The world of Arthurian lore is packed with great adventures, high drama. love, lust, betrayal, battles and conniving magic users. Camelot was born from pagan myths turned into chivalric romance, and its archetypes run deep and ancient. It is no surprise that filmmakers have long interested in the story of King Arthur, with varying results. The following list of 16 Arthurian-themed film and TV projects ranks the best of those ambitious cinematic efforts.
16) First Knight (1995)
Columbia Pictures rolled out First Knight in the summer of 1995. A Jerry Zucker-directed Arthurian chivalric romance starring Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond and Ben Cross, First Knight is unique among Arthurian projects for its rejection of the story's magical aspects. First Knight looks to the early works of French poet Chretien de Troyes, who wrote about Arthur in the 12th century, for inspiration.
First Knight's script focuses on the classic relationship/love triangle between Lancelot, Arthur and Guinevere, which is where the film fails. The great flaw is the inexplicable trashing of Lancelot's character: Richard Gere is great at playing a womanizing rogue, but turning Lancelot into that kind of crappy guy contradicts everything the original character stands for (loyalty, purity and chivalry), and it is not replaced with an equally obsessive motivation.
First Knight is a decent watch and performed well at the box office, but critics were often unhappy with the execution of its classic source material. Film critic Roger Ebert commented how unfortunate it was that First Knight opened in the same window as two other superior historical films, Rob Roy and Braveheart, which left it pale in comparison. Ebert writes, "The film is entertaining enough in its own way, and Sean Connery makes a splendid King Arthur, but compared with earlier films this one seems thin and unconvincing."
15) King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Beware this "bold" reinterpretation. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is another somewhat entertaining Arthurian project with plenty going for it that turns into a slow-motion train wreck. The Critics' Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes sums up the movie in one concise sentence: "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword piles mounds of modern action flash on an age-old tale -- and wipes out much of made it a classic story in the first place."
Like most of the Arthurian adaptations on this list, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword had a lot going for it. Warner Bros. pumped 175 million dollars into the budget. Guy Ritche directs a stellar list of players including Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana and Aiden Gillen. Yet the movie itself is a frantic blur of movement fused with an often jarring contemporary sensibility; neither the viewers nor the under-developed characters are allowed to take a breath.
Warner Bros. had hoped this expensive Arthurian film would be the first in a series of six installments, but King Arthur: Legend of the Sword brutally bombed at the box office, shooting down their pie-in-the-sky ambitions. Shot in Guy Richie's signature style and peppered with wit and slick humor, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is actually quite watchable...if you don't mind the style-over-substance approach.
14) Lancelot and Guinevere (The Sword of Lancelot) (1963)
One of old Hollywood's greatest contributions to the legend of King Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere takes the tale's most tragic elements and makes them ripe fodder for actor/director Cornel Wilde's epic melodrama. Focusing on the forbidden love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere and Arthur's resulting betrayal, the film has a haunting, melancholy tone along with a colorful bounciness typical of movies from this time.
Whether one loves or hates Lancelot and Guinevere, it is appropriate to drop the majority of the praise or blame squarely on Cornel Wilde's shoulders; he co-produced, co-wrote and directed the film, along with performing the lead role of Lancelot. Wilde cast his current actress/wife, Jean Wallace, as Guinevere, along with other acting veterans like Brian Aherne and George Baker. Things can get muddled when actors take the director's chair, but Wilde largely maintains the narrative drive and digs deep into the star-crossed sadness of the Camelot story.
Ahead of its time in terms of gore and battle spectacle, Lancelot and Guinevere tries its best to deliver an unflinchingly dark and sad version of the King Arthur tale. The film is constrained in places by wooden dialogue and Wilde's relative inexperience as a director, but overall the picture remains a fine Arthurian adeventure.
