mattydread

My favorite british film, or any film for that matter, is Excalibur. In fact I am looking for a documentary on the film called "the making of excalibur, myth into movie" by Neil Jordan with no luck. It's not the best film ever made, but it is my favorite. I think it really captures the mythical wonder of the Arthurian legend, through lighting, photography, music, and a good cast. You might make the argument that it influenced the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Remember the ships setting sail in the end...etc. but I don't really know. I do know that Boorman praised the trilogy.

Jim

SORRY FOR THE LONG REPLY MATTYDREAD. I HAVE THE 'EXCALIBUR' ON DVD. IT IS A GOOD FILM, WITH THE LOVELY IRISH COUNTRYSIDE. BUT THE FINAL SCENES, WITH THE DYING ARTHUR AND PERCIVAL THROWING THE SWORD INTO THE LAKE AND, THE 'HAND' COMING UP TO CATCH IT! MAGIC, AND WITH THE MUSIC OF WAGNER, WRITTEN CENTURIES AFTER THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND - MAGIC TOO! MIND YOU OLD HELEN MIRREN IS A BIT OF MAGIC AS WELL!
thumbs_u

Good morning boys.

Myrtle Morrison

Hiya

I am a big fan of Excalibur too. fortunately i still have a recorded version from BBC2 Moviedrome with Alex Cox briefly discussing the film beforehand. he also mentions that Boorman had long anticipated doing his own version of Lord of the Rings but never got round to doing it thus he made "excalibur" instead.

Lets see if the new "King Arthur" film is a patch on this classic - i meanwhile am wanting the soundtrack ...

Myrtle

\"the little old beetle goes round and round ...\"

David Challinor

I have an excellent book on John Boorman's films - currently at a friends house! When I get it back there may be a few gems I can list here....it goes up to and including The Emerald Forest. I too love Excalibur, but think Deliverence is his best film to date. My own personal feeling about the director is that he is probably the most 'hit' and 'miss' director Britain, or any other country, has. I mean he produces great films (see above + Hope & Glory, Hell in the Pacific) though each seems followed by a massive turkey/financial failure, such as Exoricist 2 or Zardoz or Where the Heart Is

42ndStreetFreak

Wonderful!
vastly overblown and melodramatic but done with such class and passion it gets away with it.
Amazingly armour, some good performances (esp Nicol Williamson's delightfully essayed Merlin) and a well used score.

And the use of Thomas Malory's fable is a major plus.
The stupidly 'normal' and suposedly 'historical' "King Arthur" should have took notice.

[ 07. October 2004, 02:30: Message edited by: 42ndStreetFreak ]