More Ivanhoe, good and different. Briand de boisguillebert - knight templar from the novel "Ivanhoe"

Ivanhoe is Scott's first novel set outside of Scotland. The events are dated to 1194 - 128 years after the Battle of Hastings, as a result of which the Anglo-Saxons were subjugated by the Normans.

background

Ivanhoe is the first novel in which Scott refers to a purely English theme, depicting the enmity between the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans during the reign of Richard I. J. G. Lockhart in his Life of Sir Walter Scott (1837-1838) suggests that the decision to turn to medieval England was caused by the writer's "afternoon conversation" with his friend William Clerk, who drew Scott's attention to antagonism between the two peoples of Britain. The clerk noted that the words used to name breeds of livestock, in English language have Anglo-Saxon roots (for example, sheep- "sheep" pig- "pig", cow- “cow”), and borrowed from French terms are used to refer to the dishes prepared from them ( mutton- "mutton ", pork- "pork ", beef- "beef "). This illustration of the subordination of the Saxons to the Norman landowners is mentioned in Ivanhoe.

Scott wanted the novel to be published without attribution. He was curious whether the public would recognize "the author of Waverley" and besides, he hoped to publish after "Ivanhoe" next novel"Monastery", to compete in the literary field with himself. He was persuaded to abandon this plan by the publisher Archibald Constable, who feared that the two novels would hurt each other's sales.

Plot

At the conclusion of the third crusade, many knights return to Europe. King Richard the Lionheart held prisoner by Duke Leopold of Austria. Prince John sows confusion in the country between the Normans and the Saxons, and intrigues against the king, preparing the seizure of power. Cedric of Rotherwood, a wealthy landowner, in the hope of reviving the former power of the Saxons intends to put Sir Athelstan, a descendant of King Alfred, at their head. The apathetic Athelstan does not inspire confidence in anyone, and Cedric, in order to give even more weight to his figure, dreams of marrying him to his pupil, lovely lady Rowena, whose ancestor is also King Alfred the Great. But on the way to cherished dream the old ten was his son Wilfred Ivanhoe, who fell in love with Rowena. Cedric, true to his ideal, expelled him from his father's house and disinherited him.

Two servants of Cedric, the swineherd Gurt and the jester Wamba, meet the prelate Aymer and the knight templar Brian de Boisguillebert, who is heading with his retinue to the jousting tournament in Ashby. Caught on the road by bad weather, the knight and prior are to Cedric. The pilgrim returning from the holy land and the Jew Isaac from York also receive shelter in the house of the hospitable thegn. Boisguillebert, who returned from Palestine, talks about the battles for the Holy Sepulcher. The Pilgrim talks about the tournament in Acre, where the knights of Saxon origin turned out to be the winners, but he is silent about the name of the sixth knight. Boisguillebert declares that it was Wilfred Ivanhoe who defeated him himself and declares that next time he will prevail over him. At the end of the meal, Lady Rowena, Cedric's pupil, asks the pilgrim about the fate of her beloved Ivanhoe. Pilgrim reports that he is moving to England through the unfriendly lands of France, but it is not known when he will arrive.

In the morning, the pilgrim raises Isaac and informs him that in the evening he heard the templar Brian de Boisguillebert order his Palestinian slaves to seize the Jew and take him to the castle of Front de Boeuf. Pilgrim and Isaac leave Cedric's estate. Having reached Ashby, the grateful Isaac informs the pilgrim that he saw his knight's spurs and offers him to borrow a war horse, weapons and knightly armor for the upcoming tournament from one of his friends.

The tournament starts in Ashby. All the nobility of England came to the tournament, including Prince John and his entourage. The prince publicly shows his insolence and dislike for the Saxons. Five instigator knights challenge everyone to a fight. Everyone agrees to fight only with blunt weapons, no one dares to call the templar. A certain Knight Deprived of Inheritance appears, as he called himself. He defeats all the instigators one by one and is proclaimed the winner of the first day of the competition, he has the honor to choose among noble ladies Queen of love and beauty. The winner chooses Lady Rowena.

In the evening, the servants of the vanquished come to the tent of the Knight of the Disinherited, along with the horses and armor of the owners, which, according to the rules of the tournament, go to the winner. The warrior refused to accept the armor of Brian de Boisguillebert, and took only half the amount for the weapons and horses of other knights. Then he sent his squire Gurta to the house of the Jew Isaac to give money for his armor. The Jew accepted the money, but when Gurt was leaving, the daughter of the Jew Rebecca stopped him in the courtyard and gave him a bag of money, explaining that her father Isaac was in great debt to the knight. On the way, Gurth stumbles upon a gang of robbers who want to take money from him, but, having learned that in front of them is the squire of the knight of the Disinherited, they still let him go.

