I highly recommend reading T.H. White's "The Once and Future King" which is an epic re-telling of the Arthurian legend. Disney's "Sword in the Stone" is taken from the first part of the book, and the musical "Camelot" from the ending, but neither does the book justice. If you want to get a real feel for the grandeur and tragedy of the Arthurian legend, I cannot think of a better way to do so.
Yes! I agree entirely. Excalibur deserves multiple watchings.
As far as Wagner goes, this writer gives me a bunion whining on about what a Nazi Wagner was (even though Nazis came decades after his death.) Wagner's music is *fantastic* - he is the father of modern motion picture soundtrack music, even if he didn't intend it.
1) As Arthur is riding out for his fateful duel with the shining knight (who turns out to be Lancelot), Merlin is struggling to catch a fish by hand in a near-by stream. As Arthur rides by, Merlin grabs the fish and then falls backwards into the water as it gets away. He looks Arthur in the eye and says, "Its funny...no matter how smart you are, you always can find something greater than yourself."
2) The other is when Merlin walks into the Hall of the Round Table and looks at Lancelot (who he knows to be having an affair with Arthur's Queen), and asks "What is the most important quality in a knight?" The knights take turns saying things like "courage" and "strength". But then Merlin says "No...a knight's most important quality is truth. For without truth, everything else is a lie."
I often thought about that second lesson during the Clinton years when I heard people making lame excuses for his dishonesty by saying "the economy is going well", etc etc