NR | 1h 46m | Drama, Epic | 1952
Director Richard Thorpe’s period-adventure film draws on Scottish historian-novelist Sir Walter Scott’s 19th-century novel. It tells of Norman and Saxon knights jostling for favor with England’s 12th-century monarchy at the end of the Third Crusade.
England’s king, Richard the Lionheart, is believed to be dead, but his faithful Saxon knight, Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) discovers that he’s actually being held prisoner by Leopold of Austria. Richard’s opportunistic brother, Prince John (Guy Rolfe), backed by a bunch of Norman knights, holds the throne in his absence, and conveniently refuses to pay the ransom of 150,000 marks of silver. Two such Norman knights are De Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders) and Hugh De Bracy (Robert Douglas).
Saxon-elder Cedric (Finlay Currie) knows that Richard lives for a united England; John, though, lives neither for the Normans nor the Saxons, merely himself. Still, embittered over Richard’s fraught role in the Crusades, Cedric would rather stay aloof than help his estranged son, Ivanhoe, raise the ransom. Ivanhoe saves the life of a Jew, Isaac of York and seeks his help, promising the king’s protection for Jews. Isaac agrees to help if a freed Richard will instead swear justice to “all men,” Norman or Saxon or Jew, for “justice belongs to all men … or to none.” On Richard’s behalf, Ivanhoe agrees.
At a deadly lancing contest, presided over by a cackling John, Ivanhoe cloaks himself as a mysterious Saxon knight dressed in black. His gallantry secures him the renewed favor of his father and the support of Robin Hood and his men in Sherwood Forest. Meanwhile, two ladies vie for Ivanhoe’s attention: Cedric’s ward, Lady Rowena (Joan Fontaine) and Isaac’s daughter Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor). Trouble is, De Bracy and De Bois-Guilbert are vying respectively for the attention of these ladies.
An International Effort
“Ivanhoe” was one of an increasing number of international productions at the time. Americans produced the film. Thorpe and some lead stars were American, but it had an international, largely British cast and crew. Cinematographer Freddie Young, art director Alfred Junge (German but spent his career in British film industry), and costume designer Roger Furse were British. The crew filmed in Britain, on location at Doune Castle, Scotland, and at Elstree studios.
Miklos Rozsa’s score bagged another of his many Oscar nominations, and Freddie Young’s cinematography also bagged a nomination.
Amid several two-dimensional characters, Sanders portrays a nuanced character who, however briefly, reminds himself of the reason he was sworn in as a knight.
Although only 20 years old at the time of filming, the incandescent Liz Taylor holds her own against screen veterans Fontaine and Bob Taylor.
Nobility and Chivalry
Thorpe’s Anglo-American film sought to celebrate nobility and chivalry at a time when they were not only in short supply but were actively derided in some circles. Post-World War II British citizens were tired of talk of austerity and food-rationing. This film offered them solace in the ideals of a golden age, and hope that its sacred values might return, even if its spectacle had to remain a memory.
The year of the film’s release, 1952, bore urgency in national messaging that side-stepped divisiveness and rallied audiences around a beleaguered monarchy: King George VI had died earlier that year, setting the stage for Elizabeth II to ascend to the throne.
The Anglo-American screenwriting team spotlight what sets knights apart from ordinary soldiers: extraordinary loyalty, patriotism, and courage, all expressed with dignity and honor. An avaricious John tries to extract a double ransom (over and above the king’s) by seizing Rebecca, charging her with witchcraft, and sentencing her to death.
As De Bois-Guilbert dimly senses that under John’s sway he’s betrayed his knightly oaths, he pleads with the Jewess to renounce her religion, in return for pardon. Rebecca’s reply stuns him: “I would not live in the world you offer. It has neither sun nor moon nor air to breathe. It has no faith, no love, no honor.”
Chastened, De Bois-Guilbert says, “When you leave it, it will have no life.”
