"A Michigan Yankee in King Arthur's Court"! Well, it's a fun film to watch if you can pretend that you're about ten years old and it's the fifties. Then the sight of Janet Leigh and Deborah Paget with their cantilevered figures doesn't spoil the period feel quite so much. Then you wouldn't cringe at the jarring American accents of so many principal characters contrasted with the beautiful stage-honed British speech of others...
Detroit-born Robert Wagner's Val is a pretty classic example of a 50s studio choice for a young hero; it's all about the bankability of a cute rising actor who's being groomed for teen-heartthrob stardom. I suppose he did his best, but just think how much better this would have been with say, Richard Greene in the title role. Sterling Hayden was a New Englander, but his Gawain somehow reads more like an ol' cowhand than an 'old warhorse' of the Round Table. Of course this was just the sort of Hollywood fluff for which he had nothing but contempt; still, he needed the work so there he is, putting most of his effort into concealing his embarrassment over the whole thing.
Powerhouse pros Donald Crisp, Brian Aherne, James Mason and Victor McLaglen, on the other hand, do their best to elevate the quality of this production (whatever THEIR embarrassment)-- though one is often left wondering what favors might have been owing to involve them in it. Hollywood rides again!
Detroit-born Robert Wagner's Val is a pretty classic example of a 50s studio choice for a young hero; it's all about the bankability of a cute rising actor who's being groomed for teen-heartthrob stardom. I suppose he did his best, but just think how much better this would have been with say, Richard Greene in the title role. Sterling Hayden was a New Englander, but his Gawain somehow reads more like an ol' cowhand than an 'old warhorse' of the Round Table. Of course this was just the sort of Hollywood fluff for which he had nothing but contempt; still, he needed the work so there he is, putting most of his effort into concealing his embarrassment over the whole thing.
Powerhouse pros Donald Crisp, Brian Aherne, James Mason and Victor McLaglen, on the other hand, do their best to elevate the quality of this production (whatever THEIR embarrassment)-- though one is often left wondering what favors might have been owing to involve them in it. Hollywood rides again!