Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1973
Running Times: 93 mins
Format: Technicolor 35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Sancrest
Producer: Carlo Ponti

SCRIPT
Script: Philip M. Breen, Stephen Weeks
Based on the medieval poem

DIRECTION
Director: Stephen Weeks

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ian Wilson

MUSIC
Music: Ron Goodwin

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Anthony Woollard

CAST
Murray Head (Gawain)
Nigel Green (Green Knight)
Ciaran Madden (Linet)
Robert Hardy (Sir Bertilac)
David Leland (Humphrey)
Anthony Sharp (The King)
Ronald Lacey (Oswald)
Murray Melvin (The Seneschal)
Willoughby Goddard (knight)
Richard Hurndall (bearded man)
Tony Steedman (Fortinbras)
George Merritt (old knight)
Peter Copley (pilgrim)
Pauline Letts (Lady of Lyonesse)
Geoffrey Bayldon (the fool)
Jerold Wells (sergeant)
Jack Woolgar (porter)
Michael Crane (the giant)

PLOT SUMMARY

The Green Knight arrives at Camelot and issues a challenge to a duel with axes. The brave young Sir Gawain is the only one to accept the challenge and he beheads the Green Knight only to see his opponent survive and regain his severed head. The Knight warns Gawain that he has one year to find his home or submit to a single blow from his axe. Gawain sets out on his quest...

USA
Theatrical Distributor: United Artists

TIMELINE

1979
December
18: UK - television broadcast (on BBC)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

REMAKE
Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1982)

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

Boxoffice 13 November 1972 p.20 (USA)
advertisment

Film no.37 (May 1976) pp.6-7 (USA)
article (Stephen Weeks by Dave Berry)

Hollywood Reporter vol.221 no.11 (5 May 1972) p.10 (USA)
credits, review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.40 no.475 (August 1973) pp.168-69 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Sight and Sound no.40 (Spring 1971) pp.73-75 (UK)
article (New Blood by David Pirie)

Variety 3 May 1972 pp.26 - 27 (USA)
review

Variety 3 January 1973 p.10 (USA)
advertisment

BOOKS

The British Film Catalogue, 1971-1981 - edited by Linda Woods (London (1983): BFI)
credits

Cinema Arthuriana, Essays on Arthurian Film - edited by Kevin J. Harty (New York (1991): Garland)
article (Gawain on Film by Robert J. Blanch and Julian N. Wasserman)

The Epic Film - by Derek Elley (London (1984): Routledge and Kegan)
note

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991-1992 p.151
credits, review

The Motion Picture Guide, E-G, 1927-1983 - by Jay Robert Nash and Stanley Ralph Ross (Chicago (1986): Cinebooks)
credits, review

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.157
credits

Swordsmen of the Screen from Douglas Fairbanks to Michael York - by Jeffrey Richards (London (1977): Routledge)
note

Wales and Cinema, The First Hundred Years - by David Berry (Cardiff (1994): University of Wales Press)
article

KEYWORDS

arthurian, knights, magic, quests, decapitations