Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1851 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-05-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, Romanian, Bulgarian
• Dubbed in: Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 135 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A lush retelling of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur is a dark and engrossing tale. Director John Boorman (Deliverance) masterfully handles the tale of the mythical sword Excalibur, and its passing from the wizard Merlin to the future king of England. Arthur pulls the famed sword from a stone and is destined to be crowned king. As the king embarks on a passionate love affair with Guenevere, an illegitimate son, and Merlin's designs on power, threaten Arthur's reign. The film is visually stunning and unflinching in its scenes of combat and black magic. Featuring an impressive supporting cast, including early work from the likes of Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne, Excalibur is an adaptation of the legend both faithful and bold. --Robert Lane

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 9
French\Italian
English\Italian
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Mono French Italian
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Arabic\Bulgarian\Dutch\English\French\German\Italian\Portuguese\Romanian\Spanish

Synopsis
Director John Boorman's passionate adaptation of Sir Thomas Malory's LE MORTE D'ARTHUR stars Nigel Terry as the faithful King Arthur. Necromancer Merlin (Nicol Williamson) offers the magic sword Excalibur to the warlike Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) in exchange for a promise that he'll make peace with his enemy, the duke of Cornwall (Corin Redgrave). He agrees but breaks his word after catching sight of Cornwall's wife, Igraine (Katrine Boorman). With the magician's help he makes love to the woman in the guise of her husband. She bears a child, Arthur, who is taken by Merlin as payment for his assistance and left in the care of Ector (Clive Swift). Years pass, and the boy, now a humble squire, pulls Excalibur from the stone in which Uther had sunk it--a task no other could accomplish. With Merlin's counsel, he marries the stunning Guenevere (Cherie Lunghi), finds a champion in Sir Lancelot (Nicholas Clay), subdues the skirmishing knights, and builds the Round Table to unite them. Yet his half-sister, Morgana (Helen Mirren), lurks in the shadows, preparing to poison her brother's reign. Perhaps the best film made in this genre, EXCALIBUR benefits from an extraordinary cast, including appearances by Byrne, Patrick Stewart, and Liam Neeson early in their celluloid careers. Counterpointing ethereally filtered sex scenes against scenes of graphic blood-and-guts swordplay, Boorman's sumptuous production galvanizes the familiar mythology, as he charts the transition from an age of magic to one of reason.

Customer Reviews

The days of our kind are num-ber-ed
This is the story of the magic and mysticism in the tale of Arthur, as seen by John Boorman. The story starts with Uther Pendragon convincing Merlin to help him bed Ygraine, and ends with the return of excalibur to the Lake. It is also the story of Merlin, played excellently by Nicol Williamson with a massive vocal range, and the intrigue of Morgana (Helen Mirren in a seductive and evil role). Merlin muses both wryly and poignantly about a changing world in which magic is fading, the natural order is threatened with the arrogance of men, lamenting the "lachrymae mundi", while Arthur and his knights, wearing impossibly heavy armour, lop limbs of their enemies with big weapons. All to the hard-drinking monk's tune of Orff's "O Fortuna". What more could you want from a film, by turns whimsical, sad, mystical, violent, passionate, tender, mysterious and aloof? Speak the charm of making Merlin, set the world to rights.

Visually stunning entertainment
I love most things Arthurian and remember this from when it came out at the cinema. I had a DVD copy, loaned it out and never had it back, so with the current three for £12 offer simply had to replace it.
Jon Boormans visual masterpiece starring Nigel Terry as Arthur and a host of futur stars such as Patrick Stewart and Liam Neesom, this film is high quality and not to be missed. Gruesom at times, it tells the story of Arthur based largely on Le Morte Darthur but focuses on only some parts of the tale; namely the begetting of Arthur, Artgurs rise to King, his winning of the country and Guinever, Guinevere's adultery with Lancelot, Merlins fall, the seeking of the Cauldron and Arthurs demise at Camlan. Theres a stunning OTT performance from Nicol Williamson as Merlin, costumes that if real could not have been worn and faught in (plate armour so massive and shinning), and a very scheming Morgan with son Mordred played partly by Charlie Boorman in his early years. Filmed in Southern Ireland tha landscapes are magnificent and the whole film is accompanied by a magnificent classical score that fits the images exceedingly well. Well worth getting and spending several wet afternoons watching and re watching.

