“Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of all England.”
— Sir Thomas Malory, “Le Morte d’Arthur” (because simply pulling a sword from a stone isn’t enough)
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we have music from movies inspired by the legends of King Arthur.
The legends provide so much grist for “Prince Valiant” (1954), based on Hal Foster’s enduring comic strip, set in the days of Arthur, though Val himself is a Viking prince of the kingdom of Scandia. Janet Leigh plays Princess Aleta, James Mason the villainous Sir Brack, Victor McLaglen Val’s Viking pal Boltar, and Sterling Hayden a preposterous Gawain. For the title role, Robert Wagner dons the signature page-boy haircut. The score, by Franz Waxman, is every bit as vivid as the film’s Technicolor, and a clear prototype for the thrilling, leitmotif-driven music of John Williams.
“The Mists of Avalon” (2001), adapted from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novel, took the ingenious approach of retelling the Arthurian stories from the perspective of the often-marginalized female characters. The revisionist perspective breathed fresh life into the familiar tales, so that the book was greeted with critical and popular acclaim upon its release in 1983. A television miniseries, starring Julianna Margulies, Angelica Huston and Joan Allen, was produced for TNT, with music by Lee Holdridge.
“First Knight” (1995) featured the unlikely cast of Sean Connery as Arthur, Richard Gere as Lancelot, and Julia Ormond as Guinevere. The film is unique, to my knowledge, in being based on the writings of medieval French poet Chretien de Troyes, as opposed to the more frequent source, Sir Thomas Malory.
The score was by Jerry Goldsmith. It was actually a bit of a rush job for Goldsmith, who stepped up at the very last minute to replace Maurice Jarre. Jarre had been approached to write music for what was originally a three-hour cut of the film. However, he only had four weeks to do so. Goldsmith, very well-known for his ability to write at white heat, was able to complete the score, and record the music in the allotted time.
For my money, the version most faithful to the spirit – if not always the letter – of “Le Morte d’Arthur” is “Excalibur” (1981). The film sports a peerless British and Irish cast, with an uncanny number of the supporting players going on to achieve world fame.
Unfortunately the soundtrack is largely made up of pre-existing music by Wagner and Carl Orff (put to brilliant use, by the way) – with only a few atmospheric numbers composed by Trevor Jones. These, to my knowledge, have never been issued commercially. However, the same story was given the M-G-M treatment, as “Knights of the Round Table” (1953), with Robert Taylor as Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Guinevere, and Mel Ferrer as Arthur.
While the film is nowhere in the same league as “Excalibur” – it’s far too glossy and pat – it does sport some satisfying 1950s spectacle, and a fine score by Miklós Rózsa.
I hope you’ll join me, in the name of God, St. Michael and St. George, for music inspired by the legends of Arthur, on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or enjoy it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
