UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies

Guide to Medieval & Renaissance Film

Annotated Catalog of Medieval and Renaissance Films

Recent Releases

Kingdom of Heaven (US, Spain, UK 2005). Dir.: Ridley Scott. Written by William Monahan. Complete production details. Official site. Reactions to this 12th-century Crusades epic, starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, etc., have been generally unenthusiastic: Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian, 6 May 2005) writes, “It is four years since President Bush used the word ‘crusade’ to describe the war against terrorism, and then, while the liberal west winced, attempted to gulp it back into his mouth. Ridley Scott’s achingly well-intentioned epic looks like a 145-minute dramatisation of that wince.” And Stephanie Zacharek (salon.com, 6 May 2005), “A character boasts: ‘I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle.’ After sitting through this would-be epic on the Crusades, I know just how he felt.”

General Catalog

1001 Nights (Arabian Nights) (IT, 1974). Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Complete production details. Sex, kidnapping, transvesticism, and magic enliven this rendering of the Forty Thieves.

 

The Abyss (BEL, 1988). Dir.: Andre Delvaux. Complete production details. Believing himself safe from the Inquisition after twenty years away, an alchemist returns home as a doctor of medicine. He is recognized, however, tried, and condemned to death. Based on the 1968 award-winning novel by Marguerite Yourcenar, L’Oeuvre au noir.

 

The Adventures of Marco Polo (US, 1938). Dir.: Archie Mayo. Complete production details. Gary Cooper as the Venetian adventurer, with Basil Rathbone as Kublai Khan and Lana Turner as the Khan’s daughter. The Italian becomes the Khan’s advisor, whose court he introduces to the Western custom of kissing. He also brokers peace and thwarts an assassination attempt. Dialogue is at times “ridiculous,” according to Kevin J. Harty (The Reel Middle Ages: American, Western and Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Asian Films about Medieval Europe [Jefferson, NC and London 1999]).

 

The Adventures of Robin Hood (US, 1938). Dir.: Michael Curtiz. Complete production details. With Errol Flynn as Robin of Locksley and Olivia de Havilland as Lady Marian Fitzwalter. Every loyal to the imprisoned King Richard, Robin and his outlaws defy Prince John and his bogus tax plan. Despite recent remakes, this swashbucker “remains unmatched,” according to Harty (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.). The excellent musical score is by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

 

The Advocate (The Hour of the Pig) (UK,/FR 1993). Dir.: Lesley Magahey. Complete production details. Newly relocated to the country, Colin Firth plays a 15th-century Parisian lawyer defending his first client in the village: a pig accused of killing a Jewish boy. With Donald Pleasance.

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy (US, 1965). Dir.: Carol Reed. Complete production details. Michelangelo and Pope Julius II, with Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison.

 

Alexander Nevsky (USSR, 1937). Dir.: Sergei Eisenstein. Complete production details. Historical drama set in the 13th century with score by Sergei Prokofiev. The film recreates the defeat, in 1242, of a Tuetonic army intent on invading Novgorod. Nevsky, the warrior-prince, Russian national hero, and saint of the Orthodox Church, becomes here a hero of Socialiam. Initially praised, the film was withdrawn in 1939 after the non-agression pact between Stalin and Hitler. It was re-released following Hitler’s invasion of Russia in 1941.

 

Alfred the Great (UK, 1969). Dir.: Clive Donner. Complete production details. With Michael York, David Hemmings as Alfred, and Ian McKellen as Roger, leader of the outlaws. Covers only the early years of Alfred’s reign: his chance succession to the throne and immediate war with the king of Denmark.

 

The Anchoress (UK, 1993). Dir.: Chris Newby. Complete production details. Shot in black-and-white, the story of a young peasant girl in 14th-century England devoted to a statue of the Virgin Mary. Based on a letter of 1324 regarding an anchoress enclosed in the wall of a village church.

 

Andrei Rublev (USSR, 1969). Dir.: Andrei Tarkovsky. Complete production details. Adventures of an icon painter in Russia around 1400.

 

Anne of the Thousand Days (US, 1969). Dir.: Charles Jarrott. Complete production details. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, with Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold.

 

The Annunciation of Marie (FR, 1991). Dir.: Alain Cuny. Complete production details.

 

Arabian Nights (2000) (US, 2000). Dir.: Steve Barron. Complete production details. Television film featuring Mili Avital as Scheherezade, Alan Bates as the Storyteller, Jason Scott Lee as Aladddin, and John Leguizamo as the Genie of the Lamp and the Genie of the Ring. “When night falls, the adventure begins ...” An imaginative and stylish recreation of the story of Scheherezade and the murderous prince.

 

Army of Darkness (US, 1992). Dir.: Sam Raimi. Complete production details. Flashback to medieval setting, with Bridget Fonda and Bruce Campbell. Harty describes it as one of the “bloodiest and least romanticized cinematic depictions of the Middle Ages” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

As You Like It (UK, 1936). Dir.: Paul Czinner. Complete production details. With Laurence Olivier and Elisabeth Bergner; musical score by William Walton.

 

The Bad Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru)(Japan, 1960). Dir.: Akira Kurosawa. Complete production details. Kurosawa’s Hamlet-based story of corporate scandal in post-war Japan, starring Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura.

 

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (US, 1946). Dir.: George Sherman and Henry Levin. Complete production details. Robin Hood’s son, Robert of Nottingham (Cornel Wilde) opposes William of Pembroke, the regent intent on abolishing the Magna Carta and murdering the boy-king Henry III.

 

Beauty and the Beast (FR, 1946). Dir.: Jean Cocteau. Complete production details.Terrific!

 

Beauty and the Beast (US, 1962). Dir.: Edward L. Cahn. Complete production details. Rewrite of the fairy tale.

 

Beauty and the Beast (US, 1991). Dir.: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Complete production details. Disney version of the fairy tale presented as a Broadway musical, with the voice of Angela Lansbury, among others.

 

Becket (UK, 1964). Dir.: Peter Glenville. Complete production details.12th century; based on the Anouilh play. A much-awarded film--including Golden Globe Awards for Best Drama and Best Actor (Peter O’Toole)--which chronicles the long friendship and disastrous clash between King Henry II (O’Toole) and his archbishop of Canterbury (Richard Burton).