On the second day of the tournament, a massive battle takes place. The detachment led by Brian de Boisguillebert fought with the detachment of the knight of the Disinherited. During the battle of the parties, most of the warriors dropped out, and at the end the knight Deprived of Inheritance was left to fight alone with Boisguillebert, Athelstan and Front de Boeuf. IN last moment a knight in black armor, who had previously taken a passive part in the battle, arrived in time to help him, for which the audience called him the Black Sloth. He unhorsed Fron de Boeuf and Athelstan, and as a result defeated the detachment of the Knight of the Disinherited. Prince John recognized the Black Sloth as the hero of the day, but he disappeared somewhere from the lists. Then the prince had to again recognize the winner of the knight of the Disinherited. The winner knelt before the Queen of Love and Beauty, Lady Rowena, to receive an honorary crown from her. When the knight took off his helmet, Rowena recognized him as her beloved Ivanhoe, but he was wounded in the side and, having lost strength, fell at her feet. In the course of the confusion that arose, the Jew and his daughter Rebecca, who had the skills of healing, picked up the knight on a stretcher and took him to their home in Ashby. The next day, competitions for the common people were to be held, but Prince John received a letter from the French king, reporting that King Richard was returning from captivity. Competitions were held on the same day, they were won by Yeoman Loxley. In the evening, Cedric and Athelstan attended a feast at Prince John's, which was attended mainly by noble Normans. Lady Rowena did not go to the feast. Prince John and the assembled Normans insulted the Saxons throughout the feast, after which they left him in anger.

De Bracy, the leader of the mercenaries in the service of the prince, together with the templar and Fron de Boeuf, attacked Cedric's procession and captured Cedric, Athelstan, Rowena, Isaac with his daughter and Ivanhoe, whom they carried on a stretcher. The escaped Wamba and Gurt met Locksley, who ordered to gather people, and he went to the chapel of Father Took. There he found the Black Sloth who arrived yesterday, and he agreed to help the yeomen. At this time, Athelstan and Cedric agreed to pay a ransom for their release. In turn, de Bracy could not succeed with Rowena, and the templar failed with Rebecca, although he liked the girl's courage. Isaac, despite threats of torture, refused to pay the Fron de Boeuf when he learned that his daughter was with the templar.

The Normans are challenged by the yeomanry, but their pride keeps them from letting the captives go, even though they only have a handful of men to defend the castle. Wamba, under the guise of a monk, sneaks into the castle and replaces Cedric; he, leaving the castle, talks with the old woman Urfrida, recognizing in her Ulrika - the daughter of his friend Torkil Wolfganger, whose family was treacherously killed by de Befy. Urfrida calls on Cedric to help the besiegers and take revenge on Front de Boeuf. Yeomen go on the assault. Front de Boeuf, defending the palisade, receives a mortal wound from the hand of the Black Knight. He and Cedric cut down the entrance gate, Ulrika sets fire to the castle, the wounded Fron de Boeuf burns to death. De Bracy opens the gate to slay the Black Knight, but loses and is captured by him. The templar, having collected the remnants of the people, having kidnapped the Jewess Rebecca and slain Athelstan, breaks out of the castle.

The yeomen divide the booty, de Bracy returns to the prince and reports that Richard has returned, which turns out to be the Black Knight. The Prince orders Fitz-Urs to ambush him. Richard almost dies, but Locksley comes to his aid. Cedric, Richard and Ivanhoe drink at the wake of Athelstan, suddenly Athelstan is alive. He swears allegiance to Richard, yields to Rowan Ivanhoe and is going to hang the monks who almost killed him.

At this time, the grand master of the order, the formidable Luke Beaumanoir, appears in the preceptory of the Templestowe templars, where Boisguillebert has taken refuge. Having learned from Isaac that the templar brought Rebecca, Beaumanoir decides that she has bewitched him and arranges a show trial. To shield Boisguillebert, the others confirm this version. Rebecca demands God's judgment and throws down the gauntlet. Boisguillebert must defend the order, and the exhausted Ivanhoe on a tired horse, with no visible chance of winning, comes to Rebecca's defense. However, during the duel, Boisguillebert falls out of the saddle and suddenly dies from the passions that tormented him. Rebecca is released and leaves with her father for Granada. After much persuasion from Athelstan, Cedric still gives up and, reluctantly, agrees to Rowena's marriage to Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe is married to Rowena.

