King Arthur

The latest movie blockbuster opens today, the story of a youth who has been chosen for a special destiny, mentored by an older man with extraordinary powers. The hero must take on evil personified.... You mean they remade "Camelot"? The long lines outside theaters for "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" are the most recent proof of the sturdiness of the Arthurian legend.

The Manchurian Candidate Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep Paramount, $30 It sounded like sacrilege when it was first announced that Paramount was going to remake the 1962 tale of political intrigue that was directed with great panache by the late John Frankenheimer. Though this new version doesn't reach the heights of the original (which was adapted from Richard Condon's novel), it more than holds its own as a taut political thriller.

As King Arthur and his legend lay siege to box offices around the world, conflict rages in the land of his birth. For not only was Arthur Britain's savior in the Dark Ages against invading Saxons, he also works wonders on the tourism earnings of depressed local economies -- and several are vying for his services. The tale of Arthur, the sorcerer Merlin and the quest for the Holy Grail has long been a staple of British schoolchildren.

On a recent bright, muggy morning in Manhattan, the screenwriter David Franzoni was reclining in a low-slung chair in the tapestry-strewn barroom at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, across from Central Park, talking about history.

Sexed up, tricked out and totally ready to party, "King Arthur" enters the summer fray with consummate New World vulgarity. Set during the 5th century against a backdrop of warring British interests, Roman conquerors and Saxon invaders, this frantic period entertainment retells this beloved Britannic foundation myth with big-bang razzmatazz and high Hollywood camp. It's the Arthurian legends, a PlayStation Passion play and a Jerry Bruckheimer lollapalooza rolled into one.

"No one knows the real story of the great King Arthur of Camelot," intones a woman gliding in a boat across a mist-shrouded lake. "Most of what you think you know about Camelot, Guinevere, and Lancelot and the evil sorceress known as Morgaine le Fay is nothing but lies." She should know.

I started my search for King Arthur on a local train in the company of a bunch of surfers on holiday from gritty Manchester. We all were going to Newquay, and they wanted to talk about the Jerry Springer show. It was hard to picture Arthur and his knights in the flat green landscape of Cornwall rolling by outside. I've always been fond of Arthur's story and the promise of Camelot, even though it is a bittersweet tale without a happy ending.