 

The Beloved Rogue (US, 1927). Dir.: Alan Crosland. Complete production details. With John Barrymore as François Villon.

 

The Black Arrow (US, 1948). Dir.: Gordon Douglas. Complete production details.Based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel; swashbuckler with exciting conclusion.

 

The Black Cauldron (US, 1985). Dir.: Ted Berman and Richard Rich. Complete production details. “Disney animation at its best,” according to Harty (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.), in this version of Lloyd Alexander’s novels The Prydain Chronicles, originally published in the 1960s.

 

The Black Shield of Falworth (US, 1954). Dir.: Rudoph Mate. Complete production details.13th century; based on Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. With Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Two peasants, actually children of a wrongly disinherited nobleman, help defeat the wicked early of Alban and restore power to Prince Hal.

 

Blanche (FR, 1971). Dir.: Walerian Borowczyk. Complete production details. Set in 13th-century France and based on 19th-century novel Mazeppa; skillful use of period costumes and music. The tale of a woman whose beauty, and the men it attracts, drive her to suicide.

 

Book of Days (US, 1977). Dir.: Meredith Monk. Twentieth-century workers break through a wall to discover a fourteenth-century community populated by Christians and Jews living in harmony, though threatened by plague. The arrival of the plague brings a pogrom, as the Christians see the Jews as scapegoats. Experimental film. Cast: Robert Een, Lucas Hoving, Andrea Goodman, Karin Levitas, Lenny Harrison, Rob McBrien, Wayne Hankin, Meredith Monk, Greger Hansen, and Toby Newman. Interesting, if a bit off-beat.

 

Braveheart (US, 1995). Dir.: Mel Gibson. Complete production details. 13th-century adventure romance set in Scotland. Modern vision of William Wallace, the champion of Scottish independence.

 

Brother Sun, Sister Moon (IT, 1973). Dir.: Franco Zeffirelli. Complete production details. The life of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226).

 

Cadfael (BR, 1994). Dir.: Graham Theakston. Complete production details. A crusader returns home to the March of England to become a detective-monk who helps the sheriff of Shrewsbury solve crimes. First aired in the US on PBS’s Mystery.

 

Camelot (US, 1967). Dir.: Joshua Logan. Complete production details. King Arthur in musical format.

 

Canterbury Tales (I racconti di Canterbury) (IT, 1971). Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Complete production details. Retells in whole or in part Chaucer’s tales of the Merchant, the Friar, the Cook, the Miller, the Wife of Bath, the Reeve, the Pardoner, and the Summoner. The second in Pasolini’s cinematic trilogy of the medieval narrative cycles—along with Decameron (1971) and Arabian Nights (1974)—this film, according to Harty, “does not even approach the artistry of its source” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

The Captive of the Dragon (N. SU, 1985). Dir.: Stanislav Rostotsky and Knut Andersen. Complete production details. During a raid on a Russian village, Vikings kidnap a boy and take him back to Norway, where he falls in love with his captor’s daughter. Harty: “Ample intrigue, swordplay, and romance” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

Chimes at Midnight (Falstaff), (SP/SWITZ, 1965). Dir.: Orson Welles. Complete production details.

 

Conan the Barbarian (US, 1982). Dir.: John Milius. Complete production details. With Arnold.

 

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (US, 1931). Dir.: David Butler. Complete production details. Based on the novel by Mark Twain. With Will Rogers as the Yankee radio repairman transported to Arthur’s court of 528 England and Myrna Loy as a vampy Morgan.

 

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (US, 1949). Dir.: Tay Garnett. Complete production details. Twain’s novel as a Bing Crosby musical.

 

The Court Jester (US, 1956). Dir.: Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. Complete production details. With a hilariously funny Danny Kaye as the jester and Angela Lansbury and Basil Rathbone. A long series of intrigues restores the rightful heir to the throne of England.

 

The Crossbow (POL, 1962). Dir.: Wladyslaw Nehrebecki. Complete production details. Based on the William Tell legend.

 

The Crusades (US, 1935). Dir.: Cecil B. DeMille. Complete production details. With Loretta Young as Berengaria of Navarre and Henry Wilcoxon as Richard I; cast of 10,000. A retelling of Richard’s role in the Holy Land, his marriage to Berengaria, and his truce with Saladin.

 

Dangerous Beauty (US, 1998). Dir.: Marshall Herskovitz. Complete production details. 16th-century Venice; the story of Veronica Franco. With Catherine McCormack as Veronica and Jacqueline Bisset as Paola Franco. Based on Margaret Rosenthal’s The Honest Courtesan.

 

The Decameron (IT, 1970). Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Complete production details. Based on selected tales from Boccaccio; inspired a series of “codpiece” comedies.

 

Decameron Nights (UK, 1953). Dir.: Hugo Fregonese. Complete production details. With Louis Jourdan, Joan Collins, and Joan Fontaine. A story-telling contest between Boccaccio and his lover.

 

The Devil’s Breath (SP, 1993). Dir.: Paco Lucio. Complete production details. Revenge tale involving a peasant hunter and the local feudal lord who murdered his wife and daughter. Part commentary on contemporary Spanish-Basque relations.

 

The Devil’s Envoys (Les visiteurs du soir) (FR, 1942). Dir.: Marcel Carné. Complete production details. Medieval love and sorcery with 20th-century political subtext. Starring Arletty. Two envoys sent by the Devil to prevent a wedding end up falling in love with their victims. According to the author of the screenplay, Jacques Prévert, the Devil was intended to represent Hitler and the medieval setting was used to avoid Nazi censorship.

 

Diane (US, 1956). Dir.: David Miller. Complete production details. With Lana Turner as Diane de Poitiers.

 

Doctor Faustus (UK, 1967). Dir.: Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill. Complete production details. Based on Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, with Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

 

Don Quixote (US, 1973). Dir.: Rudolf Nureyev and Robert Helpmann. Complete production details. Australian Ballet version of Cervantes’s work, choreographed by Nureyev.

 

Don Quixote (US, 2000). Dir.: Peter Yates. Complete production details. With John Lithgow, Bob Hoskins, and Isabella Rossellini. Cervante’s novel set in the 19th century.

