Ivanhoe: Robert Taylor in the Title Role

This 1952 color film was "based" on the book by Sir Walter Scott. While the movie has some differences with Scott's writings, none really makes it all that removed from the book, and the film captures the essence of the novel. I don't know about you, but in my school days, "Ivanhoe" was required reading by some teachers in the United States. At my school, they even showed this movie to the entire school. The popularity of Scott's book also spread the name "Cedric," as Scott was the inventor of this name, done solely for one of the main characters of "Ivanhoe." The film received three Academy Award Nominations, including for best picture. The book and the movie are only "loosely" based upon the actual history of those times, and they are something of a mixture of history and folklore, but also naturally fiction, as the book is a novel.  

The movie, set in about 1193-94, centers around Wilfred of Ivanhoe, played by Robert Taylor. Ivanhoe is a knight returned from the Holy Land, who wants to raise ransom money to free England's king, Richard I, who is better known to history as Richard the Lionhearted (played by Norman Wooland). Richard is being held captive by Duke Leopold of Austria. * Richard's brother, Prince John, despicably played by Guy Rolfe, knows of Richard's plight, but, along with some Norman knights, he wants to let Richard remain imprisoned, so that he can rule England.**

Ivanhoe's father, Cedric the Saxon, played by Finlay Currie, was descended from the displaced Saxon nobility, whose members were ousted by the Normans after defeating the Saxons in late 1066. Cedric is no lover of the Normans. *** While Cedric has respect for King Richard, he feels that Richard should have governed England, instead of going off to the Holy Land, which led to the country coming under the partial rule of Richard's brother, Prince John, a man Cedric feels is only interested in his own well being, and who is not dedicated to England. Cedric disowned his son, Ivanhoe, because Ivanhoe went against his wishes and also went off to fight in the Holy Land. Now Ivanhoe wants to repair the relationship with his father to help free Richard. Further, Cedric has under his care a Saxon princess, Rowena, played by Joan Fontaine. Ivanhoe and Rowena are in love, and she longs for news of Ivanhoe. Secretly, Ivanhoe is brought to her by Cedric's "fool" (jester), Wamba, played by Emlyn Williams, who then is taken by Ivanhoe as his squire. When Ivanhoe removes the servant's iron from around Wamba's neck, placed there when he was only eleven years old, it is the symbol of the freedom theme of the film, as Richard needs to be freed, Wamba needed to be freed, Jews need to be freed of bigotry and hatred (more on this below) and England needs to be freed from Prince John and Norman rule.

In the dining hall of Cedric's residence, where some of Prince John's Norman knights have been granted permission to stay the night by Cedric, an elderly Jew, Isaac of York, played by Felix Aylmer, asks for  admittance. Cedric gives his permission, although one of the Normans, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, played by George Sanders, voices opposition to having to be under the same roof with an "infidel." Cedric essentially tells the Norman that he has no right to exclude anyone based upon his own prejudices, since he, Cedric, admitted the Normans to his hall, although he doesn't like them. When Isaac enters, the hall is full and no one will give him a seat except Ivanhoe, who is there, unknown to his father. When Cedric later learns of his son's presence, he tells him to leave, but not before Ivanhoe tells his father that Richard is alive and being held for ransom.

Ivanhoe helps to defend Isaac against an attack and robbery by two Norman knights. He escorts Isaac back to Isaac's actual home, where he sees, and is seen by, Isaac's daughter, Rebecca, played by Elizabeth Taylor, but the two are not introduced. Ivanhoe asks for Isaac's help in raising Richard's ransom, but Isaac is at first skeptical to help Richard, as there had been public violence against Jews after Richard became king. Ivanhoe tries to convince him that if Richard returns from captivity, that Richard will see to it that there is better treatment of Jews, but that to allow Prince John to remain as ruler would be disaster.**** Isaac agrees to try to raise money to fill any deficit in the ransom money, after all other sources have been tried. Ivanhoe also needs money for a good horse and knight's armor to compete in an upcoming jousting tournament against the Norman knights, but Isaac is reluctant. Later, however, Rebecca goes to Ivanhoe and gives him some jewels left to her by her mother. This is where the two truly meet and there are some love sparks between them, complicating Ivanhoe's long love affair with Rowena, but also complicated by Rebecca being a Jew, as "mixed" relationships, in those times, were not accepted. 

