Ivanhoé (movie, 1952)

Ivanhoe is a movie American – British directed by Richard Thorpe , released in 1952 .

Synopsis

The epic and romantic quest of a young knight, faithful to his king, to reconquer his honor, his rank, the heart of his beautiful, and free his country from the oppression exercised on the people by a felonious prince.

Detailed Summary

Returning from crusade to the Holy Land , Ivanhoé’s Saxon Lord Wilfred finds an England bruised under the tyrannical yoke of the Normans and Jean Sans-Terre , the felonious brother of King Richard , who seized the throne in the absence of sovereign leading the crusaders to the land of Palestine. Penniless and denied by his father Cédric, Ivanhoe swears an oath to rally somehow the ransom of a hundred and fifty thousand marks of money claimed by Leopold V of Austria for the release of Richard the Lionheart, captured on the way back to England.

With the help of his faithful squire Wamba, former buffoon of Cedric’s house, whom he freed, Ivanhoe went off in search of the precious sum, especially with Isaac of York, a Jewish patriarch whom he saved from an ambush, and who swears, in the name of the legitimate king, to put an end to the persecutions inflicted on his people against his financial aid. In the house of Isaac, he meets Rebecca, the old man’s daughter, who falls in love with the Saxon lord, a vain love, however, because the knight’s heart belongs to Rowena, Cédric’s pupil.

Thanks to the jewels offered by Rebecca, Ivanhoe gets a horse and an armor to participate, under cover of anonymity, in the tournament of Ashby  (in) , with equestrian games organized by Prince Jean, who seeks to assert his authority by opposing his best Norman knights to the best Saxons, who undergo a real defeat. Ivanhoé made his appearance at the end of the tournament, and challenged the Normans one by one with success. In front of these victories, Robin des Boisand Little John, who had tried to shoot him an arrow in the forest, swear allegiance to him and offered him their help. Already hit during the penultimate assault, Ivanhoe is seriously injured during the last game by Bois-Guilbert. Cedric, now convinced that his son is neither a coward nor a traitor, forgives him and rehabilitates him in his heart.

In revenge, Prince John orders the capture of the young knight’s relatives. Cedric, Rowena, Wamba, Isaac and Rebecca are escorted to Front-de-Boeuf Castle. Alerted, Ivanhoé takes the head of the Saxon rebels of Robin Hood . He goes to the castle and proposes to Bois-Guilbert to be exchanged against his father. The Norman accepted the offer but seized the Saxon without honoring his part of the contract. Bois-Guilbert immediately decides to hang Ivanhoe to prevent the archers of Robin Hoodattack. But the knight managed to save himself. The siege of the fortress by the Saxon rebellion led to the liberation of the captives, except Rebecca, whom Bois-Guilbert fell in love with and held captive. Finally, the ransom set by Leopold of Austria is reunited by Saxons and Jews.

In retaliation against the recalcitrant, Jean makes judging and condemning at the stake, on the basis of false testimony obtained under duress, the young Rebecca for exercise of witchcraft, to the chagrin of Bois-Guilbert. Bursting at the end of the trial, Ivanhoé invokes God’s choice clause of putting the verdict in the balance of a duel . Ivanhoé, who represents Rebecca, confronts Bois-Guilbert chosen as champion of the court. The fight ends with the death of the Norman. The unexpected return of Richard the Lionheart ends the tyrannical reign of Prince John.

Technical sheet

  • Original title: Ivanhoe
  • French title: Ivanhoé
  • Director: Richard Thorpe ,
  • Script: Noel Langley , Marguerite Roberts , from the novel by Walter Scott
  • Adaptation: Æneas MacKenzie
  • Artistic direction: Alfred Junge
  • Costumes: Roger Furse
  • Photography: Freddie Young and Stephen Dade (additional shots)
  • Sound: AW Watkins
  • Editing: Frank Clarke
  • Music: Miklós Rózsa
  • Production: Pandro S. Berman
  • Production company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  • Distribution Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  • Country of Origin: United States , United Kingdom
  • Original language: English
  • Format: color ( Technicolor ) – 35mm – 1.37: 1 – Mono sound (Western Electric Sound System)
  • Genre: Adventure Movie
  • Duration: 106 minutes
  • Release dates:
    •  United Kingdom :(first in London )
    •  United States :(first in New York )
    •  France :
    • Belgium :

Distribution

  • Robert Taylor ( VF : Roland Menard ) : Ivanhoe
  • Elizabeth Taylor ( VF : Micheline Cevennes ) : Rebecca
  • Joan Fontaine ( VF : Louise Conte ) : Lady Rowena
  • George Sanders ( VF : Jean Marchat ) : Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert
  • Robert Douglas ( VF : Jacques Dacqmine ) : Sir Hughes de Bracy
  • Finlay Currie ( VF : Jean Brochard ) : Cedric
  • Felix Aylmer ( VF : John of Yd ) : Isaac of York
  • Guy Rolfe ( VF : Jean Martinelli ) : Prince John
  • Norman Wooland : Richard the Lionheart
  • Emlyn Williams ( VF : Heddy Rasimi ) : Wamba
  • Francis de Wolff ( VF : Louis Arbessier ) : Front of beef
  • Harold Warrender ( VF : Pierre Morin ) : Locksley aka Robin Hood
  • Basil Sydney ( VF : Roger Tréville ) : Waldemar FitzUrse
  • Sebastian Cabot ( VF : Émile Duard ) : cleric of Copmanhurst
  • Carl Jaffe ( VF : Jacques Beauchey ) : an Austrian monk
  • Megs Jenkins : Isaac’s maid
  • Valentine Dyall : Norman Guard
  • Jack Churchill : archer at Warwick Castle
  • Narrator ( VF : Jean-Claude Michel )

Movie Song

  • “The Song of Ivanhoe”: music by Miklós Rózsa , lyrics by Marguerite Roberts

Distinctions

Appointments

  • 1953 Oscars
    • Pandro S. Berman for the Best Film Oscar
    • Freddie Young for the Oscar for Best Photography
    • Miklós Rózsa for the Oscar for Best Score for a Drama or Comedy
  • Golden Globes 1953
    • Miklós Rózsa for the Golden Globe of the best film music

Around the film

On other Wikimedia projects:

  • Ivanhoé , on Wikimedia Commons
  • According to an article in Hollywood Reporter in 1951 1 , MGM received permission from the guild writers to remove the name of Marguerite Roberts generic, after she refused to testify before the Commission on non-US operations . His name was restored to the credits by the Writers Guild of America in 1997 1 .
  • According to some sources 2 , certain scenes of the film were filmed in Scotland at the Castle of Doune , in the vicinity of Stirling , but on the page of the Scottish Tourist Office 3devoted to this castle, it is the soap opera Ivanhoe  (in ) of the BBC that is quoted.

External links

  • (in) Ivanhoe [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
  • (in) Ivanhoé [ archive ] on the website of the American Film Institute

Notes and references

  1. ↑ a and b Cited in a note on the AFI sheet of the film (See external link)
  2. ↑ For example, IMDB and the wikipedia page in English about the movie
  3. ↑ (en) Doune castle ”  [ archive ] , on visitscotland.com (accessed February 14, 2017 )

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