Medieval Movies

We can't help it. We love medieval movies. Even bad medieval movies. Even medieval-oid movies. Even bad medievaloid movies. Here is a list of our favourites.

13th Warrior, The (IMDB)

Antonio Banderas as an Arab amongst the Norseman. Starts off with a basis in history and then goes on a tangent.

Lots of SCA people were involved and it was one heck of a garage sale afterwards!

1492

Adventures of Robin Hood

with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Haviland)

Advocate, The (aka The Hour of the Pig) (IMDB)

Colin Firth plays a 15th C. trial lawyer.

'Law and Order' for the Middle Ages...

"A lovely tale of medieval justice where a pig is put on trial for murder."

Agony and The Ecstacy, The (IMDB)

Starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison

Michaelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel

Alexsadr Nevskiy (IMDB)

They used real medieval armour from the Kremlin.

Alfred the Great

It has been years since I've seen it. So I don't even remember who is in it. The story line is good. The Saxon costume is not bad. And the Viking leader Ivar the Boneless is sinister. Darn, now I'm going to have to chase it down.

According to IMBD, it came out in the UK in 1969. Starred David Hemmings as Alfred. With such stellar names as Ian McKellan, Julian Glover and Michael York. Also sold in the US under the name "A King is Born."

Attila the Hun

Very bad. Good laugh.

Becket

Black Adder (Seasons 1-3)

BBC TV. Must-see hilarity.

Black Shield of Fallworth

Braveheart (IMDB)

What a Scotsman really wears under his kilt.

Mel Gibson in a kilt and woad saying "I'm gonna pick a fight"

The film also known as "The Abomination That Shall Not Be Named"

Cadfael

TV series from BBC

Camelot

the classic with Vanessa Redgrave

Chasing the Deer

(Culloden) with Brian Blessed. It was the winner of the best British feature film 1995.

Conan the Barbarian

the second must have SCA movie back when rocks were molten

Count of Monte Cristo

Court Jester, The (IMDB)

Danny Kaye

"The pistol with the poison is in the flagon with the dragon, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true..."

(The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true), Danny Kaye

Dangerous Beauty

Set in Venice during the era of the couretsans (1600's I believe). It is well written, well acted, and has a great monologue while the main character faces the Spanish Inquisition.

Destiny (al-Massir) (IMDB)

Baron Yusuf asked about positive portrayals of Moors and Arabs onscreen.

A few years back, an Egyptian director came out with a movie set in Spain under the Caliphate and centered around the philosopher Averroes. Here's the IMDB synopsis:

The story is set in the 12th century in Arab-ruled Spanish province Andalusia, where famed philosopher Averroes is appointed grand judge by the caliph and his liberal court judgements are not liked by everyone. The caliph's political rivals, centered around the leader of a fanatical Islamic sect, force the caliph to send Averroes into exile, but his ideas keep on living thanks to his students.

On top of all that, it's a musical! There's a big dance number where one character is trying to lure an old friend back from the fundamentalists who are more or less brain-washing him and sings about the joys of a life well-lived. It's quite wonderful.

The director, Youssef Chahine, has run into trouble in his native Egypt, due to his stand against religious fundamentalism. The movie had a limited release in the US under the title "Destiny". It's original Arabic title is "al-Massir"

Don Quixote

best song ever about whats important in life

Dragon Heart

Dragon Heart: A New Beginning

"Dragonslayer"

El Bagaude

local chieftain fights Romans and Goths in the Fifth century.

El Cid

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Rex

TV

Erik the Viking

it's fun and most of the clothes are period Norse.

Tim Robbins

Ever After

Surprisingly delightful. It's so refreshing to have a smart heroine who can rescue herself! Love the Da Vinci cameo, and the costuming is actually quite good.

Excalibur

the must have SCA movie back when rocks were molten

First Knight

Flesh and Blood

The castle siege in it was, while dark and nasty, fascinating in it's own weird way.

Gladiator

Henry V

Kenneth Branagh's. Outstanding great, imho one of the very best films ever. Definitely the best screen adaptation of any Shakespeare play, bar none. Not even Laurence Olivier's Henry V can touch this one.

Utter genius. Every line of it is perfect. Really the only medieval movie I can think of where everything is so, so right.

In Service to the Dream

Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe

BBC version is far superior to the Robert Taylor film.

Ivanhoe

the BBC television version is especially good. Anne likes the one with Elizabeth Taylor.

