Everyone in these films seems perpetually miserable, and the weather rotates between snow, sleet, and hail. While some of these films are completely fictional and others claim to be based on historical fact, they all have a concerning element in common: their depiction of the Middle Ages. The Green Knight, The King and Outlaw King are notable examples from the past few years. For class use, many students will enjoy this film, and, as ever, might be inspired to read up on the subject.Ĭlick to expand.You're correct.The Last Duel is the latest in a series of movies set in the Middle Ages to hit the big screen and streaming services. I was not, however, entirely convinced by Gibson as a suffering saviour. On the other hand the battle scenes are very well done - violent bloody, and altogether impressive and the story is well told, in a conventional way. The history is twisted in so many ways - the myth of ius primae nocte, the supposed liaison between Wallace and Isabella - that they would need a web site to unravel. Gibson plays a woaded Wallace with a Glaswegian accent. Won a lot of Oscars! This is a massively inaccurate portrayal of the life of the 13th-century Scots hero William Wallace. US, Romance/Historical/Action, 177, Rated R, Colorĭirector: Mel Gibson Cast includes: Mel Gibson This one has Kirk Douglas as a clean-shaven Viking, and his father explaining that "he's so vain he scrapes his face". If you look closely at some of the rowing scenes, one of the Vikings has a very visible vaccination scar and another is wearing an equally visible gold wristwatch. There was also a REAL stinker back in the '50s called "The Viking" with Tony Curtis (of Black Shield fame) and Kirk Douglas with Janet Leigh as the Anglo-Saxon princess they were fighting over. US, Historical/Adventure, 114, No rating, Colorĭirector: Richard Fleischer: Cast includes: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Janet Leigh The Arena sequences are among the best put on film. Ben Hur is a love story between two men: Heston was not let into the secret (he has made a career of unacknowledged homoeroticism - see The Agony and the Ecstasy or Planet of the Apes], but Boyd knew what role he was to play. The story of Judah Ben-Hur and his boyhood friend Messala. US, Religious/Historical, 212, No rating, Colorĭirector: William Wyler: Cast includes: Charleton Heston, Stephen Boyd The movies was cut to shreds after the Hays code, and it is important to get hold of the uncut version. The arena scenes are massively violent and erotic - with naked women being attacked by crocadiles, and, at one point, an Amazon spearing a pygmy and lifting the still wriggling guy up in the air. Frederic March tries to "warm up" the Christian girl (Landi) he is pursuing by taking her to an orgy where she is carressed by a half-dressed lesbian - in the background, martyrs sing on their way to the arena. Laughton as Nero is every bit as decadent as one could hope, but the last third of the movie is spectacular. This was made before the Hayes code, and represents an high point id De Mille's skill of getting in as much sin as possible under a pious justification. DeMiller: Cast includes: Fredric March, Claudette Colbert (Empress Poppaea), Charles Laughton (Emperor Nero) I went looking and found a hum dinger of a medieval film list.ĭirector: Cecil B.
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