Studio One (TV Series) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1952) User Reviews

Twain in a Can

[mstomaso · 2 August 2007]

A young Frank Schaffner teamed up with the TV writer Alan Saplinsey to compress Mark Twain's classic farce into a fast-paced, over-reaching TV movie. The film is primarily interesting because it unintentionally captures the feeling of live TV and is a great example of a typical TV teleplay. It's not quite a TV movie, bur more of a 'bare essentials' presentation, with a script that bears a striking resemblance to a radio-play.

The Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain's real name) story transports a modern man from New England back a millennium and a half into the time of Arthur and Camelot. Culture-shock is just the tip of the ice burg. Often-copied and adapted, Connecticut Yankee is a classic 19th century farce.

Tom Mitchell's fast-talking performance feels like a dress rehearsal, and the cinematography and sets appear halfway thought-out and half-built. Overall - the production focuses on distilling the essence of the well-known Twain classic, not elaborating on it, or interpreting it. Some of the humor comes through, but little of the wisdom and real comedy. Given the budgetary and logistical constraints presentations such as this were produced with, it's passable, but not worth going out of your way to see.

Boris Karloff, Loretta Daye, Salem Ludwig and the rest of the supporting cast are quite enjoyable. Mitchell's lead performance lacks lustre and feels a little over-bearing at times.

Recommended for those interested in TV history, and Karloff fans.

I may not be the best judge of this one...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 26 April 2017]

I have seen three different versions of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and have come to the realization that I simply don't like the story--not this one nor the two famous movies with Will Rogers and Bing Crosby as Sir Boss. In light of this, my disliking this "Studio One" version certainly shouldn't come as any surprise.

Thomas Mitchell plays the hero, Hank Morgan and he is magically transported back to the days of the fictional King Arthur. There, he uses his knowledge of modern technology to impress the locals and convince them he should be proclaimed 'Sir Boss'. And, repeatedly, this knowledge not only saves him but Arthur.

Because this was live broadcast on TV during the earlier days of the medium, the budget was rather low and the production rather confined in the sound stage. This makes it even worse than the not so great films. Watchable...but just barely. "Studio One" made some amazing productions....just not this one in particular.

Scarlet O'Hara's pop takes over Camelot from Frankenstein's monster.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 3 August 2016]

If you are ever in a game of trivia and someone inquires who has played the role of King Arthur, you can obviously think of Richard Burton and Richard Harris from the musical "Camelot" (as well as Rock Hudson, Robert Goulet, Michael York, among others), Nigel Terry in "Excalibur", and Tim Curry in " Spamelot", among others as well. But if you say Boris Karloff, they will laugh at you, but you will be the wiser.

This odd little episode of the early Studio One anthology T. V. series is an odd, frenetic version of Mark Twain's novel, written as a comic parody of government, but played here as a farce. Thomas Mitchell happens to work in a modern museum and talks about how the bullet inside a suit of armour came from his gun, more than a thousand years before. He recalls how getting a knock on the noggin knocked him out and took him to the past where he met all of the famous characters of the legendary round table.

I expected Karloff to be Merlin, but when he popped up as Arthur (without Guenevere at his side), I lost it. That's not to say that this isn't entertaining, but it is so far off the beam that I was laughing at it, not with it. I love classic early T. V., but there was some experimenting in it that just didn't work. Be prepared for static photography (but decent sound) and cheap production values. Historians of the moving arts will both love and loathe it. Mitchell and Karloff are the only two actors of note which adds more curiosity value to it.

Karloff Steals a Rather Weak Version of Story

[Michael_Elliott · 22 December 2011]

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A (1952)

** (out of 4)

Made-for-TV version of the classic Mark Twain story is from "Studio One in Hollywood" and features a fine cast but they can't save the end result. After a knock on the head, Hank Morgan (Thomas Mitchell) is sent back in time and finds himself dealing with King Arthur (Boris Karloff) who at first is disturbed by this man but soon the two end up on a mission together. I had heard quite a bit about this TV movie but sadly the end results really weren't as good as I was hoping for. The attractive cast deliver fine performances but there are just way too many weak ends and these are what really keep the film from working. I'll start off with the negative stuff and we can begin with the story. The spirit of Twain's novel is certainly here but it just never comes across as being any good. It really does seem like they took some interesting ideas but left more interesting things in the book. Another problem is the actual production, which just looks extremely cheap even for this type of production. Just take a look at the sets and it almost seems as if the actors are doing a rehearsal on the sets that aren't yet finished. At times it's hard to tell whether you're in Arthur's time or the present. Even though this runs a short 60-minutes the running time almost feels twice as long as the direction really isn't all that impressive and there's never any good rhythm going on. The one thing that does keep the movie somewhat watchable are the performances. I found Mitchell to be going over-the-top a bit too much but this actually gives the film a spark of life. Karloff easily steals the film in his fun-natured performance and I'd guess that it will be mainly his fans who get the most pleasure out of this version of the story.