Ivanhoe is a historical novel written by Sir Walter Scott in the early 19th century. The book itself is amazing and there is no need to say anything further about it. This movie on the other hand shows, how Hollywood production was able to cut out, twist and ruin a great story, presenting it in the end as a butchered,naive and twisted movie, such as this one. If you watch only the movie, then you wont know what I am writing about , so I do recommend to read the book, preferably after the movie,because if you do it opposite,maybe you wont have the stomach for the movie. It is a greatest shame,how some main characters were cut out, how story-line doesn't follow anything and mistakes made in the "historical" movie are just unforgivable.

MGM shot Ivanhoe in Britain and gone for that old fashioned Hollywood adventure in the same vein as Errol Flynn's Robin Hood but less successfully.Baddie Prince John is scheming for the throne of England as his brother King Richard is held for ransom.It is an amiable rip roaring adventure, Walter Scott's classic story is distilled, Robert Taylor is too stiff as the Saxon knight who dislikes the Normans. Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine provide the allure as two women of different faiths that have fallen for him.George Sanders is the hissable villain, the champion knight of King John but his love for Jewish Rebecca is sincere. Guy Rolfe is having a hoot as the despicable King John.The film was made in 1952 and there is some allusion to McCarthyism.

Ivanhoe, directed by Richard Thorpe, is a rousing movie that doesn't faithfully follow the plot of Walter Scott's novel. Still, it works at its own level as a great story about a young Saxon knight who has pledged loyalty to King Richard. In the book, and the film, Ivanhoe's father has disowned him because Ivanhoe has betrayed his Saxon roots. Scott's hero is as much Richard the Lion-Hearted as it is Ivanhoe. The movie is all Ivanhoe (played by Robert Taylor.). Both book and novel are really about the fact that two women love Ivanhoe--a Saxon woman, Rowena, played by Joan Fontaine, and a Jewish woman, Rebecca, played by Elizabeth Taylor.The casting is where the movie gets into trouble. Scott's Ivanhoe is a young man, and both Rowena and Rebecca are young women. However, the studios wanted marquee names, and that's what they got. Youth is what they didn't get. When the film was made, Robert Taylor was 41 and Joan Fontaine was 35. Not exactly over the hill, but not the youthful lovers Scott (or we) envisioned.Taylor, on the other hand, was only 20. After all the scandals and the loss of her youthful beauty, it's easy for us to forget what she looked like at age 20. Just to remind everyone, she was impossibly, achingly beautiful. When she's on the screen, we don't see anyone else.This is a movie to see because it has a wonderful, rousing (invented) fight scene at the end, and because Taylor has to be seen to be believed. Don't expect a subtle, intellectual movie, and you won't be disappointed.

The less said about this film as a depiction of life in medieval England the better (since when did Saxon landowners eat turkey? And how did they manage to have such effective lighting in their manorial halls?) However, as a colourful spectacular romp, it had its moments, and the star cast acted well despite the appallingly awful dialogue. The Saxons hate the Normans, and vice versa, and King Richard has been locked up in a castle in Austria as Prince John refuses to pay his ransom. Ivanhoe, also returning from the Crusades, wanders round European castles singing songs (not the sort Minnesingers would have sung) until Richard joins in the chorus. Actually, I thought it was Blondel who found the king. Back in England, the Saxons cannot raise the ransom, so turn to the Jews of Sheffield and York. In the process, Ivanhoe, engaged to Joan Fontaine, catches the eye of Elizabeth Taylor, Isaac's daughter. Then aged 20, she was stunningly beautiful with a figure to die for. Unlike Jessica, she was not close confined, and gives her jewels to Ivanhoe so he can buy armour to enter the tournaments with the Normans, which he does and wins. The tournament scenes are the best thing about the film, with some excellent crafted action shots. The main battle scene involves the Saxons besieging the Normans in a Scottish castle: done without the aid of cgi, there were some quite spectacular stunts. In the end Liz is captured by the Normans and about to be burnt as a witch when Ivanhoe offers to defend her in mortal combat. His Norman adversary is George Sanders who himself has, not surprisingly, fallen for Miss Taylor's ample charms. After a long fight, ball and chain versus throwing axe, Sanders is mortally wounded, just as Richard and a large retinue of knights splendidly rides in from Austria (clearly the Channel ferries were working well) to reclaim the crown, pardon Ivanhoe and release Liz, to general rejoicing. The Technicolor© was superb, and it was great to see Valentine Dyall in a bit part.