13) The Winter King (2023)
As the newest Arthurian-themed show on this list, it's unfortunate that MGM+'s The Winter King cannot be ranked higher, considering the original source material is Bernard Cornwell's popular book series The Warlord Chronicles. Fans of historical fiction have a soft spot for Cornwell; he wrote The Saxon Stories, the basis for the brilliant and successful Netflix series The Last Kingdom. Alas, The Winter King misfired and was canceled after only one disappointing season.
The Winter King isn't all bad and certainly serves up some treats for Arthurian/medieval buffs: blood-spattered battle sequences abound, along with plenty of pagans, sex and power plays. But it all rings too hollow. Spoiled by the wonderful acting and coherent storylines of The Last Kingdom, even viewers who enjoy The Winter King must wince at its moments of subpar acting, sloppy writing and the inexplicable horror which is Derfel's wig. Whichever executive at MGM+ made the decision to ignore the text of Cornwell's lovely books and replace it with Hollywood-soaked bombast, poorly developed characters and historical ignorance should be fired, if it hasn't happened already.
Where did The Winter King underperform? While modern re-imaginings of old stories can prove both entertaining and exciting, there are always potential traps awaiting the re-imaginers. Epics as old and reworked as the Arthurian legend are idiosyncratic, a patchwork assemblage of separate stories woven together and incessantly reformed in the oral tradition before being committed to paper much later. Yet the archetypical underpinnings of these narratives are powerful, and woe betide any adapter who adds in lots of new elements without making sure they're equally powerful.
12) King Arthur (2004)
Expanding on the historical possibility that the real man whose life was the germ of the King Arthur myth was a former Roman cavalry officer living in Britain, King Arthur grabs that premise and runs hog-wild with it. With Jerry Bruckheimer producing and Antoine Fuqua directing, hopes ran high that the ancient legend would prove to be a contemporary sword and sorcery blockbuster. Sometimes things just don't work out.
Touchstone Pictures had assembled all the right pieces. Along with Fuqua, Bruckheimer enlisted super-hot composer Hans Zimmer to do the music, while casting scored big by signing up Clive Owen, Keira Knightly, Mads Mikkelsen, Joel Edgerton, Stellan Skarsgard, Stephen Dillaine and Ray Winstone. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, screenwriter David Franzoni decided to throw 90% of the traditional Arthur story to the curb and proceed with a creative writing mishmash all their own.
Thanks to a vigorous ad campaign, cinema-friendly action sequences and powerful acting from the cast, King Arthur made money at the box office. Critics were unimpressed, mostly panning the movie or rating it as average. A.O. Scott of the New York Times wrote the film was "a blunt, glowering B picture, shot in murky fog and battlefield smoke, full of silly pomposity and swollen music ... The combat scenes, though boisterous and brutal, are no more coherent than the story ..." A bit harsh, for King Arthur is a mostly entertaining movie as long as the viewer doesn't think too hard.
11) The Mists of Avalon (2001)
Girl power! The Mists of Avalon, a two-part TV miniseries on TNT, explores the legendary story of King Arthur through the perspective of the women characters. Packed with impressive locations, sets and costumes, the primarily female cast plows through storylines involving the tale's traditional elements of sorcery, violence and incest as the collapse of Camelot looms large in the background.
Based on the bestselling 1983 Marion Zimmer-Bradley novel of the same name, The Mists of Avalon's series is loaded with superb actresses, including Anjelica Huston, Julianna Margulies, Joan Allen and Smantha Mathis. The miniseries eventually gets going near the end, but unlike the novel, the production often strains under the weight of its own epic aspirations; despite the powerhouse players and the dramatic material, The Mists of Avalon suffers from an oft-plodding pace and a confused presentation of complex narrative threads.
The Mists of Avalon is a good TV miniseries, not great, but it's unique female perspective on the King Arthur story is a true stroke of genius. The complex and divided characters of Morgan le Fay, Guinevere, Igraine, Morgause, Viviane and more provide the majority of the drama as the story explores the power and peril of their stations in Camelot, their relationships with the more famous male characters and ultimately le Fay's defense of her pagan Celtic tradition against the relentless march of Christianity.
