Ivanhoe

MGM shot this Walter Scott adaptation in England, one of the big productions the studio mounted in the fifties partly to spend money that had accumulated in Europe and could not be taken home. Robert Taylor plays Ivanhoe, Elizabeth Taylor plays the Jewish Rebecca, Joan Fontaine plays Rowena, and George Sanders is de Bois-Guilbert. The film tells the story of Richard the Lionheart's ransom and stages its tournaments, but its real force comes from somewhere unexpected: Rebecca. A woman who loves Ivanhoe and can never have him because of her faith, she is the most alive figure on screen, and Elizabeth Taylor, twenty years old, carries the picture's emotional weight in the part. It received three Oscar nominations, for Best Picture, colour cinematography and score. Marguerite Roberts, who worked on the screenplay, was blacklisted around the same time for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, spent nine years unable to find work, and did not return to films until 1962. Who it is for: viewers who love the classic Hollywood costume epic and its tournament set pieces. Who it is not for: anyone seeking fidelity to Scott's novel or historical realism.