iconic scene

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by Rob Compton "Excalibur" is a new film to me. You've all tempted me to see it now! Available for £3.99 in HMV! HMV.com: Music CDs, DVDs, Games & More rgds Rob

I don't think you'll be disappointed Rob - it's the best recreation of the Arthurian mythos put on film... so far.

It looks fantastic, the screenplay is beautifully literate and it has some memorable performances from a superb cast, especially Nicol Williamson as Merlin!

[silverwhistle]

Originally Posted by Third Man Yes, I've heard of the 'hard-done-by' Mordred scenario and very interesting it is too. Simon

Well, before Lancelot was invented in the 12C, he was the one who was bonking Gwenhwyfar (his aunt and/or stepmother!), putting that thread of the plot more in the same tradition as the Drustan-Essylt-March, Diarmuid-Grainne-Fionn, Naisiu-Deirdriu-Conchobhar triangles. where there's generally a family tie between the 2 men, and it's the young queen with the older husband choosing a younger man. The plotline survived in English until 14C (the Alliterative Morte Arthur), but Malory used the French Prose Lancelot as his main source, and Lancelot had first been given the role of the Queen's lover by Chrétien de Troyes (quite possibly as a spoof). Lancelot's earlier storyline seems to be the one recorded by Ulrich von Zatzikhofen, in his Lanzelet.

Mordred/Medrawd was always my favourite character (what can I say? I'm a sucker for young men in distress, generally involving sharp pointy objects!), and my favourite modern version is in Joy Chant's The High Kings, which goes back to the pre-Lancelot versions.

Boorman and Pallenberg's innovation was to weld the Grail legend to Arthur himself, and make him and the Roi Pêcheur (Sinner/Fisher King) one character. They thus created a very powerful subtext which draws on both Christian and pre-Christian notions of sacrificial kingship.

[D Cairns]

I once had a drink with a bloke who produced all those Hitler documentaries for Channel Five. He remarked that, based on his knowledge of Nazi occultism which he'd acquired for one of his shows, EXCALIBUR was "a very sinister film". But he would say no more!

[silverwhistle]

Originally Posted by dremble wedge I don't think you'll be disappointed Rob - it's the best recreation of the Arthurian mythos put on film... so far. It looks fantastic, the screenplay is beautifully literate and it has some memorable performances from a superb cast, especially Nicol Williamson as Merlin!

Agreed! Its visual style is derived very heavily from the Pre-Raphaelites' Arthurian paintings, especially Rossetti and Burne-Jones. The shining plate armour is straight out of Burne-Jones, and Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere looks like Rossetti's portraits of Jane Morris. There are also sexy influences from the work of Aubrey Beardsley (another of my lifelong heroes), who illustrated Malory in the 1890s. In the same mode, it uses a lot of 19C Arthurian-inspired Romantic music, notably Wagner's Parsifal and (I think) bits of Tristan, as well as Orff's 20C setting of songs from the Carmina Burana (Benediktbeuren MS, early 13C). A magical film, in all. I saw it when it was first released, on the big screen.

The very last scene is pure Pre-Raphaelite: the queens on the boat vanishing into the sunset…

[silverwhistle]

Originally Posted by D Cairns I once had a drink with a bloke who produced all those Hitler documentaries for Channel Five. He remarked that, based on his knowledge of Nazi occultism which he'd acquired for one of his shows, EXCALIBUR was "a very sinister film". But he would say no more!

Sounds like someone who's let his hobby-horse run away with him! Just because the Nazis developed some bizarre notions based on mediæval romances (especially Grail legends), generally mediated through Wagner, doesn't mean that anything based on the mediæval romances is tainted with Nazism. He probably doesn't know much about mediæval literature…

[Rob Compton]

Originally Posted by silverwhistle Agreed! Its visual style is derived very heavily from the Pre-Raphaelites' Arthurian paintings, especially Rossetti and Burne-Jones. The shining plate armour is straight out of Burne-Jones, and Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere looks like Rossetti's portraits of Jane Morris. There are also sexy influences from the work of Aubrey Beardsley (another of my lifelong heroes), who illustrated Malory in the 1890s. In the same mode, it uses a lot of 19C Arthurian-inspired Romantic music, notably Wagner's Parsifal and (I think) bits of Tristan, as well as Orff's 20C setting of songs from the Carmina Burana (Benediktbeuren MS, early 13C). A magical film, in all. I saw it when it was first released, on the big screen. The very last scene is pure Pre-Raphaelite: the queens on the boat vanishing into the sunset…

