First Knight asin: 0800141601 binding: DVD list price: $14.94 USD amazon price: $9.55 USD

First Knight (1995) directed by Jerry Zucker. Yet another retelling of the King Arthur legend, but this time with a very strong antagonist, Prince Malagant (played by Ben Cross) pitted against King Arthur (played by Sean Connery). The conversations Arthur has with Malagant and others describing the values of Camelot are fantastic! Malagant asks if Camelot's laws are intended for the whole world, and Arthur answers, "There are laws that enslave man and laws that set them free. Either what we hold to be right and good and true is right and good and true for all mankind, under God, or we are just another robber tribe." When Lancelot reads the inscription on the Round Table, "In serving each other we become free," Arthur explains, "That is the very heart of Camelot. Not these stones, timbers, towers, palaces - burn them all - Camelot lives on, because it lives in us, because it is a belief we hold in our hearts." The contrast between Arthur's kingdom of freedom under law and Malagant's under a tyranny that brings order is extremely vivid. Good stuff to chew on. --Larry Stout