 

Dragonheart (US, 1996). Dir.: Rob Cohen. Complete production details. 10th-century adventure. A dragon hunter (Dennis Quaid) teams with the last dragon (voice of Sean Connery) to defeat a tyrannical king.

 

Dragonslayer (US, 1981). Dir.: Matthew Robbins. Complete production details. Fantasy adventure. A sorcerer’s apprentice tries to destroy a virgin-hungry dragon to save the woman he loves from becoming its next sacrifice.

 

Edward II (UK, 1991). Dir.: Derek Jarman. Complete production details. Based on Christopher Marlowe’s play. To Harty, Jarman’s Edward is an icon for the 1990s, and the king’s story is a “gay myth for an age overwhelmed by AIDS and politically sanctioned homophobia” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

El Cid (US, 1961). Dir.: Anthony Mann. Complete production details. With Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. A cinematic treatment of  the adult life of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (Heston). His humane treatment of the Moors raises an accusation of treason. Banished by the king, Rodrigo is later recalled to lead a defensive campaign against the Moors. The Hollywood spectacle at its best.

 

Elizabeth (UK, 1998). Dir.: Shekhar Kapur. With Cate Blanchett. Complete production details. Review by Lowell Gallagher.

 

Erik the Viking (UK, 1989). Dir.: Terry Jones. Complete production details. With John Cleese, Eartha Kitt, and Tim Robbins. Definitely Pythonesque; great fun for afficionados. Bored with raping and pillaging, Erik (Robbins) leads an expedition to bring the Age of Violence to an end. Cleese is great as the owner-operation of a local torture chamber.

 

Excalibur (IRE, 1981). Dir.: John Boorman. Complete production details. A dark Arthurian saga based  somewhat on Malory’s 15th-century Morte Darthur and reminiscent of Star Wars: alliance, light-saber swords, mystical force, and a tutor-wizard bearing a remarkable resemblance to Alec Guinness. The battle scenes, with music from  Carmina Burana, are exciting; and early performances by Gabriel Byrne (Uther), Patrick Stuart (Kay’s father), Liam Neeson (Gawain), and Helen Mirren (Morgana) are great fun.

 

Fire and Sword (GR, 1981). Dir.: Veith von Fürstenberg. Complete production details. The Cornish knight Tristan falls in love with the Irish bride of his feudal lord, King Mark of Cornwall. Tristan and Isolde begin an adulterous affair, which, once discovered, threatens Irish-Cornish peace. According to Harty (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.), this is the most faithful film version of the legend of Tristan and Isolde.

 

First Knight (US, 1995). Dir.: Jerry Zucker. Complete production details. Arthurian adultery and betrayal, with Sean Connery as the aging Arthur, Julia Ormond as the young Guinevere, and Richard Gere as a street tough Sir Lancelot. Ben Cross is the black-clad Malagant, whose forces (armed with mini-crossbows) take advantage of Arthur’s weakness.

 

The Flame and the Arrow (US, 1950). Dir.: Jacques Tourneur. Complete production details. Adventure (based on the Robin Hood story) set in 12th-century Lombardy, with Burt Lancaster as a peasant who takes up arms against the army of Hessian mercenaries that occupy his region.

 

Flesh and Blood (The Rose and the Sword) (US, 1985). Dir.: Paul Verhoeven. Complete production details. 16th-century adventure, with Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Disgruntled after being denied by Lord Arnolfini the right to loot a capturee city, Martin, the leader of a mercenary army (Hauer), kidnaps and rapes Arnolfini’s daughter-in-law Agnes (Leigh). Arnolfini rescues Agnes, but Martin escapes. Graphic and gratuitous violence.

 

Forbidden Planet (US, 1956). Dir.: Fred McLeod Wilcox. Complete production details. Shakespeare’s The Tempest in outer space; smart sci-fi adventure with Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, and Robby the Robot.

 

The Four Diamonds (US, 1995). Dir.: Peter Werner. Complete production details. Made for the Disney Channel, this version of the Arthurian legend is the dream-world of a teenage boy dying of cancer. He imagines himself a squire who can only become a knight of the Round Table after successfully completing a quest for the four diamonds of courage, wisdom, honesty, and strength. Based on a short story written by Chris Millard, who died in 1972.

 

Francesco (IT, GR, 1989). Dir.: Liliana Cavani. Complete production details. Mickey Rourke at Francis of Assisi, with Helena Bonham Carter.

 

Galileo (UK, 1975). Dir.: Joseph Losey. Complete production details. Based on the Bertold Brecht play; excellent cast.

 

Galgameth (US, 1996). Dir.: Sean McNamara. Complete production details. A young prince, aided by a magical statue, kills the usurper who murdered his father and restores his rightful place on the throne. Animated.

 

Gawain and the Green Knight (UK, 1973). Dir.: Stephen Weeks. Complete production details. Film version of the anonymous 14th-century alliterative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, interrupted by the magic fountain episode borrowed from Chrétien de Troyes’ 12th-century romance Yvain. The film does not do justice to the material.

 

The Gospel according to Saint Matthew (IT, 1964). Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Complete production details. With score by Sergei Prokofiev.

 

Grendel Grendel Grendel (AUS, 1981). Dir.: Alexander Stitt. Complete production details. Animated musical, based on John Gardner’s 1971 novel Grendel, which retells the Saxon epic from the point of view of the monster.

 

Hamlet (UK, 1948). Dir.: Laurence Olivier. Complete production details.Brilliant production.

 

Hamlet (UK, 1969). Dir.: Tony Richardson. Complete production details.Nicol Williamson, with Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia.

 

Hamlet (US, 1990). Dir.: Franco Zeffirelli. Complete production details. With Mel Gibson and Glenn Close.

 

Hamlet (US, 2000). Dir.: Michael Almereyda. Complete production details. With Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Sam Shepard, and Bill Murray. Official site. Review and video clip. Hamlet meets corporate America.

 

Hawks and Sparrows (IT, 1966). Dir.: Pier Paolo Pasolini. Complete production details. Modern setting with flashback to Saint Francis.

 

Henry V (UK, 1944). Dir.: Laurence Olivier. Complete production details.

