Review: "Ivanhoe" is a Family-Safe Adventure (Remembering George Sanders)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 110 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Ivanhoe (1952)
Running time:  106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
DIRECTOR:  Richard Thorpe
WRITERS:  Noel Langley and Marguerite Roberts, from an adaptation by Æneas McKenzie (based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott)
PRODUCER:  Pandro S. Berman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  F.A. Young (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Frank Clarke
COMPOSER:  Miklos Rozsa
Academy Award nominee

ADVENTURE/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring:  Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Robert Douglas, Finlay Currie, Felix Aylmer, Francis De Wolff, Norman Wooland, Basil Sydney, Harold Warrender, Sebastian Cabot, and Guy Rolfe

The subject of this movie review is Ivanhoe, a 1952 historical drama and romantic film from director Richard Thorpe.  The film is an adaptation of the novel, Ivanhoe, written by Sir Walter Scott and first published in 1819 (or 1820).  Ivanhoe the film is set in 12th century England and follows a knight who seeks to free the captive King Richard and to restore him to the English throne.

Three writers adapted the novel for the 1952 film, although one of them, Marguerite Roberts, originally did not receive screen credit for her contributions to the screenplay.  After the House on Un-American Activities Committee blacklisted Roberts, MGM apparently received permission from the Screen Writers Guild not to give Robert’s a screen credit in the film, as was her due.

In the film Ivanhoe, medieval chivalry comes to life in wonderful Technicolor.  Returning to England from the Crusades via Europe, Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) discovers that Richard the Lionhearted (Norman Wooland) is a captive of an Austrian noble.  He hurries back to England only to learn that Richard’s brother Prince John (Guy Rolfe) has assumed the throne as if his brother is dead, and Prince John has no intention of paying the huge ransom the Austrian demands for Richard release.  Ivanhoe returns to his father Sir Cedric (Finlay Currie), a Saxon Lord, who disowned Ivanhoe for joining the Norman Richard in the Crusades.

Spurned again by his father, Ivanhoe seeks help from Isaac of York (Felix Aylmer), the leader of the Jewish people in England, who rallies his people to raise the ransom for Richard.  Meanwhile, Isaac’s daughter Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor) falls for Ivanhoe, but Rebecca also has a Norman suitor in John’s ally, Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders).  Eventually, John pits Ivanhoe against Sir Bois-Guilbert in a duel to save Rebecca from being burned at the stake as a witch.

Based upon Sir Walter’s Scott’s novel of the same title, Ivanhoe is a tale of courtly love and Saxon honor.  If you liked The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, you’ll probably like this film, although it isn’t as good as Robin Hood.  It’s an old fashioned romantic adventure with British accents, kooky swordplay, colorful and outlandish theatrical costumes, and an appearance by Locksley (Harold Warrender), otherwise known as Robin Hood.  It’s fun, though too often stiff and dull, but there’s an audience for this.  It received three Oscar® nominations, including one for “Best Picture” and one for its beautiful and soaring romantic score.  People who like films set in “Merry Ole England” will very likely enjoy Ivanhoe, and truthfully, it’s a family safe adventure film for young boys.

5 of 10
B-

NOTES:
1953: Academy Awards, USA:  3 nominations: “Best Picture” (Pandro S. Berman), “Best Cinematography, Color” (Freddie Young), and “Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture” (Miklós Rózsa)

1953 Golden Globes, USA:  2 nominations: “Best Motion Picture Score” (Miklós Rózsa) and “Best Film Promoting International Understanding”

Updates:  Friday, April 25, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Women Film Critics Favor "The Help" and "The Iron Lady"

The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of women film critics, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. Founded in 2004, this group is the first women critics’ organization in the United States.