Characters

• Wilfred Ivanhoe - knight, protagonist
• Briand de Boisguillebert - templar, Norman knight, main enemy Ivanhoe
• Rebecca - Jewish pawnbroker's daughter
• Isaac of York - Rebecca's father, Jewish pawnbroker
• Nathan ben Samuel (a.k.a. Nathan ben Israel) - rabbi, friend of Isaac
• "Black knight", "Black lazy" (fr. Le noir fainéant), "Knight of the Padlock" - Richard I the Lionheart
• Locksley - yeoman, archer
• The Hermit - Brother Took
• Rowena - Ivanhoe's lover, Cedric's niece
• Cedric - Ivanhoe's father, Saxon thethen
• Athelstan of Coningsburg - descendant last king Saxon dynasty
• Prince John - Crown Prince and brother of King Richard
• Reginald Fron de Boeuf - Norman baron who owns Ivanhoe's estate and Thorquilstone Castle
• Waldemar Fitz-Urs - an influential nobleman in the retinue of Prince John, who wants to become chancellor; his daughter Alicia is considered the first beauty in the court of Prince John.
• Prior Aimer - prior of the abbey of St. Mary in Jorveau
• Maurice de Brasi is a knight-ioannite, the commander of a squad of mercenaries, which combines deceit and nobility. Captured by Richard Lion Heart.
• Luca Beaumanoir - fictional Grand Master of the Knights Templar
• Conrad Mont-Fitchet - Beaumanoir's confidante
• Albert Malvoisin - Rector of the Templestow Preceptory
• Philippe Malvoisin - local baron, brother of Albert
• Gurth - Cedric Sacks' swineherd
• Wamba - court jester to Cedric Sacks
• Ulrika (Urfrida) - the captive of Fron de Boeuf, the daughter of the Ten Torkil Wolfganger killed by him

Adaptations

Movie

• "Ivanhoe" (Ivanhoe) - dir. Richard Thorpe (USA, 1952), nominated for an Oscar three times.
• "Ivanhoe" (Ivanhoe) - BBC television series, dir. David Maloney (UK, 1970).
• "Ivanhoe" (Ivanhoe) - dir. Douglas Camfield (UK, 1982).
• "The Ballad of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe" - dir. S. S. Tarasov (USSR, 1983).
• "Ivanhoe" (Ivanhoe) - BBC mini-series, dir. Stuart Orme (UK, US, 1997).

Music

• Opera 1891 (English)Russian British composer Arthur Sullivan.
• The Templar and the Jewess - opera German composer Heinrich Marschner.

Historical inconsistencies

• In order to infiltrate Torquilston Castle, the jester Wamba dresses up as a Franciscan friar, mentioning St. Francis, but by the time of the novel (1194) St. Francis of Assisi was no more than 12 years old, and the mentioned order was founded by him in 1208.
• On his deathbed, Reginald Fron de Boeuf laments that his father once financed the construction of a Carmelite monastery on his lands, but at his death hour there is not a single "barefoot monk" nearby. The first monastic community on Mount Carmel in Palestine appeared in 1155, and the alleged beginning of the activity of the Carmelite order outside Palestine was not earlier than 1214, when the order received its charter.

Notes

Links

• "Ivanhoe" in the library of Maxim Moshkov

W. Scott's creative approach to a reliable and real image of time, environment and man excluded elements of the supernatural in the plot and characters actors. Nevertheless, the reflection of the legends associated with the Templars by reflected light falls on Briand de Boisguillebert, whose image is partly resolved in a romantic vein (an ominous aura surrounding the hero, a fatal irresistible passion inspired by the knight by the beautiful Jewess Rebekah, etc.).

The knights of the order were ideally monks: they took the prescribed vows, including vows of celibacy and chastity, and in peacetime they lived in communities in fortresses. They were distinguished from the inhabitants of ordinary monasteries by the right to bear arms and the duty to use it, killing infidels for the glory of God. The very combination of a monk and a warrior in one person contained an internal inconsistency, and the latter appears already in appearance and the clothes of Briand de Boisguillebert.

