Camelot – 4 Stars (Excellent)

"Camelot" is a wonderful Broadway musical that garnered Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Music, and Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. In other words, Camelot was a superb technical triumph in its day.

Camelot also won Golden Globes for Richard Harris for Best Actor (as King Arthur), Frederick Loewe for Best Original Score, and both Frederick Loewe (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics) for Best Original Song "If Ever I Should Leave You".

Golden Globe nominations also went to Camelot for Best Picture, to Vanessa Redgrave for Best Actress (as Guenevere) and to Franco Nero for the Most Promising Newcomer (as Lancelot Du Lac).

The cast was superb and included David Hemmings (as Mordred, who looked as slimy and cunning as possible), Lionel Jeffries (as King Pellinore) and Laurence Naismith (as Merlyn, the Magician).

Joshua Logan directed this film like a beautiful flower coming into blossom where it is planted only to be destroyed by fire.

Camelot, released in 1967, celebrates its 40th anniversary this October, and was based on the 1960 musical play Camelot written by Alan Jay Lerner with music by Frederic Loewe.

The play was based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White novel "The Once and Future King" and ran on Broadway for 873 performances. To say the least, it was well received.

The original cast for the play included Richard Burton as King Arthur, Julie Andrews as Queen Guenevere, Robert Goulet as Sir Lancelot, Roddy McDowell as Mordred, Robert Coote as King Pellinore and David Hurst as Merlyn with Moss Hart as the Director.

Camelot became a modern day legend when it was immortalized-after President John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963-by revealing that the show's original cast recording had been the favorite bedtime listening in the White House. Kennedy's favorite lines were in the final number (when King Arthur knights a young boy and tells him to pass on the story of Camelot to future generations):

Don't let it be forgot,

That once there was a spot,

For one brief, shining moment

That was known as Camelot.

Since then, Camelot has been associated with the Kennedy administration, and the glory and the tragedy of the Kennedy family. Kennedy was the youngest elected President, the first Roman Catholic President, and the youngest President to die.

The following synopsis of Camelot from wikipedia.com is important in setting the stage for what I am about to reveal to you (the songs to accompany the scene are in parentheses):

"Guenevere arrives in Camelot on a wintry morning to marry King Arthur (of England) and is greeted festively by the Court. Arthur, shy and nervous, hides in the nearby woods ("I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight?").

"Guenevere comes to the woods, uncertain about herself and her future ("The Simple Joys of Maidenhood"). She stumbles into Arthur, who tells her about life in Camelot ("Camelot"), and then discloses his identity. They are each happily charmed by the other.

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