10) Lancelot of the Lake or Lancelot du Lac (1974)
Sooner or later, a modern Arthurian storyteller feels the need to get artsy. Lancelot of the Lake, made with a French minimalist vibe, represents one of those times. Directed by the peerless Robert Bresson, the movie is a strange, ascetic take on the normally passionate and idealistic tone of most Arthurian-themed movies. It tackles Lancelot's profound inner turmoil over his illicit love affair with Guinevere and his betrayal of Arthur. Do not make the mistake of assuming Bresson's characters will remain paragons of virtue; they're all duplicitous liars and thieves.
In order to drain the theatrical "acting" out of his cast (he referred to them as "models"), Bresson used untrained amateurs for every part, punishing them with endless takes until any sense of performance had been bled away into something naked and raw. Bresson also tried to erase all fantastical aspects of the story. The movie only occasionally shows violence, but when it does appear it is brutal and graphic. Viewers must be prepared for some jerky camera work, including disjointed closeups and acts of intentional disorientation.
Lancelot of the Lake is simply not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but that does not mean it fails to open new narrative doors for the viewers it speaks to. Surprisingly, the film holds a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and director David Lowrey lists Lancelot of the Lake as one of the inspirations behind his film The Green Knight. If you are feeling adventurous or just bored of the same cinematic fare, give Bresson's exhausting, mesmerizing and beautifully ugly movie a watch.
9) Tristan and Isolde (2006)
The medieval chivalric romance of Tristan and Isolde (often written as Tristan and Iseult) is a relative latecomer to the harlequin patchwork of Arthurian legend. Originating in Celtic myth, the Tristan and Isolde story eventually merged with the developing Arthurian lore during the 13th century, a process that culminated in Tristan becoming a Knight of the Round Table.
The 2006 film Tristan and Isolde, directed by Kevin Reynolds and produced by Ridley Scott, stars James Franco, Sophia Myles, Rufus Sewell and Henry Cavill, and was Franchise Picture's final film before the company collapsed into bankruptcy. Tristan and Isolde is a gentle, elegant and ultimately tragic journey through a familiar Arthurian landscape, delivering a well-packaged narrative and endearing performances from the two leads.
As with many Arthurian-themed films, critics were torn in their reaction to Tristan and Isolde. The main complaints charge that the creative superstars involved in the making of the picture played it too safe. New York Times critic Manhola Dargis wrote that Tristan and Isolde offers "some fairly bloodless fighting and some very chaste lovemaking" and "delivers exactly what it promises, no less, no more." Yet this sweet adaptation of the Tristan and Isolde story is exceptional largely because it bucks the modern trends of gory violence and explicit sex.
8) Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (2020)
Wherever director Guillermo del Toro goes, live-action or animated, awesomeness must follow. As the creator of much lauded, weird and fantastical cinematic jaunts including Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy and The Shape of Water, del Toro tackles the venerable Arthurian legend with gusto, designing the Tales of Arcadia trilogy with Wizards as the third and final installment, appearing after Trollhunters and 3Below.
Del Toro introduces a new Arthurian character named Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan, a long-forgotten protege of Merlin's who reappears with a determination to prove his sorcery skills to the doughy old master. The production is blessed with voice talent like Colin O'Donoghue, David Bradley, Lena Heady, Alfred Molina, Steven Yeun, Kelsey Grammar and Emile Hirsch, to name a few. Although the series does contain some violence, it is appropriate for children.
Critics almost universally adored the Tales of Arcadia series for its groundbreaking animation and effective storytelling, reflected in its 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Wizards was honored with the 2021 Kidscreen Award for "Best New Series" and nominated for four Emmys. Entertainment Voice critics Alci Rengifo writes, "Del Toro wants everyone, even the adults, to get something out of Wizards: Tales of Arcadia. This makes it an adventure worth taking, like any great fairy tale."