Even more incompatible with the monastic vow of humility are the habits and behavior of a knight. All these seeming inconsistencies find an explanation as the plot develops. The young Briand de Boisguillebert was betrayed by his lady of the heart, and the thirst for revenge for outraged loyalty led him to the order of the templars. The Order gave him everything he aspired to: the opportunity to indulge his passions with impunity, the intoxication of the consciousness of his chosenness, the prospect of satisfying the most ambitious dreams, but first of all, the dizzying feeling of belonging to the center of limitless power.

Only the decisive and successful resistance of Rebecca to his harassment makes Briand de Boisguillebert admit that there are people in the world who can resist him. The rebuff received, admiration for Rebekah's firmness and pride, transform the knight's initially purely carnal attraction to the girl into a passion bordering on obsession. In order to win the love of an impregnable pagan, he is ready to sacrifice everything that he has achieved: honor, his glorious name, position in the order, and even his very faith, which, however, for him, according to him, is nothing more than “a children's fairy tale ". The templar invites her to run with him to distant countries where he promises to make her queen.

But Rebekah, faithful to the covenants of her ancestors and own concepts of honor, rejects Brian de Boisguillebert, and after the templar tribunal, under pressure from the grandmaster, sentences her to be burned at the stake as a sorceress. The question of the fairness of the sentence should be decided by "God's court" - in a duel between two knights, which he suggested to the girl Briand de Boisguillebert to demand. But it is his grandmaster who appoints him to fight for the order. Ivanhoe, who has not fully recovered from his wound, speaks in defense of Rebekah. The outcome of the fight, it would seem, is a foregone conclusion in favor of de. However, the templar, unable to withstand the tension, suddenly dies at the very beginning of the duel, becoming "a victim of his own unbridled passions." By right of the winner, Ivanhoe orders to bury the knight in a Christian way, but quietly and modestly, as if he had died for a wrong deed. The Templar Castle, by order of Richard the Lionheart, goes to the crown.

Almost one hundred and thirty years have passed since the Norman Duke William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon troops and took possession of England at the Battle of Hastings (1066). The English people are going through Hard times. King Richard the Lionheart did not return from the last crusade, taken prisoner by the treacherous Duke of Austria. The place of his imprisonment is unknown. Meanwhile, the king's brother, Prince John, recruits supporters, intending, in the event of Richard's death, to remove the legitimate heir from power and seize the throne. A cunning schemer, Prince John is wreaking havoc throughout the country, igniting the long-standing feud between the Saxons and the Normans.

The proud Tan Cedric of Rotherwood does not give up hope of throwing off the Norman yoke and reviving the former power of the Saxons, placing Athelstan of Koningsburg, a descendant of the royal family, at the head of the liberation movement. However, the obtuse and unenterprising Sir Athelstan causes mistrust among many. To give more weight to his figure, Cedric dreams of marrying Athelstan to his pupil, Lady Rowena, the last representative of King Alfred's family. When Lady Rowena's attachment to Cedric's son, Wilfred Ivanhoe, got in the way of these plans, the adamant thane, not without reason nicknamed Sax for his devotion to the cause, expelled his son from his parental home and disinherited him.

And now Ivanhoe, dressed as a pilgrim, is secretly returning home from a crusade. Not far from his father's estate, he is overtaken by the detachment of the commander of the order of the templars, Brian de Boisguillebert, who is heading to the jousting tournament in Ashby de la Zouche. Caught on the road by bad weather, he decides to ask Cedric for an overnight stay. The hospitable house of a noble tan is open to everyone, even to the Jew Isaac from York, who joins the guests already during the meal. Boisguillebert, who also visited Palestine, boasts at the table of his exploits in the name of the Holy Sepulcher. The pilgrim defends the honor of Richard and his brave warriors, and on behalf of Ivanhoe, who has already once defeated the templar in a duel, accepts the challenge of the arrogant commander to fight. When the guests leave for their rooms, the pilgrim advises Isaac to quietly leave Cedric's house - he heard how Boisguillebert gave the order to the servants to seize the Jew, as soon as he drives away from the estate. The perceptive Isaac, who saw the spurs under the wanderer's attire, in gratitude gives him a note to a merchant relative, in which he asks to lend the pilgrim armor and a war horse.

