A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

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Reception

The film opened on April 7, 1949 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and, together with the venue's annual Easter pageant and stage show, generated its largest four-day Easter gross to date, with $146,000 in its first week. The following week, with children out of school and the theater opening at 7:45 a.m. to enable six showings a day, it grossed a Radio City Music Hall record of $170,000 and became the number-one film in the United States.

In a contemporary review, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: The solid, reliable humors of Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," which have already done yeoman service in two films and a Broadway musical show, have been given another going over—with eminently satisfactory results—in Paramount’s new film of the same title ... And for this we can thank Bing Crosby, primarily and above all, because it is Bing in the role of the Yankee who gives this film its particular charm ... But it is still Bing’s delightful personality, his mild surprises and sweet serenities, and his casual way of handling dialogue that makes this burlesque a success. No one in current operation could qualify, we are sure, to play the Connecticut Yankee the way the old Groaner does. ... Mr. Crosby's "Connecticut Yankee" is that good time to be had by all.Harrison's Reports also liked the film, calling it "A very good romantic comedy" with "numerous situations that will provoke hearty laughter." Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "All in all, I would put this picture well up among Paramount's Crosby features as an effort to accomplish something different ... It is a pleasantly fabulous excursion in the dream classification, and the cutback to the medieval past is effectively enough introduced in this adaptation of the Mark Twain story."

Variety was not quite so enthusiastic: "Picture wears the easy casualness that's a Crosby trademark, goes about its entertaining at a leisurely pace, and generally comes off satisfactorily. It's not high comedy and there’s little swashbuckling." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post wrote that the idea was "so promising that it's a shame the picture collapses," explaining, "The early half of the picture accepts Bing's particular brand of easy charm ... But social welfare work among the downtrodden peasantry (there's even a scene that reminds you of 'Monsieur Vincent') hardly fits into my idea of cheerful musical comedy." John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote that Crosby was "effortlessly amiable," but that the film lacked the wit of the 1931 Will Rogers version and that the songs were inferior to those of the Rodgers and Hart stage musical.

In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated the film for its Top 10 Fantasy Films list.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

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Reception