12 Best King Arthur Movies Ranked: Worst To Best

Knights of the Round Table is the first big-budget Hollywood adaptation of the legend. It follows the basic outline of Malory, albeit with some changes to accommodate the times. The film was the first MGM feature made in CinemaScope and the second of three films directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Taylor. Like their first collaboration, Ivanhoe, the film is meant to be a definitive adaptation of a classic tale. And perhaps it was one.

The film is dull. It's an "epic" from the 1950s and so, like its contemporaries, is a stilted pageant where all the characters are aware of their importance and significance. The reason Ben-Hur is still considered a classic and Knights of the Round Table is a footnote can be attributed to who is playing those characters. Mel Ferrer, Ava Gardner, and Robert Taylor (as Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot) are wooden performers delivering wooden dialogue against wooden backdrops. Where is the regal ham and stentorian gravitas of Charlton Heston?

This lifeless relic of the studio system is the first attempt to give the legend a worthy cinematic representation. It's mostly a miss but there are still aspects to recommend. Miklós Rózsa's score is good. Skip the film, listen to the score.