King Arthur, the Young Warlord

As a child of the 70s, I've never seen this series on American TV (reruns that is, I was born in '72) - and I would have watched it!! My understanding this is a BBC TV series from '72-'73. I am happy to see the edited/abridged version put into a film - it's pretty good.

This is a gritty take on the tale, more realistic than the high polished, well rehearsed fight scenes that most films of this nature have. Realistically speaking, real mean would not have been like "superheroes" as they usually try to make them out as in films today. This film cuts past all that fancy, flashy stuff and gives more realism to the action. Film makers today need to realize that "heroes" are not suppose to be comic book "superheroes" - two different things all together.

Nice little film that I'm enjoying watching as I type this review.

9/10

I saw this years ago (the early 80's) on The Movie Channel and was hooked on it. Decades later, they've put it out on DVD and I've found it to be almost as good as I remembered thinking it was back then.

The only drawback that some might find with this movie is that it was never really a movie and doesn't play like one. Like with some of Gerry Anderson's shows, this was a "movie" that was pulled together for international release by using stand alone episodes from the TV series Arthur of the Britons and covers a fair stretch of that show's run. This means that the movie, if looked at as a whole, seems to bounce around a bit because it is made up of several story arcs that begin and end in under 30 minutes before jumping into the next one. It also suffers from the same budget issues that many shows coming out of England from the early 70's faced.

Beyond that, it's actually very well done. The stories stand up well and they pulled some good episodes from the series to make this. The wedding story alone, and Brian Blessed's fantastic work in it, are worth the price of the DVD.

You can find the DVD all over the web for low prices. Grab it, it's worth it.

Made on the cheap, as lively as it is grimy, this little-seen film is surprisingly effective...for once the most likely period of Arthur's legendary existence is portrayed in the gritty and grubby way it must surely have have been. If you're looking for a lovely and romantic Hollywood version with colorful costumes, plumes, armour and beautiful ladies (set in a never-was gallant and chivalrous century anywhere from the 12th to the 14th) this Arthur is not for you. There is no Round Table (only a daring plan to unite deadly, traditionally squabbling enemies.) There is also no Lanceclot and Guenivere. But there is an actually plausible contest to pull the sword from the stone which is crucial to Arthur's plan. Though this film is on a rather small scale and an all too apparent smaller budget, it succeeds where larger and more expensive efforts have failed. It gives a lot of down to earth character to these legendary men and makes them understandably human and believable. Tobias makes a great young Arthur, but Gothard should have been given more and Blessed a bit less. He tends to dominate the film in his crude portrayal of Mark of Cornwall. It is surprising that this film didn't spawn an immediate sequel. It would have been interesting to see this kind of earthy realistic treatment of some of the later events in Arthur's life.

Although a few people have pointed out this was a 70's TV show in the UK, this is not a spin off movie. It's actually an abridged version of the show, cleverly edited into a movie. The fact that nobody has noticed that (even the people who remember the show) just proves the editor has done a very good job.

As others have pointed out, if you remember watching this on TV then this is an excellent piece of nostalgia. Even if you never seen it first time its still an enjoyable watch, but just remember it was shot on a 70's TV show budget (a UK one at that) so its not a major production. Although in my opinion it just adds to its gritty charm.

The "true account" of the tribal wars of ancient England. In minuscule budget.

King Arthur fights saxons, picts and whatnot in this watchable little flick. Lots of effort has been put into sets, mainly in pouring shedloads of mud on the ground. It's not the great adventure you'd expect, but as it delivers it's peaceful message towards the end at least I wanted to believe it.

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.