Films with Medieval Topics

WESTERN
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Dir: Anthony Mann
Sophia Loren
Plot summary: The Roman general Livius follows the precepts of Marcus Aurelius, in hopes of creating an empire at peace within and without its borders. The accession of the unstable Commodus puts this goal in jeopardy.

Anchoress (Belgium/U.K.; 1993)
Screenplay: Judith Stanley-Smith and Christine Watkins
Dir: Christopher Newby
Starring: Natalie Morse and Eugene Bervoerts.
Plot summary: In fourteenth-century England, peasant girl Christine Carpenter is so attracted to a statue of the Virgin Mary that the local priest (who lusts after her) suggests she be walled up in the church as an anchoress, a holy woman with responsibility for blessing the villagers. But when the priest has Christine's mother tried as a witch, she digs herself out of her cell, a crime for which the punishment is death.
This film is visually and aurally quite stark, yet beautifully evocative of the austerity of anchoritic life. It takes its premise from actual records of the life of a 14th century English anchoress and fills out the picture of her everyday life with sources such as the 13thc _Ancrene Wisse_ (Guide for Anchoresses). (Jennifer Andersen)

Braveheart, USA, 1985, 178 mins
Dir. Mel Gibson
Star; Mel Gibson

The Navigator, 1988, New Zealand, 92 mins. Dir. Vincent Walker

Sub Category - Robin Hood
Robin Hood (1913). Dir: William Russell
Robin Hood (1922). Dir: Allen Dwan. Star: Douglas Fairbanks
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Stars: Erroll Flynn
Robin and Marian (1986).
Robin Hood (1991). Dir: John Irvin
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Dir: Kevin Reynolds Stars: Kevin Costner

Feudalism/ Knighthood

*A Knight's Tale (2001)
US, Action, 132, PG 13, Color
Director: Brain Helgeland; Star: Heath Ledger
-Set in the world of tournements, this is not a "historical film" in any conventional sense.

*Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
UK, Historical/Comedy, 90, Rated PG, Color
Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones; Star; Graham Chapman
-Meant to be humorous. It is, in parts.

*The Seventh Seal (1957)
Sweden, Drama, 96, No rating B&W
Director: Ingmar Bergman: Cast includes: Max Von Sydow
-Set in 14th-century Sweden, about a knight returning from a crusade playing a chess game with death. The film made Bergman famous. It is less about the crusade era, however, than Swedish existentialism in the 1950s.

*The War Lord (1965)
US, War/Historical/Drama, 123, No rating, Color
Director: Franklin Schaffner; Cast includes: Charlton Heston
-Based on Leslie Stevens' The Lovers. Heston is a knight invoking the "right" to sleep with another man's bride on their wedding night. (See Braveheart for the same myth)

Law

*The Advocate [Alt: The Hour of the Pig]
US (1993): Historical/Drama/Crime
Director: Peter Thompson: Cast includes: Colin Firth
-A 15th-century French lawyer defends a pig put on trial for murder.

Crusades

*The Crusades (1935)
US, Historical/Drama, 123, No rating B&W
Director: Cecil B. DeMille; Cast includes: Loretta Young (Berengaria), Henry Wilcoxon (Richard), Ian Keith (Saladin)

*King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
US, Historical, 114, No rating, Color
Director: David Butler; Cast includes: Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Virginia Mayo

Lionheart (1987)
US, Adventure, 104 min, Rated PG, Color
Director: Frankilin J. Schaffner; Cast includes: Eric Stoltz
-Stoltz leads a "childrens crusade in search of King Richard I in the 12th century."

The Mighty Crusaders (1957)
Italy, Religious/Historical/Action, 87, No rating, Color
Director: Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia
-A version of Tasso's poem

*El Naser Salah el Dine [Alt: Saladin] (1963)
Egypt, Historical/Drama (Technicolor), 175 mins. Director Youssef Chahine.
An Arab movie about Saladin. It is not clear in the movie that Saladin was a Kurd, not an Arab, and he is presented as a prototype of Nasser in calling for Arab unity in order to expel the western intruders.

*Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Russia, War/Historical, 107, No rating B&W
Director: Sergei Eisenstein, D.I. Vassillev; Cast includes: Nikolai Cherkassov
-The repelling of a German invasion in the 13th century. Score by Prokofiev. One of the great movies.

Black Cross (1960) [Alt: Krzyzacy]
Poland, Historical/Adventure, 175, No rating, Color
Director: Aleksander Ford
-About the Teutonic knights. Not up to Eisenstein.

Medieval European Literature on Film

*The Canterbury Tales (1971)
France-Italy, Drama, 109, No rating, Color
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

*Canterbury Tales, The (1998)
UK, T. 2x28mins
Director. Jonathan Myerson
-Six of the stories from the Canterbury Tales done in a variety of animation styles. It works very well. The filsm was made in three versions -- Middle English, Modern English, and Welsh.

Dante's Inferno (1935)
US, Drama, 88, No rating, Black & White
Director: Harry Lachman; Cast includes; Spencer Tracy, (and in a minor role Rita Hayworth)
-Not about Dante, but a modern circus owner. The film does contain an Inferno Devil's Paradise sequence.

Decameron Nights (1953)
UK, Drama, 87, No rating, Color
Director: Hugo Fregonese; Cast includes: Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Louis Jourdan as Boccaccio.

The Decameron (1970)
France-Italy-West Germany, Drama, 111, Rated X, Color
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

*El Cid (1961)
US, War/Biography, 184, No rating, Color
Director: Anthony Mann; Cast includes: Sophia Loren (Chimene), Charlton Heston (Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar El Cid), John Fraser (King Alfonso).

The Mighty Crusaders (1957)
Italy, Religious/Historical/Action, 87, No rating, Color
Director: Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia
-A version of Tasso's poem. A love story between a Christian and a Saracen forms the basic story.

The Eternal Return (1943) [Alt: L'Eternel Retour]
France, Drama, 100, No rating B&W In French
Director: Jean Delannoy: Cast includes: Jean Marais, Madeleine Sologne
-Based on Jean Cocteau's modern-dress adaptation of the Tristan and Isolde legend.

*Perceval le Gallois (1978)
France, Drama, 140, No rating, Color
Director: Eric Rohmer
-Based on the 12th century French romance, translated by Rohmer. Unfortunately Roger Ebert calls it "relentlessly turgid".

Beowulf (1998) (TV)
US, 27, Color. Animated.
Director. Yuri Kulakov, With Jospeh Fiennes and Derek Jacobi

*Beowulf (1999)
US. 89, Color
Director: Graham Baker. With Christopher Lambert
-The Beowulf story moved to the future.

Grendel, Grendel, Grendel (1980)
Australia, Animated, 90, No rating, Color
Director: Alexander Stitt; Star; (voices) Peter Ustinov, Keith Mitchell
-Beowulf's opponent.

*The 13th Warrior (1999)
US, Action/Horror, 102 mins
Director: John McTiernan; Cast includes: Antonio Banderas, Omar Sharif
-[PBH Comment] Based on Michael Crichton's novel the Eaters of the Dead, which combined the genuine account of his encounters with the Rus (Vikings on the Volga) of the Arab traveler Ibn Fahdlan (here played by Banderas) with themes take from Beowulf and -- apparently -- H.G.

*Die Nibelungen (1924) [Two Parts: *Siegfried and *Kriemhild's Revenge]
Dir. Fritz Lang. Germany, Fantasy, 186 min, No rating, Black & White
-Extraordinary silent film.

England

Alfred the Great (1969)
UK, Historical, 122, Rated PG, Color
Director: Clive Donner; Cast includes: David Hemmings, Michael York

Lady Godiva (1955)
US, Drama, 89, No rating, Color
Director: Arthur Lubin; Cast includes: Maureen O'Hara
-About the woman who rode naked through Coventry. It would be filmed differently today!

