Ivanhoe (1952)

Ivanhoe, nominated for Best Picture of 1952, is the kind of old-fashioned entertainment that the studio system turned out with regularity. This film adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel is very handsomely produced, with all kinds of lavish costumes and sets; it's from MGM, after all, and they certainly knew how to spend money at that studio. It has a pretty sold cast , with such stars as Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor (obviously, no relation), Joan Fontaine, and George Sanders. Unfortunately, it all adds up to pretty mediocre work. Aside from the obvious attention to detail in the production and some energetic battle sequences, there's little to recommend this film as one of the best of the era.

Robert Taylor plays Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, returning from the Crusades where he fought with King Richard the Lionhearted. He finds England under the control of the evil Prince John, who refuses to help raise the ransom needed to free his brother from prison in Austria. Ivanhoe joins up with Robin Hood and his men, and they attempt to collect enough money to get the rightful ruler of England returned to his throne. While this is all going on, there are subplots involving Ivanhoe's emotional tug-of-war between the Lady Rowena (Fontaine, who was apparently trying to capture some of her sister Olivia de Havilland's glory from the days of The Adventures of Robin Hood) and the beautiful Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor, in one of her early starring roles as an adult), a Jewish woman who is forbidden by her father from falling in love with a non-Jew.

I enjoyed the scenes at the tournaments, where the knights jousted. Those are pretty thrilling to watch, and there's a true sense of excitement at watching Ivanhoe take on all of Prince John's knights in the tournament. There's also an extended siege at a castle where the Lady Rowena and Rebecca and her father and Ivanhoe and assorted other people are held hostage by Sanders' emotionally complex Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert. Robin's men arrive to help rescue everyone, so there are many arrows flying and lots of armor clanging and drawbridges and a fire and, well, a lot of fun for the viewers.

I was never that much of a fan of Scott's novel, and this movie does suffer a bit from having that melodramatic book as its source material. I can certainly understand how this film would have been successful during its time period. A lavish costume drama with state of the art battle sequences would be tough to resist. It just doesn't seem to rise to the level of one of Best Picture. Good fun, certainly, but not great.