The tournament at Ashby, which brought together the entire color of English chivalry, and even in the presence of Prince John himself, attracted everyone's attention. The host knights, including the arrogant Briand de Boisguillebert, confidently win one victory after another. But when it seemed that no one else would dare to oppose the instigators and the outcome of the tournament was decided, a new fighter appears on the arena with the motto "Deprived of Inheritance" on the shield, who fearlessly challenges the templar himself to a mortal battle. Opponents converge several times, and their spears scatter in fragments to the very handles. All the sympathy of the audience is on the side of the brave stranger - and luck accompanies him: Boisguillebert falls from his horse, and the duel is recognized as over. Then the Disinherited Knight fights in turn with all the instigators and decisively takes over them. As the winner, he must choose the queen of love and beauty, and, gracefully bowing his spear, the stranger places the crown at the feet of the beautiful Rowena.

The next day, a general tournament is held: the party of the Knight of the Disinherited fights against the party of Brian de Boisguillebert. The templar is supported by almost all instigators. They are pushing the young stranger, and if it were not for the help of the mysterious Black Knight, he would hardly have managed to become the hero of the day for the second time. The queen of love and beauty should put an honorary crown on the head of the winner. But when the marshals take off the helmet from the stranger, she sees in front of her pale as death Ivanhoe, who falls at her feet, bleeding from his wounds.

Meanwhile, Prince John receives a note from a messenger: "Be careful - the devil is unleashed." This means that his brother Richard got his freedom. The prince is in a panic, in a panic and his supporters. To secure their loyalty, John promises them rewards and honors. To the Norman knight Maurice de Bracy, for example, he proposes Lady Rowena as his wife - the bride is rich, beautiful and noble. De Bracy is delighted and decides to attack Cedric's squad on the way home from Ashby and kidnap the beautiful Rowena.

Proud of his son's victory, but still unwilling to forgive him, Cedric Sax sets off with a heavy heart on his way back. The news that the wounded Ivanhoe was carried away by a stretcher of some rich lady only kindles a feeling of indignation in him. On the way to the cavalcade of Cedric and Athelstan of Coningsburg, Isaac from York joins with his daughter Rebekah. They were also at the tournament and now they are asking to be taken under protection - not so much for themselves, but for the sick friend they are accompanying. But as soon as the travelers go deep into the forest, a large detachment of robbers pounces on them and all of them are taken prisoner.

Cedric and his companions are taken to the fortified castle of Fron de Boeuf. The leaders of the "robbers" are Boisguillebert and de Bracy, which Cedric guesses when he sees the battlements of the castle. "If Cedric Sax cannot save England, he is ready to die for her," he challenges his captors.

Meanwhile, De Bracy comes to Lady Rowena and, confessing everything to her, tries to win her favor. However, the proud beauty is adamant and, only learning that Wilfred Ivanhoe is also in the castle (namely, he was in Isaac's stretcher), prays to the knight to save him from death.

But hard as it is for Lady Rowena, Rebekah is in much greater danger. Captivated by the mind and beauty of the daughter of Zion, Brian de Boisguillebert was inflamed with passion for her, and now he is persuading the girl to run away with him. Rebekah is ready to prefer death to disgrace, but her fearless rebuke, full of indignation, only gives rise to the templar's confidence that he has met the woman of his destiny, his soul mate.

Meanwhile, detachments of free yeomen are gathered around the castle, brought by Cedric's servants who escaped captivity. The siege is led by Ivanhoe, who once came to the aid of the Black Knight. Under the blows of his huge ax, the gates of the castle crack and disintegrate, and stones and logs flying at his head from the walls annoy him no more than raindrops. Rebekah, who made her way into Ivanhoe's room in the turmoil of the battle, tells the bedridden young man what is happening around. Reproaching herself for her tender feelings for a non-believer, she is unable to leave him at such a dangerous moment. And the liberators are winning span after span from the besieged. The Black Knight mortally wounds Front de Boeuf and captures de Bracy. And what is strange - the proud Norman, after a few words spoken to him, unquestioningly resigns himself to his fate. Suddenly the castle is engulfed in flames. The Black Knight barely manages to pull Ivanhoe out into the open air. Boisguillebert grabs the desperately resisting Rebekah and, putting her on the horse of one of the slaves, tries to escape from the trap. However, Athelstan rushes in pursuit of him, deciding that the templar has kidnapped Lady Rowena. The sharp sword of the templar falls with all his might on the head of the ill-fated Saxon, and he falls dead to the ground.