Black Arrow (1985) TV
US 93, No rating, Color
Director: John Hough: Cast includes: Oliver Reed
-Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's hero.

The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
US, Adventure, 99, No rating, Color
Director: Rudolph Mate; Cast includes: Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh

*Becket (1964)
US, Historical/Drama, 148, No rating, Color
Director: Peter Glenville; Cast includes: Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton
-Based on Jean Anouilh's play about Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas а Becket and his English King, Henry II. Although there is no historical data to support the suggestion, Anouilh sees a homosexual relationship. Superb film.
- See ORB: Becket Bibliography

Murder in the Cathedral (1952)
UK. BW, 140 mins.
Director: George Hoellering.
Film version of T.S. Eliot's play of the same name, about the murder/martyrdom of Thomas Becket.

*The Lion in Winter (1968)
UK, Historical/Drama, 135, No rating, Color
Director: Anthony Harvey: Cast includes: Katherine Hepburn (Eleanor), Peter O'Toole (Henry II), Anthony Hopkins (Richard the Lionheart)
-[PBH Comment] Probably the greatest of all "medieval movies" for sheer enjoyment. The intra-familial disputes of the Plantagenets are quite accurately depicted. What does not come across is that by the late 12th century dynasticism, although it still had legs, was supplemented by increasingly elaborate state structures. And then there is Hepburn. Magnificent as ever, it must be remembered that she never played anyone but herself. Recommended for teaching simply as a way to excite student interest.

*King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
US, Historical, 114, No rating, Color
Director: David Butler; Cast includes: Rex Harrison, Virgina Mayo
-Not well regarded

*Ivanhoe (1952)
US, Romance/Adventure, 106, No rating, Color
Director: Richard Thorpe; Cast includes: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine

*Ivanhoe (1982). TV
UK, Drama, 188/156 mins, Color
Director Douglas Camfield; Cast includes James Mason Isaac of York), Anthony Andrews (Ivanhoe), Olivia Hussey (Rebecca), and Lysette Anthony (Rowena).
The video is an edit of the mini-series. It received quite good notices for both its acting and its battle scenes.

Ivanhoe (1997) TV-Mini
Dir. Stuart Orme

Edward II (1970)
Director:. Tobey Robertson
Cast includes: Ian McKellen
-Made for TV version of Marlowe's play

*Edward II (1991)
UK, Drama, , 91 min, No rating, Color
Director: Derek Jarman; Cast includes: Steven Waddington, Tilda Swinton
-based on the 1592 play by Christopher Marlowe about the homosexual Edward II.

The Warriors (1955) [Alt: The Dark Avenger]
UK, Historical, 85, No rating, Color
Director: Henry Levin; Cast includes: Errol Flynn (Prince Edward), Michael Hordern (King Edward III)
-Early hundred year's war

*Henry V (1945)
UK, War/Drama, 137, No rating, Color
Director: Laurence Olivier; Cast includes: Laurence Olivier
-Shakespeare's play, played for wartime nationalism. Olivier's rendition of the St. Crispin's day speech will make you want to be English!

*Henry V (1989)
UK, Historical/Drama, 137, No rating, Color
Director: Kenneth Branagh; Cast includes: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed
-Brilliant, but much darker version of Shakespeare than Olivier's. Branagh was 27 when he amde this -- Henry V's age at Agincourt (check).

Richard III (1912)
US, Drama, 55, No rating, B/W and hand-tinted color
Director: Andrй Calmettes and James Keane (II); Cast includes: Frederick Warde (King Richard III)
-This 1912 filmor Shakespeare's play is the earliest surviving American feature film.