 

Henry V (UK, 1989). Dir.: Kenneth Branagh. Complete production details.

 

Hildegard (UK, 1994). Dir.: James Runcie. Complete production details. BBC television series about the 12th-century saint Hildegard of Bingen, known through her writings to have experienced dramatic spiritual visions. In the movie, her visions encourage her to establish a religious house for women.

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (US, 1939). Dir.: William Dieterle. Complete production details. Based on Victor Hugo’s 19th-century novel, with Charles Laughton as Quasimodo and Maureen O’Hara as the gypsy girl Esmeralda. Harty describes this film as “one of the finest screen adaptations of a literary text” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (US, 1923). Dir.: Wallace Worsley. Complete production details.

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (US, 1996). Dir.: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Complete production details. Animated Disney musical with happy ending and feel-good message that it’s okay to be different!

 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (FR, 1956). Dir.: Jean Dellannoy. Complete production details. Anthony Quinn at Quasimodo and Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda.

 

If I Were King (US, 1938). Dir.: Frank Lloyd. Complete production details. With Ronald Coleman as the 15th-century poet François Villon; screenplay by Preston Sturges. Here a rebel activist rather than a poet, Villon criticizes the king’s justice and rallies Parisians to defeat the Burgundians.

 

In the Shadow of the Raven (ICE, 1988). Dir.: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. Complete production details. The sequel to Gunnlaugsson’s 1985 film When the Raven Flies, this movie relocates the Tristan and Isolde legend (here Trausti and Isold).

 

Ivan the Terrible (USSR, 1945). Dir.: Sergei Eisenstein. Complete production details. Brilliant, with musical score by Sergei Prokofiev.

 

Ivan the Terrible, Part 2 (USSR, 1958). Dir.: Sergei Eisenstein. Complete production details. Continuation of Ivan the Terrible.

 

Ivanhoe (US, 1952). Dir.: Richard Thorpe. Complete production details. 12th century; based on the novel by Sir Walter Scott. With Elizabeth Taylor.

 

Jabberwocky (UK, 1977). Dir.: Terry Gilliam. Complete production details. Satire, fantasy adventure set in the Middle Ages. An unlikely dragon-slayer (Michael Palin) destroys the Jabberwock to win the king’s daughter in marriage.

 

Joan of Arc at the Stake (IT, 1954). Dir.: Roberto Rossellini. Complete production details. With Ingrid Bergman.

 

Joan of Arc (US, 1948). Dir.: Victor Fleming. Complete production details. Based on play by Maxwell Anderson, with Ingrid Bergman.

 

Joan the Woman (US, 1917). Dir.: Cecil B. DeMille. Complete production details. Joan of Arc. Harty: “Nothing less than a plea for America to become involved in the First World War and come to the aid of France” (The Reel Middle Ages, op. cit.).

 

A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (US, 1995). Dir.: Michael Gottlieb. Complete productiond details. Disney adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel, recasting the Yankee as a teenage little leaguer.

 

King Arthur (USA/Ireland, 2004). Dir.: Antoine Fuqua. Written by David Franzoni. Complete production details. Official site. A Jerry Bruckheimer production starring Clive Owen as Arthur, Keira Knightley as Guinevere, and Ioan Gruffudd as Lancelot. Gorgeous cinematography by Slawomir Idziak. Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times 7/7/2004) writes, “This new King Arthur tells a story with uncanny parallels to current events in Iraq ... and is darker than the usual Arthurian movie ... The movie works because of the considerable production qualities and the charisma of the actors.” From Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian 7/30/2004), “If you’re hoping for those classic Arthurian scenes ... you can dream on. This dourly revisionist version of the Arthur myth from producer Jerry Bruckheimer chucks most of the traditional paraphernalia and relegates the big Freudian moment of Arthur getting his enormous weapon out of its stone sheath to an almost subliminal flashback.”

 

King Lear (UK, 1971). Dir.: Peter Brook. Complete production details.

 

King Richard and the Crusaders (US, 1954). Dir.: David Butler. Complete production details. A silly film version of Sir Walter Scott’s 1825 novel The Talisman. With George Sanders as Richard and Rex Harrison as Saladin.

 

Kiss Me Kate (US, 1953). Dir.: George Sidney. Complete production details. Musical tie-in to The Taming of the Shrew, with music by Cole Porter, starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, and Bob Fosse.

 

Knightriders (US, 1981). Dir.: George Romero. Complete production details.With Ed Harris, Gary Lahti, Tom Savini, Amy Ingersoll, and Patricia Tallman. Original music by Donald Rubinstein; cinematography by Michael Gornick. King Arthur meets the Hell’s Angels; a film western with elements of the biker flick. A change of pace for Romero and very well done.

 

A Knight’s Tale (US, 2001). Dir.: Brian Helgeland. Complete production details. Official website. Review by Kristen Lee Over.

 

Knights of the Round Table (US, 1953). Dir.: Richard Thorpe. Complete production details. Ostensibly based on Malory’s Morte Darthur, with Ava Gardner as Guinevere and Robert Taylor as Lancelot.

 

Knights of the Round Table (FR, 1990). Dir.: Denis Llorca. A retelling of selected scenes from the 13th-century French prose Vulgate cycle, depicting Arthur and Guenevere, Morgan, Merlin, the Fisher King Bron, and Galahad.

 

Kristin Lavransdatter (SW 1995). Dir.: Liv Ullmann. Complete production details. This three-hour film traces the childhood, marriage, and death of a woman in medieval Norway. Based on the award-winning trilogy by Sigrid Unset.

 

Lady Godiva (US, 1955). Dir.: Arthur Lubin. Complete production details. 11th century (Edward the Confessor); based on the legendary story of Lady Godiva, with Maureen O’Hara.

 

Ladyhawke (US, 1985). Dir.: Clive Donner. Complete production details. 13th century; based on a “medieval legend.” A knight (Rutger Hauer) and his love (Michelle Pfeiffer) are cursed by a jealous bishop to spend their lives apart: at night he becomes a wolf; by day she becomes a hawk. Visually stunning.