7) Merlin (2008-2012)
The character of Merlin, on occasion, can be overlooked or rendered cartoonish, particularly when he's a side character and the main focus is on the likes of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Mordred and Morgan le Fay. Not so with the excellent BBC fantasy-adventure drama series, aptly titled Merlin, which focuses on the relationship between Merlin and Arthur as younger men. The choice to make Merlin a young man is obviously playing fast and loose with the traditional legend, but the creative team's excellent writing choices make this re-imagining very worthwhile.
Merlin benefits from the expertise of Doctor Who head writer Russel T. Davies, fabulous locations in Wales and France, and the talents of up-and-comers like Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Angel Coulby and Katie McGrath. Plus, veteran actor John Hurt stops by to provide the voice of the Great Dragon.
Powered by some masterful (and occasionally dark) narrative turns and a playful, sparkling chemistry between the cast, Merlin is a whole lot of fun to watch. The show is engaging enough to forgive some clunky special effects (these improve as the show matures) and a bit of a too-modern Beverly Hills 90210 feel. The whole effort is just so charming the viewer doesn't mind the flaws.
6) Camelot (1967)
There are people who run screaming for the doors whenever the words "musical version" are uttered, but it feels appropirate for the overwrought Arthurian legend. The 1967 movie Camelot is the film version of the successful Broadway musical of the same name which premiered in 1960, ran for 837 performances and won four Tony Awards.
The film version of Camelot differs from the Broadway show in several significant ways. While Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe's music remains intact, nearly the entire cast was changed: Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, Robert Goulet and Roddy McDowell starred on Broadway but did not transition to the movie, being replaced by Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero and David Hemmings. The film cast is stellar (their effort won three Academy Awards) but one still wishes the incomparable Broadway group could have stayed on for the movie.
Based on the superb T.H. White novel The Once and Future King, both the Camelot stage play and the film remain faithful to the traditional King Arthur story. For critics, the ambitious and expensive movie version was a mixed bag. Many loved the pageantry, music and performances while others bemoaned the film as boring (it runs for three hours), hollow and cheap looking. In the end, Camelot is less than it could have been but very rich in spirit. It honors the legend it portrays.
5) Knights of the Round Table (1953)
Standing as old Hollywood's finest effort to tackle the Arthurian legend, MGM's Knights of the Round Table is as grand and epic as the King Arthur story requires. As MGM's first film shot in Cinemascope, the studio declared the images were captured in "COLOR magnificence," which most likely means Eastman color stock film. Knights of the Round Table tells an outdated version of the story, conjuring up a fantasy world where honor-bound knights excel in the arts of chivalry and noble women extol the virtues of loyalty, mercy and purity, but this wholesomeness also illuminates the betrayal of Arthur with a brutal starkness only such an idealistic background can provide.
Director Richard Thorpe's traditional vision of Camelot required actors of titanic scale to fill out his colorful canvas of pageantry and grandeur, and he got them: his cast included box office headliners Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner and Mel Ferrer. Knights of the Round Table contains much jousting, lovingly shot and choreographed for maximum impact.
While hewing reasonably close to Thomas Malory's original Le Morte d'Arthur, the world of Knights of the Round Table exists more in the romantic chivalric milieu of the Vulgate Cycle, where later French writers added a heavy Christian perspective along with the introduction of Lancelot, the quest for the Holy Grail and more development of Merlin's character. The film succeeds as a vibrant but conventional adaptation of the Lancelot/Guenevere/Arthur love triangle, and both Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner are consistently beautiful.
4) The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Although cinema buffs tend to consider animated films to be cut from lesser cloth, films like The Sword in the Stone have long proven that prejudice baseless. Why does this old Disney musical comedy rank so highly in our list? Ask anyone who watched it as a child. In fact, ask anyone who watched it at any age and you'll get your answer.
As the last animated Disney film to be released while Walt Disney was still alive, The Sword in the Stone sometimes plays fast and loose with the Arthurian legend, but it's all so much fun that the viewer is happy to take the ride. Based on the first book of the same name in author T.H. White's Arthurian tetralogy The Once and Future King, the movie benefits from the quality of the source material, with its well-developed characters, intimate tone and thoughtfulness.
