Camelot (1967)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Joshua Logan

Writers:

Alan Jay Lerner (play)
Alan Jay Lerner (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

25 October 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The Most Beautiful Love Story Ever!

Plot:

The story of the marriage of England's King Arthur to Guinevere is played out amid the pagentry of Camelot...

Plot Keywords:

Knight | Camelot | Adultery | Based On Musical | Historical Fiction

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Richard Harris	...	King Arthur
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Guenevere
Franco Nero	...	Lancelot Du Lac
David Hemmings	...	Mordred
Lionel Jeffries	...	King Pellinore
Laurence Naismith	...	Merlyn
Pierre Olaf	...	Dap
Estelle Winwood	...	Lady Clarinda
Gary Marshal	...	Sir Lionel
Anthony Rogers	...	Sir Dinadan
Peter Bromilow	...	Sir Sagramore
Sue Casey	...	Lady Sybil
Gary Marsh	...	Tom of Warwick
Nicolas Beauvy	...	King Arthur as a Boy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fredric Abbott	...	Sir Geoffrey (uncredited)
Leon Greene	...	Sir Turloc (uncredited)
Michael Kilgarriff	...	Sir Paul (uncredited)
Christopher Riordan	...	Serf at execution (uncredited)

Directed by
Joshua Logan

Writing credits
Alan Jay Lerner		(play "Camelot")
Alan Jay Lerner		screenplay &
T.H. White		from "The Once and Future King"

Produced by
Jack L. Warner	....	producer
Joel Freeman	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Frederick Loewe

Cinematography by
Richard H. Kline		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Folmar Blangsted

Production Design by
John Truscott
Edward Carrere		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Edward Carrere

Set Decoration by
John Brown		(as John W. Brown)

Costume Design by
John Truscott

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Jean Burt Reilly	....	supervising hair stylist

Production Management
Joel Freeman	....	production supervisor (uncredited)
Tadeo Villalba	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur Jacobson	....	assistant director

Art Department
Edward Carrere	....	set designer
John Truscott	....	scenery designer
Craig Binkley	....	set dresser (uncredited)
Ward Preston	....	set designer (uncredited)
José María Tapiador	....	assistant set decorator (uncredited)

Sound Department
M.A. Merrick	....	sound
Dan Wallin	....	sound
Philip Rogers	....	sound recordist: restoration (restored version) (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Chief	....	leather shop foreman (uncredited)
Charles E. Dolan	....	prop shop: leather work (uncredited)
Stanford Overbay	....	special effects assistant (uncredited)
Robie Robinson	....	special effects supervisor (uncredited)

Stunts
Joe Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tap Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Paula Dell	....	stunts (uncredited)
Tom Dittman	....	stunts (uncredited)
Lee Faulkner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Loren Janes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Russ McCubbin	....	stunts (uncredited)
Hal Needham	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Orrison	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Williams	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Jacobsen	....	electrician (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Haleen K. Holt	....	costume illustrator (uncredited)
Andrea E. Weaver	....	costumer: women (uncredited)

Music Department
Ken Darby	....	music associate
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator
Pete King	....	orchestrator
Alfred Newman	....	conductor
Alfred Newman	....	music supervisor
Trude Rittman	....	music liaison
Buddy Schwab	....	musical staging associate
Leo Shuken	....	orchestrator
Gus Levene	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Gene Merlino	....	singing voice: Lancelot Du Lac (uncredited)

Other crew
Joel Freeman	....	assistant to producer
Moss Hart	....	play director
Dr. Daniel Vandraegen	....	speech consultant
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
Crayton Smith	....	script supervisor trainee (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts (presents) (as Warner Bros. - Seven Arts)

Distributors

• Warner Brothers/Seven Arts (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1973) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1976) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Jenny Productions  produced on the stage by
• Warner Bros. Cosmetics  Miss Redgrave's makeup

Runtime:

179 min | Canada:175 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:G | Singapore:PG | Australia:G | Canada:G

Filming Locations:

Alcázar de Segovia, Segovia, Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain

Company:

Warner Brothers/Seven Arts

Trivia:

Basil Hoskins was interviewed for both Sir Paul and Sir Mellion.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Guenevere's party stops along the way for a cup of tea; tea wasn't imported to England until much later.

Quotes:

[first lines]
A Knight: The rules of battle are not for Lancelot Du Lac, Your Majesty! Let us attack now while they sleep!
King Arthur: [firmly] We will attack when I give the command - at dawn.
[the knight leaves, and Arthur begins to talk to himself]
King Arthur: Oh, Merlyn, Merlyn, why is Ginny in that castle, behind walls I cannot enter? How did I blunder into this agonizing absurdity? Where did I stumble? How did I go wrong? Should I not have loved her?
[sighs]
King Arthur: Then I should not have been born! Oh, Merlyn, I haven't got much time. Within an inch of sunlight, the arrows begin to fly. If I am to die in battle, please, please do not let me die bewildered!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Spaghetti West (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

I Loved You Once In Silence

"........a fleeting wisp of glory, called Camelot."

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?

So why couldn't Warner Brothers sign the original cast from Broadway for the movie? Robert Goulet had in fact come to Hollywood and didn'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.

Jack Warner, usually a smart guy, said that he didn'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 wasn't even asked and Vanessa Redgrave got the call. She'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 doesn't come close.

Ditto 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.

The biggest hit from the Camelot score was If Ever I Would Leave You, sung by Robert Goulet. In 1961 you couldn'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 don't think anyone ever asked Franco Nero to tour.

But 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 don't measure up.

David 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. Baker's interpretation of Mordred is light years from Hemmings, he's a schemer, but he's definitely no coward.

I love the score of Camelot and when it was filmed I only wish the singing was half as good as the Broadway show.