MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘KNIGHTS AND EMERALDS’

“Knights and Emeralds” (at the Beverly Center Cineplex) sounds as though it might be a Camelot swashbuckler, but it’s a light, decidedly minor high school comedy, heavy on the music and filmed in the anything-but-romantic British industrial city of Birmingham.

The setting is a multiracial inner-city area, in which the major event of the year would seem to be a competition between marching bands of local high school students. Not surprisingly, the bands’ memberships fall along racial lines. On the one hand, there’s the all-white Wednesfield Community Brass Band, a stodgy, lackluster outfit run by an elderly man who lives in the past. On the other, there’s the all-black Willenhall Crusaders, who are just bursting with talent, energy and originality; all they need is a little focus to trounce the competition. (Where, oh where, do they get the funding for their knockout costumes, worthy of a West End or Broadway show?)

Written and directed by Ian Emes, a Birmingham native, “Knights and Emeralds” is full of good cheer and affectionate observations of daily life in a blue-collar society in which blacks and whites live more harmoniously than you might expect. Naturally, bigotry surfaces occasionally, but often it’s more out of habit than conviction. Indeed, when the Wednesfield Brass’ talented drummer (Christopher Wild) quits out of frustration and joins the Crusaders, there’s hardly a stir.

The trouble is that “Knights and Emeralds” scarcely makes a stir itself. It’s pleasant enough--its kids are likable and the Crusaders’ music lively and fun--but the film could have been so much more. The fact that Wild and the Crusaders’ pretty drummer (Beverley Hills) discover they’re in love only at the fadeout seems downright evasive; we never get to see how their families and the community at large might have reacted to their interracial romance.

“Knights and Emeralds” seems superficial and passe in comparison to “My Beautiful Laundrette,” which showed that you could touch reality and still be upbeat about it. How tedious and artificial, for example, is the wrangling between the middle-aged leader of a bunch of sexy majorettes and her aging Teddy boy husband, and her affair with the director (inexplicably white and nerdy) of the Crusaders. Produced by David Puttnam, “Knights and Emeralds” (rated PG but more like a G) resembles nothing so much as one of the more innocuous installments in his First Love series. ‘KNIGHTS AND EMERALDS’

A Warners release of an Enigma production. Executive producer David Puttnam. Producers Susan Richards, Raymond Day. Writer-director Ian Emes. Camera Richard Greatrex. Crusaders’ theme and music coordinator Colin Towns. Art director Deborah Gillingham. Costumes Ann Hollowood. Choreographer Quinny Sacks. Film editor John Victor-Smith. With Christopher Wild, Beverley Hills, Warren Mitchell, Bill Leadbitter, Rachel Davies, Tracie Bennett, Nadim Sawalha, Tony Milner.

Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

MPAA rating: PG (parental guidance suggested; some material may not be suitable for children).