Of course, The Sword in the Stone is an animated romp about King Arthur as a child designed for children, yet the movie excels as an example of literature come to bubbly life for youngsters while still maintaining enough sophistication to keep the parents engaged. Lovingly voiced by actors like Sebastion Cabot, Karl Swenson and Martha Wentworth, the story is light, sweet and funny and makes for a perfect introduction to the universe of Arthurian lore.
3) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Yes, as the hoary old comedy from the people who brought you the Ministry of Silly Walks, Monty Python and the Holy Grail perseveres from generation to generation. The film lampoons the ancient Arthurian archetypes and tropes with razor-sharp wit and crude slapstick so skillfully combined that its signature scenes have withstood the test of time. Mention "It's only a flesh wound," or "bring out your dead," and more than one person in your vicinity will laugh.
Monty Python was an English comedy troupe formed in 1969 by Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones. Their skit show Monty Python's Flying Circus is considered a groundbreaking classic, and the majority of their feature film efforts such as Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life and the Gilliam/Palin/Jones production of Time Bandits continue to tickle new audiences.
Making a joke out the serious Arthurian universe is a stroke of genius. Everything works, from the ludicrous Knights Who Say "Ni" to the Holy Hand Grenade to nonexistent horses represented by clonking coconuts together (the tiny production budget could not accommodate real horses). If one could sum up the movie in one of its many memorable quotes, the best might be from Michael Palin's filth-covered peasant "Dennis" confronting the King and saying: "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
2) The Green Knight (2021)
As the finest of the modern Arthurian-themed efforts, David Lowrey's epic interpretation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is akin to a medieval fever dream. The story sweeps the viewer along with frequent swings into the fantastical that are occasionally opaque but always engaging. Dev Patel masterfully portrays Sir Gawain is an archetypical quest knight, the one who is unprepared and unworthy for this journey but who is forced to step up through circumstance and desperation.
As is the norm with Arthurian epic movies, The Green Knight boasts a stellar cast alongside the brilliant Patel, including Joel Edgerton, Alicia Vikander, Sarita Choudhury, Ralph Ineson and Sean Harris. Ineson, who delivers a rumbling, tour de force performance in Robert Eggers' The Witch, turns in an appropriately enigmatic version of Bertilak de Houtdesert, aka the Green Knight.
Lowrey remains somewhat faithful to the original14th century tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a chivalric poem (Middle English alliterative verse) penned by an anonymous writer, but he also gleefully diverges from the old story whenever and wherever he wishes to pursue different narrative tangents. The original's two dominant motifs, the beheading game and the exchange of winnings, often become submerged in the grand weirdness of it all, but it works just fine.
1) Excalibur (1981)
Director John Boorman's sprawling epic medieval fantasy Excaliber, though bumpy and underwhelming in places, still remains the high point for film versions of this story. The movie can brag about its star-studded cast, which includes Nicol Williamson, Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Ciaran Hinds and Patrick Stewart. It's a gorgeously stylish attempt, flashing silver armor and all, to encompass as much of traditional Arthurian lore as possible, with a deep connection to Sir Thomas Malory's early written version of the myth, Le Morte d'Arthur.
Described as both a "wonderous vision" and a "mess" by Roger Ebert, you'll always find Excalibur on everyone's "Best King Arthur Movies" list. The viewer can glory in the highs and lows of Boorman's complex, overblown, lusty and bloated vision, but the overall sensation is one of immersion in the wonder of its timeless story.
There is so much to enjoy in Excaliber, including Helen Mirren's deliciously wicked Morgana (perhaps the best all-time portrayal of this character) and the crippling flaws built into the very human players. If you believe the story of Camelot must be told big and bold, this often pompous and stagy but also awe-inspiring and dramatic rendition will fit the bill. The fire-lit battle of gleaming knights in Excalibur's opening sequence is worth the price of admission alone.
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