Countless versions of the Arthurian legend have been filmed, some with emphasis on the romance, some the action and some the supernatural. This one (produced by, directed by and starring Wilde) virtually eliminates any supernatural aspects (Merlin's primary mystical contribution is the invention of soap!) and focuses on the pageantry, battle and romantic passion of the story. Aherne is King Arthur, whose attempt to unify all of Britain includes the marrying of Princess Guinevere (Wallace.) Unfortunately, he sends Lancelot (Wilde) to collect her and she grows enamored of him before she's even met Aherne. Thus begins the legendary love triangle with Aherne loving Wallace, Wallace loving Wilde and Wilde devoted to both of the others. Amongst this romantic fervor is a healthy dose of clanking warfare as Aherne's army must combat rival hordes including Vikings. There is also a dash of palace intrigue as Aherne's illegitimate son Meacham attempts to pave the way for his own ascendance to the throne. Wilde, though undeniably fit for his age, is way too old (48) for his role. Ostensibly virginal Wallace is as well (40) and 61 years seems like a long time for Aherne to have waited to get married! In any case, despite these glaring oddities, the actors do pretty well with their parts. Wilde has been criticized for his accent, but he did speak several languages, French included, in real life, so it's at least partially accurate. Wallace spends the bulk of her time crying, but does that well. Her character lacks clear motivation at times (and her hair color and costumes aren't always very pleasing.) Aherne is excellent, showing a lot of charisma and assurance in his role (though he is not given a proper send-off at the end.) Meacham is an appropriately weaselly villain. Strangely, he never worked on the screen again after this. Corri has an extremely thankless role as one of Wallace's duplicitous handmaidens. There's also a nice turn by the young and handsome Gregory as Wilde's right-hand man. Gregory turned to sculpting after his brief film career. One drawback to the film is it's rather choppy editing. Entire sections of storyline are skipped over in order to accommodate the warfare scenes. This hurts the human side of the story somewhat as the relationships aren't given sufficient screen time to develop as strongly as one might like, especially with such an unnecessarily wide cast of supporting characters. Wilde really took a chance in producing such an expansive film as this on his own and it was not a particularly strong financial success. Still, there's a lot that's good in it. The scenery is striking at times, the pageantry is vivid, the music is rousing, the battle sequences are violent and engaging and, especially, notably, there are many soldiers put to work, giving the skirmishes a reasonably realistic feel. The carnage in the fighting scenes is fairly strong for 1963. It is, however, preposterous to expect an audience to believe that Wallace, en route to be married to a king, would bathe in the same water, simultaneously, as the knight who is escorting her. And with all the emphasis on soap in the early sequences, one wonders if Proctor & Gamble had a stake in the film! This was made during a time when Wilde was creating most of his own films and starring himself and real-life wife Wallace in them. Somehow, they avoided sticking a bone through her nose and casting her in "The Naked Prey", but she appeared in most of his other projects.
Review of Sword of Lancelot
