A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1948)

(On Cable TV, September 2020) My memories of having read the original Mark Twain novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court are dim by now, but I remember enough to be able to say that this film adaptation diverges in significant ways from its inspiration. That’s part of the fun in seeing much-adapted classic works of literature, really—you can pinpoint an era’s obsession with the spin they give to the original material. In this case, it’s fair (and accurate) to say that late-1940s Hollywood was seriously obsessed by Bing Crosby, given that his starring turn in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court effectively makes him a bigger auteur of the film than Twain himself. Hey, it’s not as if Twain had his protagonist croon to the cute ladies of the court and lead big musical numbers, right? But yes: This 1948 take on the material transforms it into a Technicolor musical, complete with singing and dancing. While many of Twain’s imaginative plot devices have become stock for clichés, most of the film is watchable enough—especially if you like Crosby. There’s definitely a curiosity value in seeing how thoroughly the material was changed to reflect its leading man, but all of this fuss doesn’t necessarily make this a good movie. In fact, once it’s all sung and done, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is more notable as a star vehicle than for being an adaptation of a classic literary work… or much of a film by itself.