Abstract
The Arthurian legends have had a deep and pervasive influence on popular culture, especially film. As Kevin J. Harty, who has written extensively and incisively about Arthurian cinema, observed, “since 1904 the major names in the film industry both before and behind the camera have been associated with Arthurian film.”1 Parsifal (1904), for example, an attempt to capitalize upon the successful New York production of Wagner’s opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in late December, 1903, was the earliest American Arthurian film and the most ambitious and costly film Edwin S. Porter made while working for the Thomas A. Edison Company. Unusual for its length as well as for its elaborate sets and trick photography (action shot from the audience’s point of view and exaggerated acting to suggest that the actors are actually singing), Parsifal had to be withdrawn from circulation because of copyright problems.2 Other Arthurian silent films followed, including Launcelot and Elaine (Vitagraph, 1909; dir. Charles Kent), based on Tennyson’s poem from the Idylls of the King and hailed for its artistry in blending action with narration and for innovative cinematic techniques that included shots inside a dark cave and close-ups of the tournament in which Launcelot fights to win the queen’s favor,3 and The Lady of Shalott (Vitagraph, 1915; dir. C. Jay Williams), which also drew on Tennyson’s poetry for inspiration, although for more comedic purposes.4
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Notes
Kevin J. Harty, “The Arthurian Legend in Film: An Overview,” Cinema Arthuriana (New York: Garland, 1991), pp. 3–4 [3–28].
Kevin J. Harty, “Cinema Arthuriana: An Overview,” Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays, Revised Edn. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002), pp. 7–8 [7–33].
For brief discussions of the other versions of the Connecticut Yankee story for adult audiences, including various made-for-television versions, see the following: Kevin J. Harty, “Cinema Arthuriana: An Overview,” pp. 10–13 [7–33] and “Cinematic American Camelots Lost and Found: The Film Versions of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and George Romero’s Knightriders,” pp. 96–109, in Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays. See also Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack, King Arthur in America (Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1999), especially pp. 308–14.
For further details on these productions, see also Kevin J. Harty, The Reel Middle Ages (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999) and Bert Olton, Arthurian Legends on Film and Television.
For an excellent analysis of the character of Hank, see Donald L. Hoffman, “Mark’s Merlin: Magic vs. Technology in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” in Sally K. Slocum, ed., Popular Arthurian Traditions (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1992), pp. 46–55.
R. Kent Rasmussen, “Dramatic Adaptations of Connecticut Yankee,” in Mark Twain: A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Works (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1995), p. 98.
See Barbara Tepa Lupack, “King Arthur and Black American Popular Culture,” in Alan Lupack, ed., New Directions in Arthurian Studies (Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2002), pp. 105–21.
Kevin J. Harty discusses this motif of healing in several Arthurian films in his essay “‘Arthur? Arthur? Arthur?’—Where Exactly Is the Cinematic Arthur to Be Found?” in Alan Lupack, ed., New Directions in Arthurian Studies (Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2002), pp. 135–48.
Kevin J. Harty, Rev. of Four Diamonds, Arthuriana 6.2 (Summer 1996), p. 117 [115–18].
See, e.g., Adam Sherwin, “Spielberg to Retell Legend of Arthur,” in The Times (London), July 16, 2002 (“Home News”), p. 6
Louise Jury, “Spielberg Turns His Talents to Mini-Series on the Life of King Arthur,” in The Independent (London), July 16, 2002 (“News”), p. 7. Sherwin writes that the miniseries “will depict the battle for Guinevere’s affections, Merlin’s wizardry and the search for Excalibur. It will also recreate violent battles against the Saxons in the 6th-century AD, in which historians record that a fierce warrior leader called Arthur played a key role.”
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© 2004 Barbara Tepa Lupack
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Lupack, B.T. (2004). Camelot on Camera: The Arthurian Legends and Children’s Film. In: Lupack, B.T. (eds) Adapting the Arthurian Legends for Children. Studies in Arthurian and Courtly Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982483_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982483_12
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