 

Lancelot du Lac (FR, 1974). Dir.: Robert Bresson. Complete production details. With Luc Simon and Laura Duke Condominas. Original music by Philippe Sarde, cinematography by Pasqualino De Santis. Based on the Mort Arthu, Bresson’s dehumanizing imagery depicts the final days of Camelot and, by extension, of a particular idea of the Middle Ages. A masterpiece.

 

Lion in Winter (UK, 1968). Dir.: Anthony Harvey. Complete production details. 12th century; based on the play by James Goldman, who wrote the screenplay. An aging King Henry II calls a gathering to decide who will succeed him. Excellent performances from Peter O’Toole as King Henry and Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor—a role that earned her an Oscar for Best Actress. With Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, and Nigel Terry.

 

Lionheart (US, 1987). Dir.: Franklin Schaffner. Complete production details. A young nobleman (Eric Stoltz) rallies children to join King Richard on Crusade—but with a happier ending than the Children’s Crusade of 1212. With Gabriel Byrne as the Black Knight.

 

The Long Ships (UK, 1964). Dir.: Jack Cardiff. Complete production details. 10th-century Viking adventure. With Richard Widmark as a Viking warrior and Sidney Poitier as a Moorish leader. A real bomb.

 

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Zealand/US, 2001). Dir.: Peter Jackson. Complete production details. Official website. David Edelstein: “The first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is basically a lot of people running away from special effects. But what volcanic special effects! What otherworldly settings through which to run! What magnificent music to run to!” (Slate, posted 19 December 2001). Sherry Turkle: “… a brainy and beautiful film.… It takes nothing away from its artistry to allow that its appeal, like that of the books on which it is based, owes much to the computer culture that made J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy world its own” (New York Times op-ed, 7 March 2002).

 

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Zealand/US, 2002). Dir.: Peter Jackson. Complete production details.  Official website. Roger Ebert writes, “‘The Two Towers’ is a rousing adventure, a skillful marriage of special effects and computer animation, and it contain sequences of breathtaking beauty” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 18 December 2002). Somewhat less enthusiastic is J. Hoberman: “‘The Two Towers”—an alternate title, I suppose, for ‘25th hour’—naturally picks up where ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ left off. With the Fellowship sundered, five separate storylines are quickly established amid much vertiginous camera swooping and tumultuous running through the windswept peaks of craggiest New Zealand. Peter Jackson’s movie is one portentous happening after another—not unreasonable in that his source, J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, is basically the fantasyland equivalent of a world war against absolute evil”  (J. Hoberman, The Village Voice, 18 December 2002).

 

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (USA/New Zealand, 2003). Dir.: Peter Jackson. Complete production details. Official site for the trilogy. Peter Travels (Rolling Stone, 17 December 2003) writes: “Long live the king! The Part 3 jinx ... can’t contaminate The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. ... Peter Jackson does author J. R. R. Tolkien proud by turning his tome into a film epic by which all future film epics will be judged. King pops your eyes, excites your senses, and brings you in as close as a whisper for scenes of startling emotion.”

 

Love’s Labour’s Lost (UK, 2000). Dir.: Kenneth Branagh. Complete production details. Official Site. Review and video clip. Shakespeare as 1930s musical; much of the original is missing, but it’s excellent good fun!

 

Luther (UK, 1973). Dir.: Guy Green. Complete production details. American Film Theatre production of the John Osborne play.

 

Macbeth (UK, 1971). Dir.: Roman Polanski. Complete production details. Based on Shakespeare’s play.

 

Macbeth (US, 1948). Dir.: Orson Welles. Complete production details.

 

A Man for All Seasons (US, 1966). Dir.: Fred Zinnemann. Complete production details. Terrific production with screenplay by Robert Bolt; the conflict between Thomas More and Henry VIII, with Paul Scofield.

 

Marco Polo (IT, 1981). Dir.: Giuliano Montaldo. Complete production details. Italian television miniseries starring Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, and Burt Lancaster.

 

Mary of Scotland (US, 1936). Dir.: John Ford. Complete production details. With Katharine Hepburn.

 

The Masque of the Red Death (US, 1964). Dir.: Roger Corman. Complete production details. An adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s story in which the plague—in the form of a robed figure wearing a red mask—ravages the palace of a cruel prince (Vincent Price).

 

The Masque of the Red Death (US, 1989). Dir.: Larry Brand. Complete production details. Based on the Poe story, with Patrick Magee. A bad remark of Corman’s 1964 film.

 

Men of Respect (US, 1991). Dir.: William Reilly. Complete production details. A gangster version of Macbeth with John Turturro as a Mafia hitman.

 

Men of Sherwood Forest (UK, 1954). Dir.: Val Guest. Complete production details. Based on Robin Hood legend. Men in the employ of King John infiltrate Robin Hood’s band of outlaws and convince Robin to go to Germany to rescue the captive King Richard.

 

Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (FR, 1999). Dir.: Luc Besson. Complete production details. Official site. Reviews from the French press. Review by Ron Maxwell. Historical authenticity was definitely not the first priority for this production, but Milla Jovovich is absolutely radiant as Joan of Arc.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (UK, 1968). Dir.: Peter Hall. Complete production details. Royal Shakespeare Co. production with a great cast including Diana Rigg, Ian Richardson, Judi Dench, and Helen Mirren.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (US, 1935). Dir.: Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle. Complete production details. With James Cagney, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, and Olivia de Havilland in her screen debut. Nominated as best picture of the year.

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (US, 1999). Dir.: Michael Hoffman. Complete production details. With Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rupert Everett (soon to be released on videotape).

 

The Milky Way (La voie lactée) (FR, 1969). Dir.: Luis Buñuel. Complete production details. Two pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela experience heresy through the ages.

 

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (UK, 1975). Dir.: Terry Gilliam. Complete production details. Cast: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin. Original music by De Wolfe and Neil Innes; cinematography by Terry Bedform. Arthur sets off with his knights to find the Holy Grail, encountering along the way a man-eating rabbit, holy hand-grenades, and a Black Knight who fights on after losing all four limbs. Intelligent, witty, and excellent good fun.

 

 Much Ado about Nothing (UK/US, 1993). Dir.: Kenneth Branagh. Complete production details.