2011 Women Film Critics Circle Awards:

BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN
WINNERS: (tie) The Iron Lady and We Need To Talk About Kevin
Pariah
The Whistleblower

BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
WINNER: The Help
Albert Nobbs
Cracks
Rid Of Me

BEST WOMAN STORYTELLER - Screenwriting Award
WINNER: The Iron Lady [Abi Morgan]
In The Land Of Blood And Honey [Angelina Jolie]
Pariah [Dee Reese]
We Need To Talk About Kevin [Lynne Ramsay]

BEST ACTRESS
WINNER: Viola Davis: The Help
Jessica Chastain: The Debt/The Help
Meryl Streep: The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton: We Need To Talk About Kevin

BEST ACTOR
WINNER: George Clooney: The Descendants
Jean Dujardin: The Artist
Tom Hardy: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy/Warrior
Ryan Gosling: Drive, The Ides Of March

BEST COMEDIC ACTRESS
WINNER: Melissa McCarthy: Bridesmaids
Katie O’Grady: Rid Of Me
Sarah Jessica Parker: I Don’t Know How She Does It
Kristen Wiig: Bridesmaids

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
WINNER: Shailene Woodley: The Descendants
Jordana Beatty: Judy Moody
Liana Liberato: Trust
Amara Miller: The Descendants

BEST FOREIGN FILM BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
WINNER: The Hedgehog
A Separation
In The Land Of Blood And Honey
When We Leave

BEST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
WINNER: The Whistleblower
Albert Nobbs
The Iron Lady
Soul Surfer

WORST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
WINNER (?): Melancholia
Jack And Jill
My Week With Marilyn
Young Adult

BEST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
WINNER: The Descendants
50/50
Meet Monica Velour
Of Gods And Men

WORST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
WINNER (?): The Hangover 2
No Strings Attached
The Skin I Live In
Straw Dogs

BEST DOCUMENTARIES BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
WINNER: Always Faithful
The Price Of Sex
The Woman With The Five Elephants
Women Art Revolution

BEST FAMILY FILM
WINNER: Hugo
Judy Moody
The Muppets
The Adventures of Tintin

BEST ANIMATED FEMALES
WINNER: Puss N Boots 3D
Arthur Christmas
Gnomeo And Juliet
Kung Fu Panda 2

BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
WINNER: The Debt
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Iron Lady
Midnight In Paris

COURAGE IN ACTING - Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen
WINNER: Glenn Close: Albert Nobbs
Josiane Balasko: The Hedgehog
Mimi Chakarova: The Price Of Sex
Tilda Swinton: We Need To Talk About Kevin

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD - Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored
WINNER (tie): Miral: Hiram Abbass and Meeks Cutoff: Michelle Williams
Danai Gurira: 3 Backyards
Red Shirley

WOMEN’S WORK: BEST ENSEMBLE
WINNER: The Help
Albert Nobbs
Bridesmaids
The Whistleblower

BEST SCREEN COUPLE
WINNER: The Artist: Berenice Bejo and Jean Dujardin
Gnomeo And Juliet
The Iron Lady
Like Crazy

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
WINNERS: (tie) Kathy Bates and Cicely Tyson
Hiam Abbass
Michelle Yeoh

ACTING AND ACTIVISM
WINNER: Elizabeth Taylor
Mia Farrow
Daryl Hannah
Alfre Woodard

ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD - For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women
WINNER: The Whistleblower
In A Better World
In The Land Of Blood And Honey
Life, Above All

JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD - For best expressing the woman of color experience in America
WINNER: The Help
America
Pariah
3 Backyards

KAREN MORLEY AWARD - For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity
WINNER: Albert Nobbs
The Conspirator
Meek’s Cutoff
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan

MOMMIE DEAREST WORST SCREEN MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Judi Dench: J. Edgar

Review: Elizabeth Taylor Roars in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 39 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) – B&W
Running time: 131 minutes (2 hours, 11 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Mike Nichols
WRITER/PRODUCER: Ernest Lehman (from the play by Edward Albee)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Haskell Wexler
EDITOR: Sam O’Steen
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis

At a New England college, on the serene campus grounds, in their disordered campus home, George (Richard Burton), an emasculated professor, and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), his rancorous emasculating wife, have returned from a faculty party at about two in the morning. Martha is already drunk, and they both start drinking more while their conversations turns to bellows and accusations aimed at each other, a disagreeable autopsy on the corpse that their marriage isn’t… yet. Soon, the couple’s guests arrive – Nick (George Segal), a new junior professor, and his fragile wife, Honey (Sandy Dennis). Before long, the warring duo of George and Martha suck the young couple into their whirlpool of wrenching disclosures, petty name-calling, and endless antagonism, which before long is also starting to open up the dark places in Nick and Honey’s marriage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is director Mike Nichols adaptation of Edward Albee’s famous play about a couple whose marriage is a maelstrom created by their feelings of anger, guilt, and frustration with each other. Nichols, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton actually used Albee’s original play as the script, retaining only two lines of dialogue from producer/writer Ernest Lehman’s script adaptation of the stage drama, so the audience pretty much gets the full effect of Albee’s original writing.

Simply put: Martha is angry at George’s despairing view of life, and that his ambition was satisfied when he got the job at the university (where her father, whom we never see, is President) and he married her. George, on the other hand, apparently understands, but is not wholly sympathetic with Martha’s struggle to connect with him, especially as they couldn’t have children. Her passive/aggressive way of dealing with what she sees as his shortcomings drive George to contemplate violent harm to Martha. The young couple, Nick and Honey, are simply getting an advance view of where their marriage will be because their problems are similar to George and Martha’s, but still in their infancy stage.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the screen version, is difficult to watch because of the frank and brutal conversations – the vitriol. With only some artifice, Nichols allows the actors to commit to playing this intricate drama that is held together not only by physical acting, but also by concisely delivered lines of dialogue from competing speakers, intertwining and battling. Truthfully, the movie tends to dry up in several spaces, and it is easily a half-hour too long, but where to cut? This, in a sense, is a thriller, and the action is in the build up to every topic of conversation that becomes an argument, confession, or trust betrayed.

The film has excellent production values, from the gorgeous dreamlike Oscar-winning black and white photography of Haskell Wexler to the otherworldly, Oscar-winning set decoration and art direction. The cast is also excellent, and while Richard Burton does a top-notch professional job, Elizabeth Taylor’s turn as the ultimate bitch is a career changer. Some people tend to remember Taylor as a tough woman, best exemplified by her performance as Martha delivering countless verbal body blows to Burton’s George, while he cuts and stabs at her in self-defense.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not for the feint of heart or people who don’t like films built around conversations and dialogue – all that talk-talk, but if you like that, this is an embarrassment of riches.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
1967 Academy Awards: 5 wins: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Sandy Dennis), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White” (Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins), “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Haskell Wexler), “Best Costume Design, Black-and-White” (Irene Sharaff); 8 nominations: “Best Picture” (Ernest Lehman), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Richard Burton), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (George Segal), “Best Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Film Editing” (Sam O'Steen), “Best Music, Original Music Score” (Alex North), “Best Sound” George Groves-Warner Bros. SSD), “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium” (Ernest Lehman)

1967 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Best British Actor” (Richard Burton), “Best British Actress” (Elizabeth Taylor), and “Best Film from any Source” (Mike Nichols)

1967 Golden Globes: 7 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama. “Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama” (Richard Burton), “Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama” (Elizabeth Taylor), “Best Motion Picture Director” (Mike Nichols), “Best Screenplay’ (Ernest Lehman), “Best Supporting Actor” (George Segal), and “Best Supporting Actress” (Sandy Dennis)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

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Elizabeth Taylor Has Died at 79

I watching CBS' dreadful "The Early Show."  As usual, they managed to find what I call a "dead white girl" story, but during the broadcast of this tragic story, one of the news personalities broke in to report that one of the greatest white girls of all time, Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011), had died.  Huffington Post and Cinema Blend have more.

R.I.P. Ms. Taylor.