This movie follows the full story of King Arthur, beginning with the lust of his father, Uther Pendragon, for Igrayne, wife of the Duke of Cornwall.  The drawing of the sword from the stone, the Lady of the Lake, the illicit love of Lancelot and Guenevere, the incestuous begetting of Mordred, the imprisonment of Merlin—all is here in the kind of gory detail that was popular in the 1980s and early 1990s.  This movie is darker and a little bleaker than the 1953 Knights of the Round Table.  It is notable for what some viewers have characterized as an eccentric performance by Nicol Williamson as Merlin; another interesting piece of trivia is that Liam Neeson appears here in his first film role, as Gawain.