One of those costume epics made in the years following Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood which takes itself too seriously and retains none of the charm and heart characteristic of that timeless classic. Though handsomely mounted it moves like a knight in rusty armor and relies far too much on insipid writing. The film needed a vibrant leading actor to carry it through and Robert Taylor just goes through the motions as the hero of the title. Actually it's probably his best role considering the other mediocre or downright awful performances he registered over the course of his lacklustre career.
The film does contain some great British actors, but George Sanders as de Bois Guilbert isn't challenged in the least by the flat dialogue and just phones his lines in. Joan Fontaine does the best she can with her role as Rowena while Elizabeth Taylor is just simply eye candy and offers little more. The picture is left to Guy Rolfe to steal and he does just that, turning in a properly nasty performance as the wicked Prince John. The guy just looks like bad tidings and plays the part with relish.
The best sequence is of course the Jousting tournament, while the castle siege sequence is a routine and at times cheesy (all those arrows) exercise leading to the final battle between de Bois and Ivanhoe which has the worst sound effects you can imagine.
What should be an entertaining two hours just isn't. Aside from the wooden script, the direction is also culpable leaving one wishing Michael Curtiz or someone of his ilk had have helmed it. The fifties were strewn with bland swashbucklers, Knights of the Round Table, also starring Taylor, another example. Only Danny Kaye in the great send-up The Court Jester managed to deliver a swashbuckling masterpiece full of charm and humor in that decade.
Ivanhoe is watchable but mostly forgettable.
The film does contain some great British actors, but George Sanders as de Bois Guilbert isn't challenged in the least by the flat dialogue and just phones his lines in. Joan Fontaine does the best she can with her role as Rowena while Elizabeth Taylor is just simply eye candy and offers little more. The picture is left to Guy Rolfe to steal and he does just that, turning in a properly nasty performance as the wicked Prince John. The guy just looks like bad tidings and plays the part with relish.
The best sequence is of course the Jousting tournament, while the castle siege sequence is a routine and at times cheesy (all those arrows) exercise leading to the final battle between de Bois and Ivanhoe which has the worst sound effects you can imagine.
What should be an entertaining two hours just isn't. Aside from the wooden script, the direction is also culpable leaving one wishing Michael Curtiz or someone of his ilk had have helmed it. The fifties were strewn with bland swashbucklers, Knights of the Round Table, also starring Taylor, another example. Only Danny Kaye in the great send-up The Court Jester managed to deliver a swashbuckling masterpiece full of charm and humor in that decade.
Ivanhoe is watchable but mostly forgettable.