In 12th century England, a knight by the name of Ivanhoe (Anthony Andrews) returns home from the Holy Wars to find Prince John (Ronald Pickup) has usurped the throne of his brother King Richard (Julian Glover) and the Normans have taken the country from the Saxons. Based on the romantic medieval classic by Sir Walter Scott, this is a rather lackluster production. The film follows the novel closely and connects all the dots but there's no excitement, no passion to the tale. It moves along slowly and feels padded out. It doesn't help that Andrews is rather pallid as Ivanhoe which allows Sam Neill to take center stage as the knight Bois-Guilbert whose passion for a Jewess (Olivia Hussey) proves his undoing. The film's final duel between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert is very well done but this comes near the end of the film's 2 1/2 hour running time. Outside of Neill and James Mason as the Jew, Isaac of York, the acting is decidedly mediocre. Directed by Douglas Camfield with an uninspired score by Allyn Ferguson. The 1952 MGM film remains the definitive version to date. With Michael Hordern, Lysette Anthony, Stuart Wilson, John Rhys Davies and Michael Gothard. Curiously, the film is very popular in Sweden and supposedly shown every New Years Day.
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