Ivanhoe (1952)

Ivanhoe is a 1952 American cinema film in color, directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman for MGM. The cast features Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie, and Felix Aylmer. The screenplay is by Æneas MacKenzie, Marguerite Roberts and Noel Langley, based on the historical novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.

The film was the first in what turned out to be an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and star, Robert Taylor. The others were Knights of the Round Table (1953) and The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955). All three were made at MGM's British Studios at Elstree, near London.

During the production, one of the screenwriters, Marguerite Roberts, was blacklisted by the House on Un-American Activities Committee, and MGM received permission from the Screen Writers Guild to remove her credit from the film.

Synopsis

Richard the Lionheart (Norman Wooland), King of England, vanishes while returning from the Crusades. One of his knights, the Saxon Wilfred of Ivanhoe (Robert Taylor), searches tirelessly for him, finally finding him being held for ransom by Leopold of Austria for the enormous sum of 150,000 marks of silver. Richard’s treacherous brother, Prince John (Guy Rolfe), knows about it, but enjoys ruling in his absence.

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