Hollywood's Middle Ages: The Development of Knights of the Round Table and Ivanhoe, 1935-53

This article examines the development of Hollywood representations of medieval Britain in Ivanhoe (1952) and Knights of the Round Table (1953). Both films were initially developed in the mid 1930s before being postponed on the eve of war, revised by new producers, and put into production in the early 1950s. Drawing on archived screenplays, this article shows that the films were drafted and redrafted across three decades in response to shifting political contexts. This layered creative process reveals how both films were able to accommodate subversive and occasionally contradictory political themes, and sheds light on the rich relationship between modern America and medieval Britain. As broader political events tested America's relationship to its own historical ideals, images of Britain's Middle Ages functioned as a cultural space used to articulate ideas about democracy and race relations at home, and interventionism abroad.