A Dream to some, A nightmare to others!
For years, I only ever saw the beginning of this film. Gabriel Bryne is practically unrecognisable as the brutish Uther, in what must be one of his best acting performances. It's his lust for Igrayne that sets the film in motion. To satisfy his hunger, Uther must make a deal with the mercurial Merlin, which, needless to say, he later regrets.

So Arthur starts out on his hero's journey, in scenes quite similar to young Luke Skywalker's tutelage by Yoda in 'The Empire Strikes Back', with Arthur both beguiled and horrified by the creatures of the forest, featuring the ubiquitous owl present in such films of this period. After the boy king draws the sword from the stone, he is much in need of guidance. However, Merlin is an excellent teacher who seems to draw knowledge from Arthur rather than leading him to it. Yet it's not long before Arthur is seduced away from Merlin to other attractions, such as Guenevere. It's around about here that I usually stopped watching the film when I was younger. It was Boorman's battles that had first attracted me, so shiny and brutal as sword impales and thrusts armour.

It's true that Arthur's Round Table is rich and lush, but rather boring. A time of plenty, but very little drama, apart from Gawain's slander. Arthur does not hear Merlin warn him about Guenevere, and ignores the evidence of his own eyes, as Guenevere becomes a tease and a burden to all his men and in a bizarre and highly staged dance in Leondegrance's fortress. It's also taken time for me to like Nicholas Clay's performance as Lancelot. Cherie Lunghi as Guenevere has never really convinced me. The DVD edition makes her chirpy Irish accent even clearer, which is an irritation. Their romance is treated as on the level of a high school fling, the sort of thing that is done so much better in your average episode of Buffy each week. You squirm in your seat as Guenevere catches sight of Lancelot at the drawbridge of Camelot, with Morgana playing the role of bitchy friend. Clay's wig at the end is also quite embarrassing: did the make-up artist also work on Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Having said that, most of the other characters do grow old with a bit more grace. Of course, the main reason why their treacherous romance is so unconvincing is due to the fact that it is the only part of the film that feels rushed. I'm pretty sure Lot was supposed to be Gawain's father in Malory, but Ciaran Hinds looks no older than Liam Neeson here!

However, there are plenty of fine performances. Nicol Williamson has never played a better role than Merlin, and there are lots of other more familiar faces, like Patrick Stewart. It's the unknown actors who also catch the eye. Ciaran Hinds makes the most of a small role as Lot. Hinds is one of my favourite actors, and it's a pity he hasn't done much more film work like Neeson and Bryne. Arthur is also Nigel Terry's biggest role to date, and I think he makes an excellent transformation from squire, to boy king, to battle hardened warrior, peaceful monarch, and cuckolded husband. Helen Mirren plays her most seductive role as Morgana, and Charley Boorman makes a deliciously evil Mordred. As I've watched this film again, I'm more and more impressed by Paul Geoffrey's portrayal of Perceval. He seems to have been introduced as a counterpoint to Arthur, the young boy who dreams of being a knight, but whose cowardice makes him fear that he has lost the grail forever. Of course, it looks as though Bedevere was just one knight too many, but you do think that Perceval would have made an excellent king if he had obeyed his gut instinct.

All in all, a beautiful, luscious Pre-Raphaelite movie, with Wagner's music to produce the adrenaline high. There is a slight suspicion that this film could be quite right wing, timed to coincide with Thatcher's lamentable rise to power. Certainly, fascists have abused the Arthurian myth and Wagner before now, in their own bid for world domination. However, I believe that Boorman and Rospo Pallenberg were just attracted by such an excellent and archetypal story, and had been trying to make the film for years before the doomed British film renaissance so proudly proclaimed by Colin Welland. This film is indeed a "dream to some, a nightmare to others!" I'm on the side of the dreams, the charm of making and the breath of the dragon. Ireland, my ancestral homeland, has never been filmed so darkly and sublimely. Excalibur is a film I reach for again and again, and its haunting images will never leave me.