Ivanhoe (1952)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director: Richard Thorpe
Starring: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams

Transporting audiences to a romanticized Medieval Europe, MGM shares a tale of knights and chivalry with plenty of sword fighting. In the style of Quo Vadis (1951), the prestigious studio continues to push the size and scope of motion pictures in effort to keep viewer eyes on the silver screens of movie theaters as television infiltrated the world of entertainment with its free programing. With all the grandeur of a Technicolor period costume feature this Hollywood picture produced in England did everything in its power to attract admirers of cinema to attend showings, resulting in one of the top money makers of 1952, but thereafter became all too cliché for its genre.

Ivanhoe is a Medieval period drama about a knight’s effort to restore King Richard to the throne of England. In 12th century, following the third Crusade, Saxon knight Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor) discovers the mysteriously disappeared King Richard is being secretly held prisoner in Austria while the nefarious knowing Prince John (Guy Rolfe) ignores the idea of paying the ransom in effort to rule over England. Ivanhoe yearning to right the order of things attempts to raise the ransom with aid of many friends despite the Prince John’s efforts to stop him, lead in large part by Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders), his devoted Norman knight supporter. Just when funds for the ransom are accrued troubles are compounded with Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor), the daughter of one of Ivanhoe’s best loyalists, captured and held for ransom by the prince, leaving him no choice by to fight for her freedom against Bois-Guilbert. The two foes battle spare in a climactic fight for Rebecca and the honor of England just as King Richard returns, vanquishing the imposter sovereign and uniting all of England.

Carrying over the feel of classic Hollywood style of the Medieval period pictures of prior decades, Ivanhoe utilized its unique circumstances to deliver a majesty movie goers pf the early 1950s could only get in a theatrical experience. Full of bright costumes, plenty of men on horseback, castles, the flailing of swords, numerous extra, a large score, all captured in the glory of Technicolor, the picture evokes the vastness that only major motion pictures could provide at this time. In the years since cinema has matured to expect more than superficial grandeur, but for audiences of the of the early television age this was height in filmmaking, or so they thought. One of the most expensive features produced up to this time, Ivanhoe can be enjoyed by those that love this type of genre picture, but tends to be viewed as being well lapped by the evolution of cinema since.

Based on the 1819 novel by Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe was a production put in place as MGM’s answer to the problem of profits locked behind the borders of the United Kingdom due to World War II era sanctions implemented that kept money for being taken out of the country by foreign businesses. Because of this MGM had to use what profits it made from its features within UK boarders. Despite having produced a number of small pictures from their British based studio MGM decided to capitalize on its surplus within the borders to produce a lavish prestige motion picture that would surely attract vast attention.


The production was shot entirely in Great Britain, mainly that the MGM-British Studios and a number of locations through England and Scotland. With strict sanctions on working visas most everyone that worked on the picture were British as well. To make things easier even most of the starring cast had British citizenry, including Elizabet Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, and Emlyn Williams. The idea of the film crew being made up of talent from the UK would attract some of the finest craftsmen in England’s own film industry, including renowned cinematographer Freddie Young who earned himself an Oscar nomination

Leading this vastly British production would be a long time MGM studio director, American filmmaker Richard Thorpe. Perhaps best known to cinema history as the original director of The Wizard of Oz (1939) before being fired after only two weeks of shooting, his eye for color and costume drama was the guide for the picture for better or for worse. Thorpe was a very visual director, working hardon the details captured within frame, so much so that actress Joan Fontaine would complain he worried more about how the horses acted over the performances of the human actors.

Coming off of Quo Vadis, Robert Taylor was cast yet again as the star of another prestige color picture for MGM, becoming a face of such features at the studio. For co-star Elizabeth Taylor, Ivanhoe was not a happy experience for her. Coming off a recent divorce, of which she had many, the young Taylor was being somewhat reprimanded by the studio as the still teenage starlet was beginning to attract negative tabloid attention. Her feeling here was of being shipped to England to be kept under better control in this large feature in a role that had little for her to do other than being eye candy. She disliked the role of Rebecca, the Jewish beauty, as her character had very little in substance for her to work with, doing more to fill costumes than she did acting.

Joan Fontaine’s appearance as Lady Rowena, Ivanhoe’s love interest, can also be considered a rather muted character. Starring alongside of Elizabeth Taylor, Fontaine’s appearance in the feature is easily overshadowed as MGM made sure to focus more on 19 year-old Taylor over the 34 year-old Fontaine. Adding to English authenticity were the performance of George Sanders, as the villainous Bois-Guilbert, and the silly comedic appearance of Emlyn Williams as Wamba, Ivanhoe’s bumbling squire.

From a wide view Ivanhoe can be an impressive motion picture. It is large, bright, full or extras, with elaborate set decoration, manifesting the vast budget utilized to produce it. However, with closer inspection the picture does reveal hints of creative lethargy. Sword fighting was more of a novelty in acting at the time, but even the stage fighting here comes away looking like children swinging swords at each other, aiming only to hit metal on metal rather than looking as if men are fighting to the death. There also contains an impressive number of arrows being fired through many scenes. However, it is oblivious the arrows are fired simultaneously from some sort of offscreen contraption as a bundle of dozens of arrows come from the same direction at the same time at the same speed, making it a bit distracting at times. Yet, these are quibbles for those that enjoy filmmaking thinking that which goes unseen along with that on frame, focusing on details aside from story.

Ivanhoe was a massive success for MGM in 1952, its prestige picture hype warranting a New York premiere, record setting ticket sales at theaters, and becoming one of the top grossers of the year. Nominations of Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Score manifested how much of an impact the film had on popular culture of the period as being one of the largest films ever produced to that time. MGM immediately perceived the success of Ivanhoe as a formula they could recreate into comparable pictures in hope of similar box office outcomes. The result were two more Robert Taylor vehicles in 1953’s Knights of the Round Table and 1955’s The Adventures of Quentin Durward, both proving to be financial failures.

The success of the film demonstrates how movie studios were moving to large productions to keep the attention of audiences that were increasingly being distracted by the free entertainment of television. Here the formula worked, but it was not always so. The medieval picture would win eyes for some, but interest would eventually fade. Ultimately Ivanhoe would lose interest in cinematic history, overshadowed by other period features, even by those years prior to it such as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Today it remains a footnote, all but forgotten in the tapestry of motion pictures, a remnant of an industry so desperate to keep attention, but missed the mark on substance.