from Broadway for the movie? Robert Goulet had in fact come to Hollywood and didnu0026#39;t set the world on fire, but the other two were already big box office names by 1967. Julie Andrews had won an Oscar for Mary Poppins and just did the Sound of Music. And Richard Burton was one half of the most noted show business couple of the Sixties with his wife Elizabeth Taylor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJack Warner, usually a smart guy, said that he didnu0026#39;t think that anyone would believe that two guys like Arthur and Lancelot would put a kingdom at risk for the love of Mary Poppins. So Julie wasnu0026#39;t even asked and Vanessa Redgrave got the call. Sheu0026#39;s certainly sexy enough, but she opted for the Rex Harrison talk/sing in doing Guinevere. If you have the video or DVD of Camelot play that and then listen to Julie Andrews sing from the original cast album. My favorite song from the score is I Loved You Once In Silence and Julie Andrews is at her best singing that song. Vanessa doesnu0026#39;t come close.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDitto for Richard Burton and Richard Harris. Though in the case of Harris I think he was toning it down a mite for a clearly handicapped co-star in the vocal department. Harris later in his life toured extensively in various productions of Camelot as Arthur, virtually taking over the role originated by his close friend Burton.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe biggest hit from the Camelot score was If Ever I Would Leave You, sung by Robert Goulet. In 1961 you couldnu0026#39;t get away from that song being played on the radio right in the midst of all the rock and roll. Goulet also toured in various stock companies of Camelot and like both Burton and Harris revived it on Broadway. I donu0026#39;t think anyone ever asked Franco Nero to tour.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut Redgrave and Nero certainly created their own screen magic, they got involved with each other on the set. But folks this is a musical and musically they donu0026#39;t measure up.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDavid Hemmings takes over the role of Mordred from Roddy McDowall who did it on stage. His Mordred is a clever schemer, but a coward as well. For myself the best Mordred ever portrayed on screen was in Knights of the Round Table by Stanley Baker. Bakeru0026#39;s interpretation of Mordred is light years from Hemmings, heu0026#39;s a schemer, but heu0026#39;s definitely no coward.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI love the score of Camelot and when it was filmed I only wish the singing was half as good as the Broadway show.”