By the late 60's, musicals might have still be thriving on Broadway, but movie musicals weren't doing the bang up business at the box office that they used to. Many of these movie musicals, though flawed, were simply victims of time. In the case of Camelot's infamous failure, it has as much to do with the time period when it was released as it does with the lousy, overlong, bloated, neverending script.
You'd be a fool to say the score of Camelot is a dud. Far from it. It's filled with lively, memorable, and hauntingly beautiful tunes - easily some of the best and brightest that Broadway has ever inspired. Some of these songs hold up well on film, but a majority don't, especially with sandwiched between seemingly endless, talky book scenes that feel like a bunch of blabber.
The cast, while not exactly ready for recording contracts, don't massacre the score completely. Richard Harris, though wearing eyeliner and eyeshadow for some ungodly reason, handles the score fine. Then again, it was written for Richard Burton who had a Rex Harrison-style of singing. Vanessa Redgrave doesn't have Julie Andrews' beautiful soprano, but with a few key changes, she sounds pleasant enough. Franco Nero must have really been awful, because he's dubbed completely.
The first 30 minutes or so move along at a decent enough pace and, right as you're about to really get into it, it slows to a crawl and never recovers. By the time the Intermission title card came up, it dawned on me that I wasn't even half way through the film and the very idea that there was over half the film left made me sick to my stomach. The only compelling thing Camelot has going for it in its last half is the chemistry between Redgrave and Nero (who'd end up becoming a couple after this film and are still together to this date).