The film's presentation of the jousting tournament is a good one. Here again we have the "Saxon versus Norman" theme in full focus (get it? film, camera, full focus? I just made that up quickly). Only a few people in attendance know that it is Ivanhoe who is representing the Saxons, although after he fells several Norman knights, Locksley, played by Harold Warrender, knows it can only be Ivanhoe beneath the armor. Locksley tells Ivanhoe that he and his men now belong to Ivanhoe's service.***** So now Ivanhoe has an actual military force, of sorts, at his disposal. But with only Bois-Guilbert left to be faced on the Norman side in the tournament, Ivanhoe had been badly wounded in his shoulder in the previous match. Prince John has this wounded knight brought before him (still unknown that it is Ivanhoe) to ask if he will submit and join with him; bringing a stinging insult from Ivanhoe in front of the whole crowd, and infuriating John. Ivanhoe rides against Bois-Guilbert, but while he staggers the Norman, Bois-Guilbert barely remains on his horse, but Ivanhoe, weakened by his shoulder wound, falls from his horse and is carried off. Cedric, in attendance, also knows it is his son who has been competing against the Normans, and he sends Rowena to see how badly Ivanhoe is hurt. When she gets to the tent with Ivanhoe, Rebecca, who is in love with Ivanhoe, is already there checking Ivanhoe's wound. Rebecca and Isaac had been in the stands for the tournament. Rowena is stunned by Rebecca's presence with Ivanhoe, but Rebecca tells her she can heal Ivanhoe's wound, as she learned treatments from a woman who had been burned at the stake for being a witch.****** Rowena consents and Ivanhoe is taken with Isaac and Rebecca to their home.

As Ivanhoe recovers, Locksley finds out that Prince John has learned Ivanhoe's identity, where he is and that he is trying to raise the money to free Richard. John sends Bois-Guilbert and other knights to capture Ivanhoe. He also wants Isaac and Rebecca, as he has also learned that Isaac is helping to raise Richard's ransom. Isaac and Rebecca go with Cedric, while Locksley takes Ivanhoe to the forest with him for safety, until Ivanhoe's wounds are completely healed. When Bois-Guilbert and the other Normans arrive at Isaac's, everyone is gone. He learns that Isaac and Rebecca have gone with Cedric. Bois-Guilbert is very taken with Rebecca and wants her for himself, so he decides to go after her, her father and Cedric, figuring that the capture of these people will bring Ivanhoe out of hiding, and give him Rebecca too. One of the other Norman knights, Hugh De Bracy, played by Robert Douglas, warns Bois-Guilbert that taking Cedric will only stir Saxon hatred against them, as he realizes that Bois-Guilbert is taking a big risk so he can get Rebecca. The Normans capture Cedric, Issac, Rebecca, Rowena and Wamba and take them to Torquilstone, a castle under the control of Norman knight Front De Boeuf, played by Francis de Wolff.

Ivanhoe comes to the castle to offer himself in exchange for the freedom of the others. Bois-Guilbert accepts and has Ivanhoe enter Torquilstone, only to have Ivanhoe locked up without releasing any of the others. Rebecca asks Bois-Guilbert the price to have her father released and he tells her, she is the price. He knows she loves Ivanhoe, so he tells her he has Ivanhoe locked up in the castle. Locksley comes to the castle gate to ask for the release of the prisoners, but Bois-Guilbert and De Bracy scorn him, only to have throngs of Saxon bowmen come out of hiding in the brush and forest around the castle. Bois-Guilbert has De Boeuf bring Ivanhoe to the top of one of the castle towers. He tells Locksley to take his men and leave or Ivanhoe will be hanged. Ivanhoe scuffles with De Boeuf and Locksley kills one of the Normans on the tower. Saxon arrows rain down on the castle from all sides. Ivanhoe heads to the area where his father, Isaac and Wamba are being held and frees them. A fire breaks out during the sword fighting in the interior part of the castle, as some oil is spilled. The freed prisoners add anything that will burn to the fire, only adding to the Norman troubles. De Boeuf and some other Normans engage in a sword fight with Ivanhoe, Cedric and Wamba, with De Boeuf forcing Wamba into the burning part of the castle, where he dies, but De Boeuf is himself then killed by Ivanhoe. Meanwhile, the Saxons are storming the walls of the castle and break open the castle gate. Realizing the castle is lost, Bois-Guilbert and De Bracy decide to take Rebecca and Rowena with them on horseback to try to escape. De Bracy is stopped by Ivanhoe, which saves Rowena, but Bois-Guilbert manages to escape with Rebecca. 

Prince John decides to put Rebecca on trial for witchcraft, much to the objection of Bois-Guilbert, which does no good. Witnesses are forced to testify to untruths against Rebecca, and she is given a sentence of "death by fire;" that is, she is to be burned at the stake. Ivanhoe is in the crowd and comes forth to say he wants Rebecca's fate to be decided by combat, with Ivanhoe against whomever the court chooses to fight for it. Prince John chooses Bois-Guilbert, who is determined to do his best, as Rebecca still loves Ivanhoe.

