Hello
A post in the Celebrities with swords thread ,got me to thinking. Who is the best ,on film swordsmen(living or dead)?
Michael Wiethop posted a link of, Christopher Lee ,talking about his duels in the Three Musketeers. He said he has been in more sword fights, on film, than anybody.While that may be a stretch,he might be in more movie fights ,than anyone "still alive".You have to count ,light sabers and magic staffs too:-)So...Who is the best and most prolific swordsmen in the movies? I antee up...

Errol Flynn
Basil Rathbone
And
Christopher Lee

:D
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks JR
Errol Flynn
Adrian Paul,

Bob Anderson needs to be mentioned.

Not really swords, but I vote for the Jedi's from the Star Wars movies. Those actors did a LOT of training to get those full speed moves down. :lol: .......McM

if i think of it all carefully, i think anthony de longis must be the best movie-swordsman (and movie-whipsman :D ).
he not only does stage-fighting, but really understands the history and techniques behind it, and probably has profound hema knowledge.
so i would bet on him also in a real fight in contrast to most other fancy-moves-hollywood-style fencers.
i`ve seen him once charging with a m1913 at full galop in lock`n`load swords-episode, that was impressing.

maybe i do flynn, lee, michael york...and all those others injustice, but imho they are just actors wielding swords, whereas de longis is a swordsman who also acts.

Just a question... Is this purely Western movies and swordsmen?

Basil Rathbone is accounted by many to have been the best fencer in Hollywood films.According to his IMDB bio, he was the fencing champion of the British Army in his youth. Unfortunately for him ,he was usually cast as a villain in his duelling roles,and thus seldom won.
As for world cinema,it's hard to overlook Toshiro Mifune.

these two guys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siCPozekiro

This guy claim the place in my heart for how gory the battle is and quite realistic fight too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4gNebHf5nc

Bob Anderson gave Viggo Mortensen high praise for his work in The Lord of the Trilogy, going so far as to describe him as the best swordsman he had ever trained...

Pretty sure Bob is one of the fighters on the frozen ice sequence in the Dick Lester Three Musketeers film. He is of course in the odd shot doubling for 'Darth' Prowse.

Hello
I just read Christopher Lee died a couple months ago. Bummer :-(

Toshiro Mifune. Hands down.

That I'm the first to mention his name in this thread makes me feel old.

Many choices, but my favourites are:
Jason Momoa in Conan the Barbarian (2011)
Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior
Steven Seagal

Toshiro Mifune, closely followed by Sir Christopher Lee who holds the world record for the most swordfight scenes by an actor in cinema history. :)