*Richard III (1955)
UK, War/Historical, 155, No rating, Color
Director: Laurence Olivier; Cast includes: Laurence Olivier (King Richard III), Ralph Richardson (Buckingham), Claire Bloom (Lady Anne), John Gielgud (Clarence)

Tower of London (1939)
US, Historical, 92, No rating B&W
Director: Rowland V. Lee; Cast includes: Basil Rathbone (Richard III), Boris Karloff (Mord, the Executioner)
-Princes in the Tower story

*Tower of London (1962)
US, Historical, 79, No rating B&W
Director: Roger Corman; Cast includes: Vincent Price
-remake of 1939 film

*The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
UK, Biography, 97, No rating B&W
Director: Alexander Korda; Cast includes: Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Elsa Lanchester, Merle Oberon.

Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1973)
UK, Biography, 125, Rated PG, Color
Director: Waris Hussein; Cast includes: Keith Michell, Donald Pleasence, Charlotte Rampling
-Condensed from the British TV series.

*A Man for All Seasons (1966)
UK, Drama, 120, No rating, Color
Director: Fred Zinnemann: Cast includes: Paul Scofield
-The story of St. Thomas More as a man of conscience. Won six Oscars.

A Man for All Seasons (1988)
US TV, Drama, 120, No rating, Color
Director: Charlton Heston. With Charlton Heston and Vanessa Redgrave
-Remake of 1996 film and closer to Robert Bolt's play. It is hard to imagine the off screen conversations ebtween Heston and Redgrave about politics. By all accounts heston has great respect for her as an actress.

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
US, Historical, 145, Rated PG, Color
Director: Charles Jarrott; Cast includes: Richard Burton (King Henry VIII), Geneviиve Bujold (Anne Boleyn), Irene Papas (Queen Katherine), Anthony Quayle (Wolsey)
-About Anne Boleyn. Quite inaccurate!

Lady Jane (1985)
UK, Biography, 142, Rated PG-13, Color
Director: Trevor Nunn; Cast includes: Helena Bonham Carter

Tudor Rose (1936)
(No other information)
-The story of Lady Jane Grey.

The Sword and the Rose (1953)
US, Romance/Historical, 93, No rating, Color
Director: Ken Annakin; Cast includes: Richard Todd, Glynis Johns (Princess Mary Tudor), James Robertson Justice (King Henry VIII)
-Disney movie set in England of Mary Tudor. A color re-filming of When Knighthood was in Flower (1922).

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
US, Romance/Biography, 106, No rating, Color
Director: Michael Curtiz; Cast includes: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Vincent Price

*The Virgin Queen (1955)
US, Historical, 92, No rating, Color
Director: Henry Koster; Cast includes: Bette Davis, Richard Todd, Joan Collins
-Elizabeth and Raleigh

*Elizabeth (1998)
UK. 121, Color
Director: Shekhar Kapur, With Cate Blanchett.
-So amazinging anti-Catholic, it could not have been made by a modern English director.
-there are many other movies on Queen Elizabeth.

Seven Seas to Calais (1962)
Italy, Historical/Biography, 102, No rating, Color
Director: Rudolph Mate; Cast includes: Rod Taylor, Keith Mitchell
-About Sir Francis Drake

Fire Over England (1937)
UK, War/Historical/Adventure, 89, No rating B&W
Director: William K. Howard; Star; Laurence Olivier, Flora Robson (Queen Elizabeth), Leslie Banks (Earl of Leicester), Raymond Massey, (Philip of Spain), Vivien Leigh (Cynthia)
-All about the Armada[/b]

France

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
US, Drama, 93, No rating B&W
Director: Wallace Worsely; Cast includes: Lon Chaney

The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1939)
US, Horror, 115, No rating B&W
Director: William Dieterle; Cast includes: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara
-The classic version of Victor Hugo's novel. Forget the Disney version.

Le moine et la sorciиre [Alt: The Sorceress] France (1987): Historical/Drama, 97 minutes.
Director: Suzanne Schiffman; Cast inlcudes Tchйky Karyo and Christine Boisson

Beatrice (1988)
France, Historical, 128, Rated R, Color
Director: Bertrand Tavernier: Cast includes: Julie Delpy
-Violent family story set during the Hundred Years War. A father bullies his son and engages in incest with his daughter.

