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Streaming Excalibur Online.
Movie Title: Excalibur Excalibur is available for streaming or downloading. |
It’s tough to compress the 900-some-odd pages of text that Thomas Malory obsolete to jabber his epic of Le Morte d’Arthur into 140 minutes of film, but director John Boorman and screenwriter Rospo Pallenberg give it a suitable shot. While it sometimes leaves out vital details or compresses events in the interest of time, it can never be accused of playing lickety-split and loose with the tale. However, the film also requires a bit of work on the portion of the viewer to maintain in some of the details, and it’s distinct Boorman expects his viewer to be at least passing familiar with the traditions of the Arthurian fable (anyone weird with Arthur’s fate after his death, for example, will be baffled by the film’s final shot) . So brush up honest a bit before you sit down to this one.
With its darkened, cloud-streaked skies, lonely stone castles, eerie green lighting, (all caught in shapely widescreen glory on the DVD), and effective expend of the music of Richard Wagner, you won’t earn a moodier, more beautifully shot film. In fact, there are some downright breathtaking cinematic moments in this film, none more so than when Perceval hurls Excalibur abet into the water, and Wagner’s music swells honest in time for the Lady of the Lake to acquire a dramatic dapper pick up. Gigantic stuff.
It also helps that Nicol Williamson turns in a very game performance as Merlin, but it’s Nigel Terry who carries the film in an underappreciated but wholly believeable interpretation of King Arthur. Terry leaves the scenery-chewing to Williamson, and anchors the film instead with a proper, understated performance. Gaze also for stars-in-the-making Liam Neeson as the jealous Gawain, and Patrick Stewart as Guenevere’s father, Leodegrance.
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EXCALIBUR has all the elements one expects in a fantasy, yet, in a sense, Boorman does for the sword-and-sorcery film what Sergio Leone did for the western: whereas prior horse operas showed cowboys riding across the desert and shuffing down dirt streets without a bit of sweat, and firing pistols that never drew blood, Leone made everyone leer hot and sweaty, and showed that a Smith & Wesson could rip a actual hole through your gut. Boorman does the same for the knight in this film — knights clunk around clumsily in heavy armor, obtain skewered on pikes, win their heads bashed in, and cough their guts out in bloody mud puddles. It all lends an air of veracity to the film that makes it all seem like It Could Really Have Happened This Scheme.
The widescreen format available on DVD gives this film the weight and heft it has long deserved, and there are some valid gems lurking among the additional features — including a surprisingly cheezy, Grade B trailer, and a really astronomical alternate soundtrack in which director John Boorman discusses the action and shares some behind-the-scene goodies (such as the fact that Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren couldn’t stand each other, or that the actor playing the grown-up Mordred was actually a valid horseman) .
Give this one a try.
Within my memory, there’ve been only a couple films featuring the tale of King Arthur. However, one of them released in 1981, EXCALIBUR, is the standard by which all others, past and future, must be judged. It’s positively handsome in its excellence, and a must-see for any devotee of the account.
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In a sense, EXCALIBUR is more a legend of Merlin than Arthur since Nicole Williamson’s improbable, unusual portrayal of the veteran overshadows Nigel Terry’s role as the latter. However, the film faithfully depicts the Arthurian fable from his concept and birth at Tintagel Castle, to his death at the hands of Mordred. In between are all the other elements of the myth one would hope for and expect: Uther Pendragon, the Sword In the Stone, the Battle of Mount Badon, Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot, Guinevere, Sir Percival, the Quest for the Holy Grail, the Lady of the Lake, and Lady Morgana (a.k.a. Morgan La Fey) .
A heed of caution for parents of young children. At times, the film is intensely violent, bloody and sexual. (Gee, it sounds like any normal day at the office.) You are warned. And it’s not a movie for squeamish adults, either.
The costuming is good. The intelligent cinematography and film editing, combined with a blooming soundtrack that includes “Carmina Burana” and “Tristan’s Funeral March” at honest the suitable scenes, gain EXCALIBUR absolutely awe-inspiring. You’ll want to contemplate it over and over. (I’ve talked myself into wanting to opinion it again legal now!) The final scene is one you’ll wish you could extract from your TV camouflage and frame, with sound.
Oh, my! What a cinematic achievement!