Kagamusha

King Arthur

(new, 2004) has some nice periodicity as well. Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen

Kingdom of Heaven The Directors Cut

Knight's Tale (IMDB)

Heath Ledger

Forget the music and the clothes. It's all about "a silly boy with a horse and a stick."

"Watching it makes you feel like a you have been at a really good SCA event."

Labyrinth

LadyHawke

Okay, you have to turn off all your authenticity and quality sensors for this one, but I have a High School-era soft spot for it, even though it's mightily silly (the soundtrack! what were they thinking!). Matthew Broderick's clever, wise-cracking character is the glue that keeps it all together. The eye candy is great--Rutger Hauer in his prime, Michelle Pfeiffer, a pretty wolf, a pretty hawk, and oh, how I covet that horse!

Lady Jane (IMDB)

Cary Elwes and Helen Bonham Carter as Gilford Dudley and Lady Jane Grey.

Tragic Queen of England for nine days.

Lady Jane while a very romantacised and somewhat untrue protrayal of history was nevertheless great fun to watch. The costumes were great and both Helena Bonham Carter and Cary Elwes how can you go wrong? Not to mentiona younger Patrick Stewart.

Last Unicorn

animated but very medieval

Last Valley

Le Moine et la Sorciere / Sorceress

not flamboyant, but an excellent movie made by Suzanne Schiffman and Pamela Berger an associate of Truffaut and and an art history prof.

Legend

Bad beyond belief. Watch those slo-mo bouncing unicorn horns!

Les Couloirs du Temps

Les Visiteurs 2

haven't seen it yet, but its supposed to be funnier.

Les Visiteurs / Just Visiting

the ORIGINAL french version (with subtitles) is far funnier. Jean Reno and Christian Clavier. Just Visiting - With Christina Applegate, Jean Reno and Christian Clavier

Lion in Winter, The (IMDB)

Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn

"Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!"

Brilliant acting, witty and mordant, a classic.

Lion in Winter

Patrick Stewart/Glenn Close

Long Ships

Very bad. Good laugh.

"Lord of the Rings" trilogy

Mad Love / Juana la Loca

It is the story of Joan the Mad; daughter of Isabelle & Ferdinand and mother of Charles V. Great costuming and an intense story. sub-titles.

Man For All Seasons, A

The story of Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarriage, with Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey. It features the best Tudor garb I've ever seen in a movie.

Man in the Iron Mask

Messenger - Joan of Arc

the new one - the battle scenes are just... WOW!)

Mists of Avalon

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (IMDB)

Much Ado About Nothing

with Kenneth Branaugh, Michael Keaton, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves (yes really), Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington.

I think it's actually set post-period (Napoleonic?), but so lush and well-filmed and well-acted, witty and delightful. The Italian villa will make your mouth water, so will all the bronzed skin!

Musketeer, The

Name of the Rose

Sean Connery

Norseman, The

Very bad. Good laugh.

Painfully bad. You will never get over Lee Majors' (that's right, the 6 Million Dollar Man) drawling pronounciation "Norzzeman".

Orlando

Kaye Ballard

Prince of Foxes

With Orson Welles, about Cesare Borgia.

Prince of Jutland

(also known in the US as Royal Deceit - the original Hamlet)

Prince Valiant

starring Robert Wagner, and Janet Leigh? It was horrible! Vikings were supposed the bad guys. Every last one of them was wearing a helmet decorated with cow horns. The crowd scenes looked ridiculous.

Prince Valiant

Prince who was a Teef, The"

with its immortal line "Yonda lies the palace of my fodda, da Caliph." Bernie Schwartz's greatest role

Princess Bride, The

fairy tale setting, but still some nice historical costumes. A gem--witty, funny, silly, exciting, romantic, touching, both an homage and a send-up of fairy tale tropes, full of now-classic lines ("Never start a land war in Asia", "I am not left-handed", "Mawwiage...", "brute squad", "Mostly dead."). But be sure to read the book!

Queen Margot

My all time favorite and the reason I learned French and went to live in France for a year as an exchange student. Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteil were great but Gregory Pascal as the Duc d'Anjou was riveting *sigh*

Ran

Kurosawa's final film does King Lear in feudal Japan. Depressing as hell, but masterful.

Reckoning, The

2004. 14th century England, Willem Dafoe and Paul Bettany.

Reign of Fire

Retour de Martin Guerre (The Return of Martin Guerre)

Set in an authentic-looking medieval France, some villagers challenge a man's claimed identity when he claims he is returning from some time in the army. Re-done in the American Civil War period as "Sommersby" with Jody Foster and Richard Gere.

