Movie: Camelot (Joshua Logan, 1967)
Richard Harris recorded MacArthur Park after catching the singing bug on the set of Camelot. It's quite evident he enjoyed the experience, but the film's best song belongs to Franco Nero. "C'est Moi" introduces Lancelot as essentially the very model of a modern knight remarkable. "Had I been made the partner of Eve, we'd be in Eden still" sings this guy who calls himself "the godliest man I know, a French Prometheus unbound with a will and a self-restraint that's the envy of every saint." Of course such a man of "valor untold" should hear King Arthur's call to gather the noblest knights of England and beyond to turn "Might is Right" into "Might for Right". Nero performs the song with a broad touch of riducule, appropriate for someone who sees himself as the ultimate paragon of virtue and strength, but his desire to devote such exalting qualities to such a just cause is presented in fully approving sincerity. Such contradictions make Camelot a far better and far more interesting film than I ever expected. It is about idealists struggling to reconcile their wish to live up to their ideals with their realisation that they may lack the faculties to do so.
For a long while Lancelot is able to meet his own standards, but the temptations of the flesh eventually come for even those of the greatest moral and physical standing. He should have been warned by "The Lusty Month of May", one of those typical Broadway showstoppers whose cheer for its own sake explains some of my mild resistance towards musical theatre. These performances with their overtly theatrical expressions of happiness and their minutely choreographed outburts of 'spontaneous' movement sometimes come off as cynical and insincere, force-feeding joy to the audience. The Lusty Month of May (as well as some other songs here) can't entirely escape such accusations, but it does help present Camelot as an earthly Eden where everyone can live and love in beauty and merriment. Lancelot and Guinevere (Vanessa Redgrave) know that this has paradise has been created by the values King Arhtur (Richard Harris) has instilled and that betraying him would also be a betrayal of everything they and Camelot stand for, and yet, none of that matters when Lancelot brings back from the dead a knight he accidentally killed in a jousting duel. He doesnt fully understand how he did it, or why the looks he shares with Gunievere are suddenly so charged, but he has to face that love is an irrational force that can alter any plan and challenge any self-conception.
King Arthur loves Guinevere and Lancelot equally and Harris has a great monologue on the dilemma tormenting him. Should he confront them about their affair and punish them, or would that not be worthy of a king espousing the value of civilisation? He doesn't know which decision would be the most just, and more importantly, he doesn't entirely trust himself to have the ability to determine what is just. A lot of Arthur's characterisation builds on an early scene of him wooing Guinevere by explaining how he became King. The stone in the sword is of course one of the most legendary stories in British culture, but Logan and Harris don't treat it with the reverence such designations infer. Arthur talks about it sheepishly, presenting it as a somewhat ridiculous coincidence there was nothing mystical, preordained or grandiose about. He is simply an ordinary man who suddenly had to live up to royal responsibilities, and it's not a given that he will ever fully manage to. The film won Oscars for its Set and Costume Design, but its biggest strength are the many closeups of its main actors trying to make sense of a situation where every choice has major benefits and drawbacks. It leads to a wonderful finale where all three try to cooperate towards a common goal despite being forced to take actions that move them in contrasting directions.
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