Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart.
Cinematography
MGM's Technicolor pops—those tournament banners are edible.
Costume
Elizabeth Taylor's emerald velvet still haunts costume designers.
Stunts
The siege sequence—real fire, real chaos, real 1952 danger.
Director
Richard Thorpe
Robert Taylor
Wilfred of Ivanhoe
Elizabeth Taylor
Rebecca
Joan Fontaine
Rowena
George Sanders
Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert
Emlyn Williams
Wamba
Robert Douglas
Sir Hugh De Bracy
Finlay Currie
Cedric
Felix Aylmer
Isaac
Francis de Wolff
Front De Boeuf
Norman Wooland
King Richard
Basil Sydney
Waldemar Fitzurse
Harold Warrender
Robin of Locksley
Patrick Holt
Philip DeMalvoisin
Roderick Lovell
Ralph DeVipont
Sebastian Cabot
Clerk of Copmanhurst
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Robert Taylor injured his hand during the tournament scene—kept filming with a hidden bandage. MGM insurance probably wept.
This adaptation sidelined Scott's Saxon/Norman conflict to focus on romance—Cold War audiences wanted love triangles, not ethnic nationalism.