 

The Name of the Rose (IT/FR/WGER, 1986). Dir.: Jean-Jacques Annaud. Complete production details. Based on the 1980 novel by Umberto Eco about a friar turned detective (Sean Connery) investigating a series of murders committed during a synod at a Benedictine abbey.

 

The Navigator (NZ, 1988). Dir.: Vincent Ward. Complete production details. English boy attempts to save his 14th-century village from the plague by leading a tunneling expedition to 20th-century New Zealand.

 

Die Niebelungen: Kriemhild’s Revenge(GER, 1924). Dir.: Fritz Lang. Complete production details. Lang masterpiece. German mythology.in two parts: Siegfried and Kriemhild’s Revenge.

 

Die Niebelungen: Siegfried(GER, 1924). Dir.: Fritz Lang. Complete production details. Lang masterpiece. German mythology.in two parts: Siegfried and Kriemhild’s Revenge.

 

The Norseman (US, 1978). Dir.: Charles B. Pierce. Complete production details. 10th-century Viking adventure in which a Viking sets out to find his missing father, who has been captured, blinded, and enslaved. Owes much to the B western film genre.

 

O (US, 2001). Dir.: Tim Blake Nelson. Complete production details. An update of Shakespeare’s Othello, placed in a setting involving high school athletics (basketball) and featuring a teen cast. The Los Angeles Times’s Kenneth Turan writes, “Overheated passions. Malicious gossip. Jealousy, betrayal and constant romantic crises. Shakespeare’s Othello fits so snugly into the social context of a modern American high school that a film that restages the Moor’s tragedy among 18-year-olds and their raging hormones was all but inevitable” (Kenneth Turan, “The Direct Approach,” August 31, 2001). Shakespeare’s strong plot carries this energetic and entertaining film.

 

Othello (IT, 1952). Dir.: Orson Welles. Complete production details. A masterpiece, reconstructed for 1992 reissue.

 

Othello (UK, 1965). Dir.: Stuart Burge. Complete production details. Brilliant; with Laurence Olivier.

 

Othello (UK, 1995). Dir.: Oliver Parker. Complete production details. With Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh.

 

Parsifal (WGERM, 1982). Dir.: Hans-Jurgen Syberberg. Complete production details. Based on Wagner’s opera.

 

The Passion of Beatrice (La Passion de Béatrice) (FR, 1998). Dir.: Bertrand Tavernier. Complete production details. Beatrice Cenci relocated in France at the time of the Hundred Years War; with Julie Delpy.

 

The Passion of Joan of Arc (FR, 1928). Dir.: Carl Theodor Dreyer. Complete production details. A masterpiece, a truly important film with a brilliant performance by Falconetti as Joan.

 

Pathfinder (NOR, 1987). Dir.: Nils Gaup. Complete production details. The lone survivor of a massacre in his Lapp village, a teenage boy is forced to lead the raiding nomads to another village; instead, he leads them off a cliff. Based on the 12th-century tale “The Pathfinder and the Torth,” the film was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film. Dialogue in Lapp.

 

Perceval le Gallois (FR, 1978). Dir.: Eric Rohmer. Complete production details. Based carefully on Chrétien de Troyes, although in a modern French translation, with authentic music and instruments. Starring Fabrice Lucchini.

 

Die Pest in Florenz (GER, 1919). Dir.: Otto Rippert. Complete production details. A medieval courtesan seduces a monk, and both die when plague ravages Florence. Screenplay by Fritz Lang.

 

The Prince and the Pauper (US, 1962). Dir.: Don Chaffey. Complete production details. Based on the Mark Twain novel and set during the reign of Henry VIII.

 

The Prince of Jutland (DK, 1994). Dir.: Gabriel Axel. Complete production details. Fine adaptation of the 12th-century Gesta Danorum—the Hamlet story—with Gabriel Byrne as the murdering usurper Prince Fenge and Helen Mirren as his newly-acquired queen.

 

Prince of Thieves (US, 1948). Dir.: Howard Bretherton. Complete production details. Based on the Robin Hood legend.

 

The Princess and the Goblin (HUN, 1992). Dir.: Jósef Gémes. Complete production details. Based on a children’s novel, this animated film tells the story of a princess and a peasant boy who defeat the evil goblins threatening their kingdom.

 

The Princess Bride. (US, 1987). Dir.: Rob Reiner. Complete production details. Reiner’s witty and wholly delightful cinematic spin on the genre of medieval romance. With Robin Wright as the beautiful Buttercup and Cary Elwes as her true love Wesley. An excellent supporting cast including Peter Falk, Mandy Patinkin, Billy Crystal, and Carol Kane.

 

Prince Valiant (US, 1954). Dir.: Henry Hathaway. Complete production details. Adventure based on the comic strip.

 

 

The Private Life of Henry VIII (UK, 1933). Dir.: Alexander Korda. Complete production details. With Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester.

 

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (Elizabeth the Queen) (US, 1939). Dir.: Michael Curtiz. Complete production details. Based on the Maxwell Anderson play; with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn.

 

Queen Margot (La Reine Margot). (FR, 1994). Dir.: Patrice Chereau. Complete production details. With Isabelle Adjani. Replete with brutal recreation of the 1572 Saint Bartholemew’s Day Massacre in Paris, this visually stunning film focuses on court intrigue during the religious wars. Monica Vitti is over the top as Catherine de Medici.

 

Quentin Durward (UK, 1955). Dir.: Richard Thorpe. Complete production details. Based on Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel (a version of the Tristan legend). With Robert Taylor as Quentin Durward, a Scot sent to the French court to bring back a bride for his uncle.

 

Quest for Camelot (US, 1998). Dir.: Frederik Du Chau. Complete production details. Animated King Arthur.

 

The Reckoning (UK/Spain, 2004). Dir.: Paul McGuigan. Written by Mark Mills.  Complete production details. Official site.  Set in the 14th century. A traveling band of actors, assisted by a priest on the lam, discover a murder and try to solve it by recreating the crime as part of a play. With Paul Bettany, Willem Dafoe, Simon McBurney, Vincent Cassel, Brian Cox, and Gina McKee. According to Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times 3/12/04), “The medieval world of the film has been convincingly recreated (it was photographed in Spain) ... ‘The Reckoning’ has just a little too much of the whodunit and the thriller and not enough of the temper of its clash between cultures, but it works, maybe because the simplicity of the underlying plot is masked by the oddness of the characters.”

