While extant on many public-domain labels, this 1963 chivalry costumer, umpteenth version of fall of Camelot, here appears courtesy of Festival Films for the first time on DVD in its original widescreen framing. It does not take the wisdom of Merlin the Magician to say that if you are going to dramatize Lancelot and Guinevere (actually the feature's alternative title), widescreen is really the way to go.
Parenthetically, however, one must note this release is not a fully digital "restoration"; Ye Olde Scratches and Dust Markes still appear on the spectacular vistas of the film emulsion.
As for the film, it's a rather formal telling that eschews all supernatural sorcery (Merlin is but an inventor/advisor/ambassador figure, a la Ben Franklin). Otherwise, there are no great liberties taken with the mythic material. French-born Sir Lancelot (athletic actor Cornel Wilde, who also directed) faithfully serves noble King Arthur (Brian Aherne), who aims to unite the British Isles peacefully through his marriage to a neighboring princess, Guinevere (Jean Wallace). Lancelot eagerly fights a jousting tournament as Arthur's proxy, to win Guinevere from her uncooperative father.
But in the process, Lancelot and Guinevere themselves fall in love. The affair develops in the background of a Viking invasion crisis (one scene of an arrow piercing a head is still a shocking bit of violence). Arthur's ambitious bastard son Mordred (Michael Meacham, almost always pictured with a falcon on his shoulder) uses the queen's disgrace to try to seize the throne for himself.
Shot by the globetrotting Wilde partially in Iron-Curtain Yugoslavia, and partially in Britain's legendary Pinewood Studios, the film relates the saga almost only from the vantages of Lancelot and Guinevere, making Arthur largely a supporting player. Furthermore, L&G are portrayed by a real-life couple. Wilde and Wallace appeared in material together directed by Wilde, throughout their wedded life. Sticklers may complain that blonde-tressed Jean looks not quite the youthful maiden Guinevere is supposed to be—but then again few film adaptations of the Arthurian saga ever did cast age-correct-looking performers. Two that were attempted were Excalibur (1981) and King Arthur (2004).
Sword of Lancelot has less of a reputation than those more recent depictions, but its widescreen debut might still make it a minor Holy Grail find for cineastes pilgrimaging to shelves of classic cinema spectacles of yore. The only disc extra is a cheeky accompaniment of a medieval-themed Popeye cartoon ("Ancient Fistory") that is actually more of a burlesque of Cinderella. Recommended.