Rob Roy

way too late period but very good indeed.

Robin and Marian

Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn

Robin Hood

The Errol Flynn version

Robin Hood

Also the Disney version

A discussion of Medieval movies that leaves out the best movie ever made about the SCA? I'm shocked. The Heralds are elephants. The soldiers are rhinos. The foxy girl is a fox. The Royal Advisor is a snake. The King is a very dumb lion. And the lady in waiting is a spherical chicken named Lady Cluck - who I meet in one form or another at every event I go to. That's right, Walt Disney's Robin Hood. It's like a documentary you can sing along with.

Robin Hood

(1991, TV Movie) starring Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman

Robin Hood

TV Series with Michael Praede(?) as Robin of Locksley and Jason Connery as Robert of Huntington

Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves

Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Allan Rickman

so silly, but so fun. Again, turn off all your authenticity and quality standards and just enjoy the ride. Allan Rickman chews the scenery to shreds as the Sheriff, Morgan Freeman acts the civilized Arab with wonderful gravity, and the casting of King Richard is irresistible (I first saw the movie with a very enthusiastic crowd; when he appeared on screen, the whole audience cheered). Fun soundtrack.

Rome

Two HBO TV miniseries. Harsh, brutal, but amazing stuff. Captures the gritty, violent, visceral reality of the ancient world like no other film I've ever seen. They mess with a few historical details on political stuff, but the production values are unparalleled: armor, clothes, hair, sets, props all look right and REAL. As a story, it sometimes suffers because so many of the characters are unsympathetic, but the two "ordinary man" protagonists are indelible.

Saladin

an Egyptian made film released in 1963. This movie presents the Muslim side of the third Crusade, more or less, and is as biased in that direction as the Hollywood productions are biased toward the Crusades.

Scipio Africanus

Unintended hilarity with papier mache elephants, power lines in the background, and crowds of Romans wearing wristwatches under their togas. A messterpiece of Fascist filmmaking.

Seven Samuari

classic, brilliant Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune at his slouching, stubbled, antihero best. Don't miss this one. Full of wit and clever reversals.

Shakespeare in Love

Takes a few broad liberties with fact, but witty, fun, wry, romantic, highly enjoyable, and very much in the vein of one of Shakespeare's own comedies (cross-dressing, disguises, star-crossed lovers, ironic role reversals). Judi Dench is a standout as Elizabeth ("A woman in a man's business...yes, by god, I do know something about that.").

Six Wives of Henry the VIII, The

Sleeping Beauty

"Stage Beauty"

Excellent. Set just slightly post-period (1660). A tender relationship between the last man to play women's parts in English theater and the first woman to do so. I know, it sounds like Shakespeare in Love, but it's very much its own film, and explores the gender roles with far more subtlety and thoughtfulness. The scene where they invent naturalistic acting is anachronistic, but still riveting.

Stealing Heaven

very good

Sword in the Stone, The

with the magic duel

Talisman, The

with Rex Harrison as a sympathetic and cultured Saladin opposite George Saunders boorish Richard. Laurance Harvey and Virginia Mayo are the lovers. Very contrived but the diction is splendid.

Taming of the Shrew

with Elizabeth Taylor

Thirteenth Warrior

Filmed in Lions Gate (Vancouver) and much of the surplus props and fabric made their way into the local SCA community

Three Musketeers

with Gene Kelly. It's not actually period being set in the time period it is but it'll get ya in a good SCA mood.

Three Worlds of Gulliver, The

Timeline

Tristan and Isolde

(Possibly the welsh version of the Arthurian legend)

Valle de las espadas, El / The Castillianz

about Conde Fernan Gonzalez with Frankie Avalon. Frankie is not the star. Surprisingly good.

Viking Queen, The

Poorly named but rather well done movie about Boudicea.

Vikings, The

Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Kirk Douglas and Janet Leigh

Laughably bad.

Warlord

Warlord, The

a look at what happened when Christianity met paganism in the fens

And if that wasn't enough for you, here are some meta-pages

• Internet Movie Database (IMDB), keyword: Medieval
• Eras of Elegance movies by era
• http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/medfilms.html

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Help solve a mystery:

Also, see if somebody can help with the title, there was a GAWD awful film starring Alan Ladd as a blacksmith who dons armour, and rides around the English countryside at night, rescuing maidens and such. Asahla and I seem to be the only two An Tirians who ever saw the thing. It was hideous. -- Johannes

• Perhaps "The Black Knight" (1954) (IMDB)