Leaving the dilapidated castle and thanking the free shooters for their help, Cedric, accompanied by a stretcher with the body of Athelstan of Koningsburg, goes to his estate, where he will be given the last honors. The Black Knight also parted with his faithful assistants - his wanderings are not over yet. The leader of the shooters, Loxley, gives him a hunting horn as a farewell gift and asks him to blow it in case of danger. Released, de Bracy gallops at full speed to Prince John to tell him the terrible news - Richard is in England. The cowardly and vile prince sends his main henchman Voldemar Fitz-Urs to capture, or even better, kill Richard.

Boisguillebert takes refuge with Rebekah in the abode of the Knights of Templestow. Grandmaster Beaumanoir, who arrived at the monastery with a check, finds many shortcomings, first of all, he is outraged by the promiscuity of the templars. When he learns that a captive Jewess is hiding in the walls of the preceptory, who, in all likelihood, is in love affair with one of the brothers of the order, then decides to arrange a trial for the girl and accuse her of witchcraft - for what, if not witchcraft, explains her power over the commander? The stern ascetic Beaumanoir believes that the execution of a Jewess will serve as a cleansing sacrifice for the love sins of the Knights of the Temple. In a brilliant speech that won the sympathy of even her opponents, Rebecca rejects all Beaumanoir's accusations and demands a duel: let whoever volunteers to defend her prove her case with a sword.

Meanwhile, the Black Knight, making his way through the forests to his only guided goal, comes across an ambush. Fitz-Urs carried out his vile plans, and the king of England could have fallen from a treacherous hand, if it were not for the sound of the horn of free arrows led by Loxley. The knight finally reveals his incognito: he is Richard Plantagenet, the rightful king of England. Loxley does not remain in debt either: he is Robin Hood from Sherwood Forest. Here the company is caught up by Wilfred Ivanhoe, traveling from St. Botolph Abbey, where he was recovering from his wounds, to Koningsburgh Castle. Forced to wait until his supporters muster enough forces, Richard goes with him. In the castle, he persuades Cedric to forgive the recalcitrant son and give him Lady Rowena as his wife. The resurrected, or rather, never dying, but only stunned Sir Athelstan joins his request. Stormy events last days robbed him of his last ambitious dreams. However, in the midst of the conversation, Ivanhoe suddenly disappears - some Jew called him urgently, according to the servants. At Templestow, everything is ready for the duel. There is only no knight willing to fight with Boisguillebert for the honor of Rebekah. If the intercessor does not appear before sunset, Rebekah will be burned. And then a rider appears on the field, his horse almost falls from fatigue, and he himself can barely keep in the saddle. This is Wilfred Ivanhoe, and Rebekah trembles with excitement for him. Opponents converge - and Wilfred falls, unable to withstand the well-aimed blow of the templar. However, from a fleeting touch of Ivanhoe's spear, Boisguillebert also falls - and no longer gets up. God's judgment is over! The Grandmaster declares Rebekah free and innocent.

Having taken his rightful place on the throne, Richard forgives his dissolute brother. Cedric finally agrees to the wedding of Lady Rowena with her son, and Rebekah and her father leave England forever. Ivanhoe lived happily ever after with Rowena. They loved each other even more because they experienced so many obstacles to their union. But it would be risky to ask too much whether the memory of the beauty and generosity of Rebecca did not come to his mind much more often than Alfred's beautiful heiress might have liked.

The era of the Middle Ages, described in Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe", for English history, perhaps, is one of the most interesting from the point of view of an outside observer. King Richard's "voyage" to the Holy Land ended with the capture of the Lionheart, while the cunning Prince John, pitting the Normans and Saxons, is trying to take the crown to his hands. Internecine warriors alternate with drunken revels and knightly tournaments, where valiant warriors show the wonders of martial art, making girlish hearts stop and inspiring troubadours to new compositions. Meanwhile, in the dense thickets, robber gangs are hiding under the leadership of the legendary archer Robin Hood.

Relying on historical facts, Scott created a multifaceted and eventful work, which should be taken on screen only if there is a reliable financial source at hand, and the running time of the picture will not be limited to a relatively miserable two and a half hours. Otherwise, there is a high risk of getting a fake product, where discrepancies with the original will be visible to the naked eye. Walter Scott, with his usual scrupulousness, describes every little thing, whether it is the outfit of a wealthy Jew or the interior of a monastic cell, allowing the reader to fully immerse himself in the atmosphere of that time. The author devotes a lot of time to revealing the images of characters, of which the English master of the pen has accumulated a fair amount. The film, whose meager budget is confirmed by every second frame, does neither. Like a diver exploring the seabed, but having a limited supply of air for this, the director tries to display all the main events taking place in the book, but he does it too hastily, clumsily, sometimes balancing on the verge of absurdity.