Les Visiteurs du soir, (1942) [Alt: The Devil's Envoys]
France, Romance/Fantasy, 110, No rating B&W
Director: Marcel Carnй
A fantasy romance set in the 15th century and based on a French legend:

Ladyhawke (1985)
US, Fantasy/Adventure, 124, Rated PG-13, Color
Director: Richard Donner; Cast includes: Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick
-rightly called a fantasy, but set in Medieval France.

The Vagabond King (1956)
US, Musical/Historical, 86, No rating, Color
Director: Michael Curtiz; Cast includes: Kathryn Grayson, Oreste, Rita Moreno
-About Franзois Villon, a version of Rudolf Frimal's operetta. Filmed before in 1930. Story without music as The Beloved Rogue (1927), and If I Were King (1928)

Diane (1956)
US, Historical, 110, No rating, Color
Director: David Miller: Cast includes: Lana Turner
-Set in the court of Francis I of France.

Queen Margot (1954)
France, Historical/Drama/Biography,
Cast includes: Jeanne Moreau
-About the St. Bartholemew's day massacre.

*Queen Margot (1994)
France-Germany-Italy, Historical/Drama/Biography, 143, Rated R, Color
Director: Patrice Chйreau; Cast includes: Isabelle Adjani
-Adjani as Marguerite de Valois and the events surrounding the St. Bartholemew's day massacre of 1572. Good critical reception. Based on Alexander Dumas' novel. The French language version runs 166.

*Intolerance (1916)
US, Drama, 178, No rating B&W
Director: D.W Griffiths: Cast includes: Lillian Gish

Carnival in Flanders (1935) [Alt: La Kermesse Hйroпque]
France, Historical/Comedy, 95, No rating B&W In French
Director: Jacques Feyder
-Pauline Kael wrote: "It is a day in 1616; a Spanish regiment comes to a town in occupied Flanders. The cowardly burghers hide, but their charming ladies meet the challenge, and in the morning the Spaniards depart, poorer in worldly goods, richer in experience."

Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
France, Romance/Drama, 138, Rated PG, Color
Director: Jean Paul Rappeneau; Cast includes: Gerard Depardieu
-Based on a late 19th century play about a long-nosed early 17th century Frenchman.
-There are many other versions

*The Return of Martin Guerre, The (1982) [Alt: La Retour de Martin Guerre]
France, Historical, 111, No rating, Color
Director: Daniel Vigne, Jean Claude Carrierи: Cast includes: Gerard Depardieu
-Based on trial records about an impostor in 16th century Southern France. An excellent movie, with solid historical advice given by Natalie Zemon Davis to the film makers. Try to see subtitled version, not the dubbed one.

Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
US, Historical/Biography, 83, No rating B&W
Director: Rowland V. Lee; Cast includes: George Arliss
[/b]

Scholars and Scholasticism

Stealing Heaven (1988)
Yugoslavia, Romance/historical, Rated R, Color
Director: Cliver Donner;
-Sexually explicit account of Abelard and Heloise.
-[From Mediev-l List "Worst Medieval Films" Discussion] One of the best I have seen in recent years is Stealing Heaven about Abelard and Heloise's love affair. Of course, some of it is not "reality" but then, aren't movies supposed to be like that?

The Name of the Rose (1986)
France-Germany-Italy, Mystery/Historical, 130, Rated R, Color
Director: Cast includes: Sean Connery

The Black Rose (1950)
US. Adventure, 120.
Director: Henry Hathaway; Cast includes Tyrone Power and Orson Welles.
A noble Saxon youth in Norman England is forced to run away. He takes with him a loyal retainer who brings along a long bow. The two go all the way to China where they become involved in intrigues in the court of Kublai Khan. Note that the trope of Saxon/Norman conflict is here extended well into the late 13th century! The first thirty minutes or so has the noble Saxon at Oxford University conversing about his future with Friar Roger Bacon!

И еще много фильмов по тематикам: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medfilms.html

все понятно.

Но не всем.