In the meantime, the ransom has been paid and Richard arrives back in England and, along with a large number of knights who support him, he heads to see his brother, Prince John. The death struggle between Ivanhoe and Bois-Guilbert takes place, but Ivanhoe finally prevails. A dying Bois-Guilbert says goodbye to Rebecca, who will now be free, especially so, because in rides Richard and his knights, and John and his supporters fall to one knee to show submission to the king. In the end though, Ivanhoe and Rowena are together and Rebecca accepts what has happened.

* The movie keeps it simple, but Richard was initially held by Duke Leopold, who was excommunicated by the pope for taking Richard, a Crusader, prisoner. The duke then turned Richard over to German emperor, Henry VI, to whom any ransom was to be paid. 

** While Richard I has enjoyed a powerful reputation for his military prowess, he was king of England for ten years, but he actually spent only a total of a few months of his rule in England. Indeed, Richard is not even buried in England, but rather in France. While the details of the scheming and actions taken after Richard left for the Holy Land is rather complex, essentially Richard's brother, John, and some knights, contested Richard's designated administrator, William Longchamp. John and his followers set up a parallel government in hopes of gaining control of all of England.  

*** England had been conquered by William, Duke of Normandy (in France), in late 1066, brought about by a dispute over the English throne. Because of this, William came to be known as "William the Conqueror." William gave many of his knights land in England as payment for their service, and to help him rule the relatively hostile English population, a population that remained hostile long after William died. Not only were the Normans seen as foreign invaders, but they created their own nobility, leaving the former Anglo-Saxon nobles out of any rule of the country. Further, the population was so divided between the overwhelming English majority, and the relatively small Norman minority, that most Normans continued to speak their Norman French dialect, and not English, for several generations, although that dialect itself naturally was altered, later being termed, "Anglo-Norman." The movie "Ivanhoe" has this Saxon versus Norman theme to it throughout, with Richard, although a Norman, seen as being the bridge between the two sides.

**** When Richard became king, his intention to go on a "Crusade" to the Holy Land brought  "Christian" religious fervor to a high pitch, which then seemingly stirred violence against England's Jewish population, with many Jews murdered. In the film, when Bois-Guilbert says he doesn't want to be under the same roof with an "infidel," Wamba says, "For every Jew you show me who's not a Christian, I'll show you a Christian who's not a Christian." When Sir Walter Scott wrote "Ivanhoe" in about 1818-19, there were attempts being made to remove discriminatory laws against Jews in England, something Scott favored very much; thus, undoubtedly a motivation to express his thoughts through his characters.

***** Locksley is the story's representation of "Robin Hood," a figure from English folklore, whose actual existence has never been proven. I'll leave it at that, as the legend of Robin Hood is a story in its own right, with numerous articles, movies and television shows depicting the famous character to a public in love with the overall story.  

****** In those times, just about any medical treatments not understood were apt to be charged as witchcraft or sorcery. Come to think of it, we still have those today who fear medicine and science.

Photo is from the 2005 Warner Home Entertainment DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Angle/Angling-English has a couple words of this spelling, but this is for the noun meaning, "fishing, to be fishing/angling," and the verb meaning, "to use a hook to try to catch fish;" thus, more commonly, "to go fishing;" thus also the figurative, "try to get something from someone by 'hooking them' with persuasive talk." It goes back to the Indo European root, "ank, "which had the meaning, "to bend." This gave Old Germanic "angulo," which meant, "hook." This gave Old English "angul," which then became Old English "angel," which meant, "fishing hook, fish hook." Later the spelling changed to "angle" and then the more common modern noun form, "angling." The verb was derived from the noun "seemingly" in the late Old English period as, "anglelen/anglen," before the modern, "to angle." Forms in the other Germanic languages: German and Low German Saxon have the noun "Angel" (fishing rod with line and hook) and the verb "angeln" (to fish, to angle, also the figurative, "to hook or try to hook a man/woman for a date or husband/bride), Dutch has "angel" (fishhook, hook), West Frisian "angel" (fishing rod with line and hook). ^  The other Germanic languages now rely pretty much on their forms of the English verb "(to) fish," and German too uses both, "angeln and fischen," as synonyms, just as does English. 

^ Both Dutch and West Frisian have another meaning of the noun, "(a) sting," from the notion of the insect or sea creature "hooking" them with their barb.