Thank you! It sounds just my kind of film - I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

rgds
Rob

[Sid]

In Genevieve, when John Gregsons character loses the race because the Old Gentleman is remeniscing about his late wife and their own Darracq.
What an old softie I am

[dogstar]

Percy Herbert's death scene in Sea of Sand is an enduring moment for me ( mentioned at length in the favourite films forum ). Another favourite is the moment in Zulu when James Boothe as Harry Hook fights against all his his instincts and goes back to try and rescue Paul Daneman whom he detests and has been giving him a hard time throughout. Loads of others but those two always stand out ( as Windsor and Agutter fans might say! ) :-)

[Moor Larkin]

ZULU and Agutter sprang to my mind too.

The "!FrontRank/RearRank!" volley sequence

and by complete contrast

the little girl seeing "Daddy, My Daddy" through the steam and smoke

[Brief Encounter]

Surely THE iconic Brit cinema moment is Alec and Laura's goodbye in Brief Encounter?

Though on a personal level:

1. 'You'll be laughing for the rest of your life!' - the Krays
2. 'I never could resist what belonged to someone else' - the Wicked Lady.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by D Cairns Alec Guinness's entrance near the start of THE LADYKILLERS.

Based closely on, and with acknowledgements to Alastair Sim's entrance in London Belongs to Me (1948)

Steve

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by Moor Larkin ZULU and Agutter sprang to my mind too. The "!FrontRank/RearRank!" volley sequence

Brutal and horrifying, but mesmerising

and by complete contrast the little girl seeing "Daddy, My Daddy" through the steam and smoke

I think that's the one that Fell meant

Steve

[Steve Crook]

This is the universe. Big, isn't it.

Yes June, I'm bailing out. I'm bailing out but there's a catch, I've got no parachute.

I could love a man like you Peter

One is starved for Technicolor up there.

A weak mind isn't strong enough to hurt itself. Stupidity has saved many a man from going mad.

It's all right Frank. he's right. There's no sense in love.

Oh, what the heck, just about any scene from A Matter of Life and Death

But if I was forced to pick one from outside the Powell & Pressburger canon then I think it'd be something quirky and light hearted in a serious situation. Like John Frost (Anthony Hopkins) and his major deliberately misunderstanding the German's request for them to surrender in A Bridge Too Far (1977). Like most of that film, it's fairly accurately based of real events and real people. But in that scene they had Maj. Carlyle pretend to misunderstand it although it was really John Frost who had done so. But the real John Frost was there as an advisor and said that he didn't want his character to do it because it would seem like showing off

The real-life Col. John Frost chided Anthony Hopkins during the filming for running from house to house during the battle for Arnhem. According to Hopkins, Frost told him that a British officer would never have run but would have shown disdain for enemy fire by walking from place to place. Hopkins claims he tried but as soon as the firing started, instincts took over and he ran as fast as he could. John Frost really was an amazing man.

"Maj. Carlyle" was an amalgam of a few of the majors in the Paras, but mainly Digby Tatham-Warter. He really did carry an umbrella into battle because he could never remember passwords and he used the umbrella to show that he was British. He was wounded in the battle for the bridge but escaped from the hospital and gathered up various groups of Paras that had evaded capture and were lingering behind enemy lines and led them all to safety

Steve

[stevie boy]

Third Man, Harry Lime looking down at the people on the ground (from the big wheel) has always been my favourite scene, followed by his initial appearance in that film complete with zither music. AMOLAD the beach scene when Niv thinks he is in heaven, is now vying for top spot. Another couple to mention, League of Gentlemen when Bunny Sterling says 'are we going on somwhere?' and Celia Johnson saying to Queenie you wicked girl in this Happy Breed.

[batman]

The Third Man, Lime's fingers poking through the grate and his final look towards Holly. Keeping the 'grate' theme going .... The League Of Gentlemen with Hawkins emerging from the drain at the start. Marvellous!

Bats.