Alicia I love this movie so much

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

drednm IVANHOE is a film I hadn't watched in many decades. It was surprisingly good. Robert Taylor stars as Walter Scott's hero, albeit in a much-revised story, in the days of Richard the Lionheart and his snarky brother John. While Taylor is 20 years older than Scott's hero, he's fine as within the context of the film. He's a rather haggard knight returned from the crusades and from finding where Richard is being held captive. John, issuing the fake news of the day, justifies his reign by saying Richard is dead. Anyway, England is in the midst of a Saxon vs. Norman bit of unrest, with the Saxons being subjugated by the Normans. Awaiting Ivanhoe all these years is the faithful Rowena (a stunning (Joan Fontaine) who is the ward of his father (Finlay Currie). About the time of Ivanhoe's return, we all see the return of the evil Normans, Bois-Guilbert and De Bracy (George Sanders and Robert Douglas). They have a mash up in Currie's house, but no one recognizes the much-changed Ivanhoe. Into this plot comes the displaced Jew Isaac (Felix Aylmer) and his daughter Rebecca (a stunning Elizabeth Taylor, though too young for the role). While Isaac may be a money lender (a term of much derision in medieval times), it's not a term used in the film. Both women are in love with Ivanhoe, but Bois-Guillbert lusts after Rebecca. The plot works toward the ultimate jousting match between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert and of course the return of Richard. The film, directed by Richard Thorpe, moves along nicely and was nominated for a best film Oscar. Others in the cast are Emlyn Williams as the fool-turned squire, Guy Rolfe as the oily John, Norman Wooland as Richard, May Hallatt as Elgitha, Harold Warrender as Robin of Locksley, and Sebastian Cabot as his cohort (not named Friar Tuck).One of the big negatives is the sets. Thirty years after the meticulous and magnificent Marion Davies film WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER, this MGM Technicolor opus looks skimpy by comparison. While the castle exteriors are OK, the interiors are not. And the jousting field is embarrassingly cheesy. The film also dissolves into an ambiguous romantic love story, while Scott's story embraced the concept of "courtly love." In the end, George Sanders and Emlyn Williams take the honors.

JohnHowardReid Singing coach for Mr Taylor: Arthur Rosenstein. Archery coach: Colonel John M.T.F. Churchill. Produced by Pandro S. Berman at M-G-M's Elstree Studios in England and on location in Hatfield Woods. Copyright 30 June 1952 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 31 July 1952 (ran 8 weeks). U.S. release: 20 February 1953 (sic). U.K. release: 13 September 1952. Australian release: 15 August 1952. 9,595 feet. 106 minutes. (Available on an excellent Warner DVD).NOTES: Nominated for the following prestigious Hollywood awards: Best Picture (won by The Greatest Show On Earth), Color Cinematography (won by The Quiet Man), Music Scoring of a Drama or Comedy (won by High Noon). With gross rentals of $6.3 million, number 4 at U.S./Canadian ticket windows for 1952. The film also took the number 4 position at the U.K. box-office. Perhaps because it was released for the winter-spring school holidays, the movie did far less business in Australia, though it did come in at the latter end of the top fifty box-office successes.COMMENT: The general impression that Ivanhoe is a schoolboy's movie is not borne out by the film itself. Crammed full of violent, exciting action in a fast-paced plot set in motion by a wonderfully dastardly trio of villains - superbly characterized by George Sanders, Robert Douglas and Guy Rolfe - Ivanhoe has been produced on a splendidly lavish scale that often staggers the senses. This is not to say that the actors are overwhelmed by pageant and panoply (though they do skilfully stand aside whilst hundreds of stuntmen do yeomen service in the many battle and siege scenes). True, Robert Taylor sometimes looks a trifle uncomfortable and out-of-place in medieval armor, but this clumsiness is due more to Thorpe's lack of competence in camera placement than to any deficiency of charisma on Taylor's part. Mostly he performs his chores with such dash, we forget his incongruous American accent. It's British-born Elizabeth Taylor who seems to have the wrong voice for the part (though she looks the beauty well enough).

evanston_dad If you're in the mood for a swashbuckling costume drama and have relatively modest expectations, "Ivanhoe" might trip your trigger. Just don't compare it to the best swashbucklers produced by Hollywood in its heyday. Robert Taylor isn't much of an actor, but he's nice enough to look at jumping around and brandishing a sword. George Sanders is much much fun as our unctuous villain, while Joan Fontaine and Elizabeth Taylor look lovely but are stuck with rather wooden roles. Indeed, the whole movie has a wooden quality, with limp battle and dueling scenes. Most of the time, it looks like a stagehand is standing just off camera throwing armfuls of sticks into the action to approximate a bevy of deadly arrows.1952 has to be one of the weakest for Best Picture Academy Award nominees. "Ivanhoe" was nominated along with the year's winner, the lousy "The Greatest Show on Earth," John Huston's dull "Moulin Rouge," John Ford's modest diversion "The Quiet Man," and the only film to really deserve a Best Pic nomination, "High Noon." "Ivanhoe" was also nominated for its color cinematography, courtesy of Freddie Young, who would go on to photograph David Lean's films, and its dramatic score, considered by many to be among Miklos Rosza's best. I don't know if it's one of his best, but there sure is a lot of it; barely a frame of the film passes by without some sort of syrupy underscoring.Grade: B-

Armand it is difficult to be a surprise. the classical novel, the perfect cast, the beautiful heroism , the images are pieces of a puzzle who must be a success. and that is the pure reality.but the film is real precious for its special flavor. sure, the fight scenes, the romanticism are marks of great films of period but the meeting between Joan Fontaine and Elizabeth Taylor, the Finlay Currie presence and the unique George Sanders are the pillars of a work who represents more than a beautiful film with lovely actors. and that is the basic ingredient of film - the precise measure , the admirable adaptation, the delicate tension and, sure, the romanticism because it is not easy to ignore Robert Taylor yesterday or today.