Gordon,

I have to agree with you on Ride with the Devil.

Being a Kansan, and raised in the Lawrence area to boot, I'm pretty familiar with the subject matter. That movie pretty accurately illustrated the motivations and conduct of the people of the time. Now when taken in total as a "movie", as a cinematic experience, it wasn't that great. In fact, I'd rate it as below average. But in terms of period attitude and tactics it's very good.

Jay, I'm definitely with you on Elizabeth!! Cate was so robbed of that Oscar. I'm actually a fanatic of Queen Elizabeth I. That woman didn't take cr_p from anyone! Have you even watched it with Shekar Kapur's commentary? You should! He gives an outstanding commentary. Cate has some lines in that film that the real Elizabeth actually said ("I will have one mistress here, and no master!"). The costumes are probably my favorite of any period film.

You know, I don't know why, but I get such a kick out of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). Certainly not your typical Three Musketeers movie. I thought Leo DiCaprio did an excellent job playing two parts. Gerard Depardieau is my favorite Porthos, but the best Athos by far will always be Oliver Reed. -Ted

Well you guys got me to spend some more money again: Just bought the 1952 version of Ivanhoe, thanks Patrick for the suggestion.

I also bought " La Reine Margo " from a book by Alexandre Dumas, set in the period of the massacre of the Huguenots in the mid 16th century. French with English sub-titles. Lots of intrigue and the litteral backstabbing typical of the period.

I would let others decide if the costuming and arms are accurate to the period, but it looks pretty good as far as I remember when I saw it when it came out in 1994. ( Will have to watch the DVD to refresh my memory :D )

No I'm pretty sure I do not like "Cromwell". What really does depress me is that although Cromwell was slightly better than other films of it's genre of the time it was very quickly outclassed by the early 70's Musketeer films. Which are packed with little details. Such as the Drummer boys being taught drum calls. Just a shame Drummer boys are an 18th Centry invention....

However....30 years on....And We still get dross like "...To Kill a King....". After the BBC did a TV series Called " By the Sword Divided", which used a hell of a lot of My Society's members, with their own clothing and weapons.... you'd expect someone to twig that there are some people in the UK who know their stuff...But no...we get Bandilor bottle the size of milk bottles...S&M Fetish leather outfits.

The French seem to be the only film makers who consistly turn out costume dramas set further back than 1900 with any attempt at good costume or weaponry. La Rene Margot, Le Bossu, D'Artagnan's Daughter, The Brotherhood of the Wolf, Cyrano de Bergerac, the Return of Martin Guerre, Tous les matins du monde just to name my favouite few.

And Thank you for the compliments. We do our best. There's till things not quiet right but there you go....

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Queen Margot. The massacre of the Hugenots looks like something out a painting from the Dutch revolt. Very effective, I thought, but I knew nothing about arms & armour then so I'd like to see it again. That picture also has the only convincing execution scene I know of, with no fanfare and decapitation by sword. Very compassionate and professional headsman. Looking back, that scene also seemed to be perfect in every detail. Oh...and you get to look at and hear Isabelle Adjani for a couple of hours, too. That's no small benefit, IMHO.

The Three/Four Musketeers is still about the best 17th Century film out there (I only say that because there's an outside possibility that there is another out there)... the Details are for the most part fantastic, but the little bit, like Athos winding up his wheellock about half-a-dozen times made me cringe. My buddy with whom I went to see the film when it came out actually shreiked in the theatre!

I am awaiting "Queen Margo"... right, Jean??? But I hear lots of good things about it.

I rather enjoyed "By the Sword Divided" but I'd best pass on criticism of that one, LOL! I did think the toy cannons a bit strange, but I suppose they are one heck of a lot more realistic than the huge fibreglass monstrosities that David said were used in "Cromwell"... and in "The Patriot" as well (as though the British Army was dragging 32-pounders around the wilds of North Carolina! The biggest gun at Cowpens was a 3-pounder Galloper, LOL!)

Cheers,

Gordon

Gordon;

Oh yeah, I will send you "La Reine Margo" as soon as I view it: I have been bad at viewing my recent DVD purchases lately in a timely fashion, will try to prioritize better !

Hmmmmmm: Winding a Wheellock a half a dozen times ? That's not for half a dozen shots is it !
So this is cranking the the Wheellock like an old watch instead of the single 1 / 4 or 1 / 2 turn needed to bend the mainspring :cry: :evil: :p

Gordon;


And a little known FACT that each extra turn adds 100 feet per second to the projectile velocity of a wheellock. ;)

Probably a film prop that was made like a cheap 10 day watch and nobody thought of informing the poor actor about how a real wheellock works ! Or worse the director said keep cranking and it will draw attention to how "primitive", slow and deliberate shooting one of these was. Or it will add to the tension: Will he have enough time to get all those "needed" turns done in time to get his shot off. :lol:

Gosh Fella's! I can't believe I'm the first to recommend King Arthur. King Arthur
and all his knights were grubby, and everyone knows people back then were
grubby. The Saxons were real Hun like, and we all know that Germans get called
Huns. And the two climates, Hyborean winter and 30 miles south green and verdant.
Hoo boy, for my money it's...........................................
I can't go on, it's so bad you can't even joke about it. Knights of the Round Table
from the Steppes? As for Alex the Truly Awful, well both these stinkeroos should be
kept away from all dairy products.

I have to go with everyone else here, the Warlord, The Duellists and 'Musketeers
are the best. I wish I could get a copy of the Musketeers with a clean sound track,
my DVD is muddy enough that first time watchers miss some of the asides. A
guilty pleasure is "El Cid", but any movie with a sword and Heston is okay in my
book.

Best,
Doug

Dear Stephen,
Thanks for the heads up, mine are indeed Fox Lorbers. I will
have to get the Anchor Bay versions.

Best,
Doug

i have the old fox versions as well, thanks for the heads up.

anyone seen the return of the musketeers as well?

also, got a french film/ english subtitles called revenge of the musketeers. nice flick. the famous 3 are all old. nice lead woman ;) its the princess from braveheart.

Movies about medieval age? Hm... Let's see what pops in my head first. ;)

No, I'd rather not tell.

Ok, most remembered movies (and I don't think I've seen them in this long list):

The Advocate (or "The Hour of the Pig", 1994) - weird, funny, grotesque movie about a french lawyer defending a pig in 15. or 16. th century. Not a lot of action, but great plot, costumes, playing...

Ivanhoe (1997) - five hour long mini series filmed by BBC. A lot of changes from the book, but great costumes, duels...

The Viking Sagas (1996) - I've seen it a long time ago, and I'd like to see it again - unfortunately it's not available on DVD. Great Icelandic landscape, good costumes, Icelandic ponies, a lot of stuff taken directly from some famous Icelandic sagas, sometimes very realistic battle scenes (although battles are small)...

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Turner Classic Movies has scheduled a showing of Charlton Heston's movie The Warlord for April 10, if I read the schedule correctly. It will be broadcast in the original letterbox format. Fans who don't already have a copy of this film should get their VCR or DVR ready for the broadcast.