 

The Return of Martin Guerre (FR, 1982). Dir.: Daniel Vigne. Complete production details. Splendidly acted by Gerard Depardieu, as a man who returns from war and assumes the identity of Martin Guerre, and Nathalie Baye, Martin’s wife.

 

Richard III (UK 1954). Dir.: Laurence Olivier. Complete production details.

 

Richard III (UK, 1995). Dir.: Richard Loncraine. Complete production details. With Ian McKellen and Annette Bening; an alternative setting in fascist England.

 

Robin and Marian (UK, 1976). Dir.: Richard Lester. Complete production details. With Sean Connery as an aging Robin Hood, who returns to England after years of fighting abroad with King Richard. Audrey Hepburn plays Marian, now a middleaged nun. Original and moving.

 

Robin and the Seven Hoods. (US, 1964). Dir.: Gordon Douglas. Complete production details. Rat Pack version of the Robin Hood legend, with Frank Sinatra as the leader of a mob gang in New York City.

 

Robin Hood (UK, 1991). Dir.: John Irvin. Complete production details. Low budget relief from Hollywood blockbusters; emphasizes accuracy. With Patrick Bergin as Robin Hood and Uma Thurman as a free-spirited Marian.

 

Robin Hood (US, 1922). Dir.: Allan Dwan. Complete production details. Based on the Robin Hood legend, with Douglas Fairbanks as the early of Huntington/Robin Hood.

 

Robin Hood (US, 1973). Dir.: Wolfgang Reitherman. Complete production details. Robin Hood as seen by Walt Disney: Prince John as simpering lion and Robin as fox.

 

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (US, 1993). Dir.: Mel Brooks. Complete production details. Fairly successful spoof with Cary Elwes as Robin; cast includes Brooks, Richard Lewis, Patrick Stewart, and Tracey Ullman.

 

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (US, 1991). Dir.: Kevin Reynolds. Complete production details. Hollywood blockbuster starring Kevin Costner as Robin. With Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Christian Slater, and Alan Rickman as the impressively nasty sheriff of Nottingham. This film is so bad that it’s fun.

 

Romeo and Juliet (UK, 1954). Dir.: Renato Castellani. Complete production details. With Laurence Harvey.

 

Romeo and Juliet (UK, 1966). Dir.: Paul Czinner. Complete production details. Filmed version of the Royal Ballet production with Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.

 

Romeo and Juliet (UK/IT, 1968). Dir.: Franco Zeffirelli. Complete production details. Beautiful production with musical score by Nino Rota; narrated by Laurence Olivier.

 

Romeo and Juliet (US, 1936). Dir.: George Cukor. Complete production details. With Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, and John Barrymore.

 

Romeo + Juliet (US, 1996). Dir.: Baz Luhrmann. Complete production details. Postmodern version set in Miami with Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio.

 

Romola (US, 1924). Dir.: Henry King. Complete production details. Renaissance drama, with Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish.

 

Saint Joan (US, 1957). Dir.: Otto Preminger. Complete production details. Joan of Arc, with Jean Seberg. Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw, with a screenplay by Graham Greene.

 

Saladin (EGYPT, 1963). Dir.: Youssef Chahine. Complete production details. Unique among crusader films for depicting the battle for Jerusalem from an Arab perspective. Excellent.

 

The Seventh Seal (SWED, 1957). Dir.: Ingmar Bergman. Complete production details. A disillusioned crusader (Max von Sydow) tests the existence of God by playing a game of chess with the Devil. A classic.

 

Shakespeare in Love (UK/US 1998). Dir.: John Madden. Complete production details. Official site. Review by Lowell Gallagher.

 

Sleeping Beauty (US, 1959). Dir.: Clyde Geronimi. Complete production details. Walt Disney production of the fairy tale.

 

The Song of Roland (FR, 1978). Dir.: Frank Cassenti. Complete production details. A great performance by Klaus Kinski as Roland.

 

The Sorceress (Le moine et la sorcière) (FR, 1987). Dir.: Suzanne Schiffman. Complete production details. 13th-century France; inquisitorial investigation of the worshipping of a greyhound. Based on the writings of Etienne de Bourbon.

 

Stealing Heaven (UK, 1988). Dir.: Clive Donner. Complete production details. 12th century; based on Marion Meade’s 1979 novel about Abelard and Heloise.

 

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (US, 1952). Dir.: Ken Annakin. Complete production details. Based on the Robin Hood legend. Fun.

 

The Sword and the Rose (When Knighthood Was in Flower) (US, 1953). Dir.: Ken Annakin. Complete production details. Adventure-drama set during the reign of Henry VIII.

 

The Sword in the Stone (US, 1963). Dir.: Wolfgang Reitherman. Complete production details. King Arthur and company as viewed by Walt Disney, based on T. H. Whites novel of the same name.

 

The Sword of El Cid (SP 1962). Dir.: Miguel Iglesias. Complete production details. Abusive husbands, trials by combat, regicide, and hidden identity contribute to a confused plotline that ends with the succession of King Alfonso’s son to the throne.

 

Sword of Lancelot (UK, 1963). Dir.: Cornell Wilde. Complete production details. With Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Brian Aherne, George Baker, Michael Meacham. Original music by Ron Goodwin; cinematography by Harry Waxman. The story of Lancelot and Guinevere, supposedly based on Malory’s Le Morte Darthur. Beautifully produced, entertaining, and rather serious.

 

Sword of Sherwood Forest (UK, 1961). Dir.: Terence Fisher. Complete production details. Based on the Robin Hood legend; Robin Hood thwarts the sheriff of Nottingham’s plot to kill the archbishop of Canterbury, who, as a reward for saving his life, marries Robin and Marion.

 

The Sword of the Conqueror (IT, 1961). Dir.: Carlo Campogalliani. Complete production details. The duke of Lombardy defends his territory against invading barbarians.

 

The Sword of the Valiant (The Legend of Gawain and the Green Knight) (UK, 1983). Dir.: Stephen Weeks. Complete production details. With Sean Connery and Peter Cushing; an unsuccessful remake of Weeks’s 1973 Gawain and the Green Knight.