In the director's version of Douglas Camfield, the Knight Deprived of Inheritance appears as a typical blond poseur, completely devoid of charisma, and besides, he also showed up for the tournament in splendid isolation (Gurt's squire was devoured by hard timing). With antagonists, things are better. You can close your eyes to the fact that instead of five full-fledged instigators, only three “heroes” protect the honor of the Normans: Brian de Boisguillebert, Fron de Boeuf and Maurice de Bracy, who has forgotten what is not clear here. Fortunately, the image of each of them turned out to be moderately attractive and quite truthful. But as soon as the trumpets, announcing the beginning of the competition, stop blaring, a shadow of disappointment again falls over the lists, because from the proposed spectacle a mile away blows unnecessary pathos. Forgetting about the canons, the authors turn Ivanhoe into a kind of superman, easily cracking down on his enemies. In the original, Wilfred managed to knock out only two opponents from the saddle, while the rest lost solely on technical reasons. However, the extras, impoverished in every sense, are much more frustrating. From the bewitching spectacle described in the book, there was no trace left. Instead of daring warriors clad in sparkling armor and dashingly galloping on noble trotters, we see mummers as if they were lumberjacks, with grief inflicting childish blows on their opponents in half, the actors were not even taught how to fence properly.

A feature of the book "Ivanhoe" was a clearly built structure of the narrative. Seemingly having nothing mutual friend with a friend storylines gradually merged, forming a coherent and logically justified narrative. So, Robin Hood, who lost his nose to the royal archers at the tournament, a little later gets acquainted through the monk Took with another hero of the tournament, the mysterious Black Knight, after which both discover the benefits of the existing symbiosis. Whereas in the film, Good acts as a semi-episode character, and the Black Knight, from whose mystery there is not a trace left, is introduced into the “game” quite casually. In turn, the blurred acquaintance of these characters greatly influences the perception of the plot, drawing by the ears the decision of the yeomen to storm the bastions of the Front de Boeuf.

The trump card in the sleeve was to be romantic line Wilfred-Rowena, but due to the obvious unprofessionalism of both actors, she lost all her brilliance. The strained antics of the blond lady looked especially contrasting against the background of Olivia Hussey, who played the role of Rebekah. The experienced actress quite naturally managed to convey the range of emotions that raged in the soul of a beautiful Jewish woman. This was most clearly manifested in the final picture, when the captive beauty with a genuine sense of anxiety watched the fight between Ivanhoe and the hated templar. By the way, the final duel for the sake of the audience was performed in the best traditions of American cinema, where the exhausted hero still finds strength in himself and gives a light to the main villain.

Casting a glance at the staged wretchedness of the film and seeing obvious script flaws, it makes no sense to perceive this adaptation as an accurate reproduction of the novel. However, it is worth recognizing that this "Ivanhoe" turned out to be much more accurate than the Soviet production of the same year, in which there were much more differences from the original. At the same time, the film clearly loses to the discoverer, filmed already in 1952, but still being the most reliable adaptation of the film itself. famous novel writer.

Decided to watch this movie because of Robert Taylor. As a child I loved novel"Ivanhoe" and still treat him as a special work, although I haven’t reread it for 10 years and I don’t think that in the next 10 years I will take up this. I was madly in love with the Boisguillebert-Rebecca line, I was terribly distressed about their fate, and secretly imagined that they would still be together in some miraculous way.

Robert Taylor the role of Boisguillebert suits, in my opinion, ideally appearance, age, charisma. What was my surprise when, in the first minutes of watching, I realized that Taylor is Ivanhoe! With all my love for Taylor, he is too old for this role, and the type is not at all the same. Still, there is a literary primary source, and it seems to me that I will not require too much if I say that I want this primary source to be followed and the author's instructions to be taken into account, even if he (the author) has been dead for a hundred years. In short, Ivanhoe is the first disappointment.

