Ivanhoe

(Richard Thorpe, US/UK 1952, 106 min., 35mm)

Elizabeth Taylor. Elizabeth Taylor literally shines in this ultimate Technicolor adaptation of the historical novel by Sir Walter Scott. Suspenseful narrative, packed with action, romance, and intrigue, revolves around the attempts of a valiant group of loyal knights and outlaws (including Robin Hood) to dethrone the evil impostor Prince John, and bring missing Richard the Lionheart back to England’s throne.

“Out of Sir Walter Scott’s gloriously panoramic novel, Ivanhoe, which also contains an ample measure of twelfth-century social overtones, Producer Pandro S. Berman and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have fetched a motion picture that does them, Scott and English history proud. The credits should redound in that order, for it must be ungrudgingly agreed that those who emerge most triumphant are the producers of this film—they and the myriad able craftsmen and actors who helped to achieve this brilliantly colored tapestry of drama and spectacle.” – Bosley Crowther, New York Times (1952)