I love watching films, and tend to focus on a particular genre and year when choosing my pick of the day. Very rarely do I find something as obscure and underappreciated as 'To the Ends of Time' (it has just 291 ratings as of 18/06/2025!). It is very fitting that one of the main themes in this brilliant fantasy film is about love, as everything about it was made with so much love it makes your heart and soul almost feel nauseous.
In fact, it is mentioned in the 'Trivia' section that this film's talented director, Markus Rothkranz, made 'To the Ends of Time' with such a small budget and limited resources that he had to build and paint a number of the sets, props and miniatures himself, and created many of the costumes with his own hands. If that is not impressive, I do not know what is.
But it is not this fact which makes 'To the Ends of Time' stand out in my opinion, it is how charming and fantastical everything is, despite the limited resources which were available to the film-makers, of course. I cannot possible mention everything which stood out in this regard, but one special mention has to go to Joss Ackland's inspired performance as King Francis, who has to be one of my favourite characters in film of all time in my opinion, and the immortal theme of "Amor Vincit Omnia", which is rarely integrated as beautifully and as emotionally as in this film.
It is for all these reasons, and for many more but no amount of words can properly convey what my heart and soul have experienced in this film, that I believe that 'To the Ends of Time' is so underrated and such a hidden gem. If you are expecting something like 'The Lord of the Rings', you will be slightly disappointed though, for its style is more similar to 'The Princess Bride' (1987), although it would still be enjoyable.