Who was smart enough to take on the role, if not young, then very, very beautiful and young lady, colorless and blurry Joan Fontaine, who at 35 looks 45? Even assuming that she actually waited a monstrously long time for Ivanhoe, average duration life in England of the XII-XV centuries was 18-35 years, and Rowena, if she lived to those years, should have been considered an old woman. But if you can still come to terms with her age, then is it possible to understand how an actress, who even during her blooming youth became famous for the roles of nondescript ugly girls, was taken on the role the first beauty of England? The worst thing is that if Robert Taylor plays even more or less convincingly, then Joan Fontaine does not tense up at all stooped, with indestructible skepticism on her face, she only causes hostility. And what's up with her eyebrows? Whatever line she says, she always has the same expression on her face and she constantly either moves both eyebrows, or squints one eye and raises an eyebrow above the other, strongly looking like Roger Moore in the role James Bond and, it seems, she is about to grab a gun from her sleeve or jump with a parachute out the window. In a word, the second disappointment.

George Sanders: disappointment number three. Role de Boisguillebert with the same success it would be possible to trust a trained bear. Firstly, he has an absolutely Slavic muzzle of his face, he has “a refugee from revolutionary Russia"And in a wig and armor, he looks like a natural Pushkin's Tsar Saltan. Secondly, he does not know how to play, which he skillfully hides behind external stateliness, ease, self-confidence and irony; but if these qualities served him faithfully in "All About Eva" (best role Sanders), then in this case they worked against him, and it was necessary to come up with the "Golden Raspberry" back in 1952 specifically to reward Sanders with it for the role of Boisguillebert.

Plot. Poor, poor Sir Walter Scott! Life spent to discover modern world the buried and forgotten world of the Middle Ages, in order to arouse in compatriots an interest in history, spared neither strength nor health; and some, God forgive me, Hollywood screenwriters, distorted both what Scott invented and the real historical reality, changing the plot beyond recognition and removing half of the characters, at least they changed the name out of respect, in fact. And all so that some American farmer, chewing a Big Mac and popcorn, does not fall asleep from intellectual overstrain right in the middle of a movie show and then does not demand back the money for the ticket. In film "Queen Margo" Patrice Chereau, for example, was also misrepresented by Dumas, but they did it in order to show, based on the memoirs of his contemporaries, what the story really was. In Hollywood, Scott's novel was sacrificed completely in vain, the historicity in it the cat cried, except perhaps the fact of captivity Richard the Lionheart, and anyway, in the novel, Richard is much more interesting character. By the way, in the film, he also looks like Santa Claus, who visited the hairdresser, although King Richard, even at the time of his death, was only 41 years old.

Costumes and scenery. At first I was very happy when the first 5 minutes of the film showed real European medieval castles, however, my joy quickly turned into disappointment: the hero will not stop in any of these castles, and already the first scene of action, Cedric's house, decoration on the background drawn heaven, as well as the house of Isaac, and the city streets of Ashby. The costumes are obviously made in some Chinese factory, they are neither rich nor diverse, not to mention hand embroidery and artificial aging of things (for example, the travelers are all clean and ironed, as if for a match; and if someone has tatters hanging somewhere so, too, on clean and brand new clothes, nowhere is there a hole or a thread, and with the naked eye it can be seen that these tatters were carefully cut with scissors almost along the ruler).

Fights and siege scene. I am not strong in this, but even for me it was funny to watch how, with a wave of hands, the cardboard swords trembled in the air and bent with the letter Zu. The fights are staged so ridiculously that they resemble comedy fights from Buster Keaton and Roscoe Arbuckle. About knightly shields that look like enameled basins, someone has already written here before me. When the siege of the castle began (thank God, at least they left it, although everything was distorted in it), the husband looked at it for a couple of minutes, spat and said that he would rather endure 3 hours of Indian songs and dances than another 5 minutes of this disgrace.

You can, of course, object: they say, you should not be equal to modern blockbusters, these are the fifties, they have not yet learned how to shoot. Well, I don't know It was Birth of a nation Wark Griffith, was Ivan groznyj Eisenstein, was Parma cloister Christian-Jacques, was Quiet Don Bondarchuk, was Ben Hur Wyler, were Gone With the Wind, in the end did they learn something?! So, there was someone to look up to.

So far no one has filmed worthy adaptation of "Ivanhoe", but if you want to see this story on the screen, see better film adaptation 1982.

Exclusively for Elizabeth Taylor I don't feel much love for her, but she the only thing bright spot on the reputation of this film. She is good for everyone: youth, beauty, talent, and amazing dignity, inspiring admiration. So I recommend it to fans of Liz. But only to them.