 

The Taming of the Shrew (UK, 1923). Dir.: Edwin J. Collins. Complete production details.

 

The Taming of the Shrew (US, 1929). Dir.: Sam Taylor. Complete production details. With Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

 

The Taming of the Shrew (US/IT, 1967). Dir.: Franco Zeffirelli. Complete production details. With Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

 

Taras Bulba (US, 1962). Dir.: J. Lee Thompson. Complete production details. 16th-century Ukraine; Cossack drama with Tony Curtis.

 

The Tempest (US, 1982). Dir.: Paul Mazursky. Complete production details. Based on Shakespeare’s play. A New York architect takes his daughter to live with him on a Greek island. Strong cast featuring John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raul Julia, and Molly Ringwald.

 

Ten Things I Hate about You. (US, 1999). Dir.: Gil Junger. Complete production details. Remake of The Taming of the Shrew with the main characters as high-school students in the Pacific Northwest. Very enjoyable.

 

The 13th Warrior (US, 1999). Dir.: John McTiernan. Complete production details. Based on Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, with Antonio Banderas as Ahmahd ibn Fahdalan. A fast-paced, entertaining realization of Crichton’s Beowulf.

 

Throne of Blood (JAPAN, 1957). Dir.: Akira Kurosawa. Complete production details. Set in medieval Japan and based on Shakespeare’s MacBeth. A masterful and truly frightening production with Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, and Takashi Shimura.

 

Timeline (USA, 2003). Dir.: Richard Donner. Complete production details.  Based on the book by Michael Crichton with original music by Brian Tyler and cinematography by Caleb Deschanel. A group of archaeological students become traped in 14th-century France when they go there to retrieve their professor. Ed Park (VillageVoice, 26 Nov. 2003) writes, “C’est la “B”! Timeline is crudely written, haphazardly acted, and improbably fun.”

 

Titus (USA/Italy, 1999). Dir.: Julie Taymor. Complete production details. US website. UK website. Tagline (need more be said?): “The fall of an empire. The descent of man.” Based on Shakespeare’s dark and disturbing Titus Andronicus, with Anthony Hopkins as Titus, Jessica Lange as Tamora, Alan Cumming as Saturninus, Harry Lennix as Aaron, Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Chiron, and Angus Macfadyen as Lucius. Taymor wallows in this bloodthirsty play, creating a film version that, according to Robert Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, “goes over the top, doubles back and goes over the top again” (Ebert's review). The title role is type-cast, as Hopkins gets to exercise his Hannibal Lector chops when in act 5 he serves Tamora meat pies containing her sons. The horrors of the 20th century served up in Shakespearean format.

 

Tower of London (US, 1939). Dir.: Rowland V. Lee. Complete production details. Very spooky Richard III with Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Basil Rathbone as Richard.

 

Tower of London (US, 1962). Dir.: Roger Corman. Complete production details. Horror film with Vincent Price murdering, raving, and murdering again.

 

The Trial of Joan of Arc (FR, 1962). Dir.: Robert Bresson. Complete production details. A masterpiece, with Florenz Carrez as Joan. Bresson as his best.

 

Tristan and Isolt (IRE, 1979). Dir.: Tom Donovan. Complete production details. The victims of  love potion, Tristan and Isolt become lovers and betray King Mark of Cornwall.

 

The Undead (US, 1957). Dir.: Roger Corman. Complete production details. Flashback to the Middle Ages; low-budget fantasy in which a hypnotized prostitute relives the final moments of an earlier life as a woman condemned to die as a witch.

 

Unidentified Flying Oddball (US, 1979). Dir.: Russ Mayberry. Complete production details. An astronaut finds himself in King Arthur’s court and expected to represent the king in battle with Mordred and Merlin. A Disney adaptation of the Twain classic.

 

Utlaginn (ICE, 1981). Dir.: Agust Gudmundsson. Complete production details. After the forced revenge-killing of his brother-in-law, a man is made an outlaw. Based on the medieval saga of Gisli Súrsson.

 

The Vikings (US, 1958). Dir.: Richard Fleischer. Complete production details. With Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, and Janet Leigh. This 10th-century adventure features a splendid performance by Douglas and truly glorious photography by Jack Cardiff. Orson Welles narrates over the credits.

 

The Virgin Spring (SWE, 1960). Dir.: Ingmar Bergman. Complete production details. Medieval fable of a girl raped and murdered by vagrants; after her death her father discovers that a spring has formed on the spot where her body was left. With an unforgettable performance by Max von Sydow as the father.

 

The Visitors (Les Visiteurs) (FR, 1993). Dir.: Jean-Marie Poiré. Complete production details. Comedy; extremely popular in France. With Gerard Depardieu and Christian Clavier as a 12th-century knight and his squire transported forward in time to contemporary France.

 

A Walk with Love and Death (US, 1969). Dir.: John Huston. Complete production details. Anjelica Huston in her first screen role as a noble girl living in the France of the Hundred Years War and peasant revolts. Not popular when it was first released, the film’s reputation has grown considerably over the years.

 

The War Lord (US, 1965). Dir.: Franklin Schaffner. Complete production details. 11th-century drama with Charlton Heston as the duke of Normandy, who falls in love with Bronwyn, a pagan peasant girl.

 

The Warriors (The Dark Avenger) (UK, 1955). Dir.: Henry Levin. Complete production details. The Black Prince in the Hundred Years War; with Errol Flynn.

 

West Side Story (US, 1962). Dir.: Robert Wise. Complete production details. Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim musical based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

 

When the Raven Flies (Hrafninn Flýgur) (Iceland/Sweden 1984). Dir.: Hrafn Gunnlaugsson. Complete production details. A Viking Western, in which Vikings pillage 10th-century Ireland, sparing only a boy who twenty years later travels to Iceland to take revenge. Entertaining!

 

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (UK/US, 1996). Dir.: Kenneth Branagh. Complete production details. Updated to the second half of the 19th century with a liberal use of cameo casting.

 

Willow (US, 1988). Dir.: Ron Howard. Complete production details. On a quest to save a princess, Willow joins forces with renegade warrior Madmartigan (Val Kilmer). 

 

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