Merlin of the Crystal Cave

A faithful rendering of Mary Stewart's first volume of her trilogy of Merlin's life and his part in king Arthur's reign. I had been wondering if any of these books had been put to film, sadly only this one work exists. It is a good introduction to Mary Stewart's Merlin; an honest man who is sometimes baffled by his own power and horrified by the consequences of man's misuse of that power. The scenery is beautiful: George Winter and Trevor Peacock do a wonderful job of portraying Merlin and Ralf, his lifelong servant and friend. For those who are not used to BBC low budget, there are some technical problems that would never be allowed in an American production. Cheifly, the soft focus in the beginning that is supposed to let us know that these are future events, and the badly done voice-over of one of the child actors who obviously had the wrong octave to match the adult George Winter's voice. If you have ever wondered about Merlin's childhood and point of view, this is the movie for you. Ms Stewart is faithful to legend, and you can find her major plot points in any historic report of king Arthur's story. If you want to see what happens after the end of the movie, pick up the next book in the series, "The Hollow Hills". Also if you have missed ever seeing Excalibur, that movie also takes up nicely where this one leaves off. Enjoy!

i played a number of parts in this film and the only good thing i can say about it is that i met Trevor peacock and Robert Powell, two very nice people and wonderful actors. as to the actual film, it was utter tripe. the making of it was a farce right down to rafts that wouldn't float. it was a welsh production through and through, most production staff, actors, locations and extras were welsh and what could have been a good film turned into an expensive welsh mess. if you ever have the chance to see this film, which was shown on television in the nineties, then my advice is don't. the reason i say this is because it could very well spoil the story should you ever have the chance to see it done properly. having said all that it would probably fit in very well with all the American cods-wallop we are forced to endure on UK television nowadays.

Interestingly set in the times before Arthur, this is a bit more serious than the most recent young Merlin series. Historic name-dropping, beautiful Welsh scenery and clunky acting.

This movie, while being a pretty accurate adaptation of the classic novel by Mary Stewart, is terrible. In fact, it's so bad, it's hilarious! From little boy Merlin sobbing hysterically one second and laughing with glee the next to "Mithras" "slaying the white bull (when in reality it looks like he is doing gymnastics), this movie will have you sick with laughter. I would have to say that my favorite part is whenever Camlach is on screen- a short bell is played that sounds rather like music from Psycho. The acting is so bad... words can't describe. The budget was probably a maximum of about $20,000. I would advise you to rent the movie if you need a good laugh!

OK, so I've heard all these negative reviews on this series, and all I have to say is: I COMPLETELY DISAGREE ! Everyone talking about how tacky and unconvincing the acting is. I mean for Christ's sake, it's fictional fantasy; it's supposed to be cheesy + kitsch ! That's a major part of the appeal ! Likewise, are people actually trying to tell me that Excalibur, The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal + other fantasy productions are NOT of a cheesy, kitschy style ?? Either way, you'd hardly take something as basically naff as fictional fantasy seriously would yer !

Anyway, a few days ago I had spontaneous memories of watching this on TV back in 1991/2. (Don't know why I hadn't thought about it in so many years; guess it strongly suggests the 'Disposable' nature of TV broadcasting !) I watched it on Youtube later that day for the 1st time in 26 years ! For me it was naturally a quite magical, evocative nostalgia trip. I distinctly remember certain scenes; the poisonous fruit, the erecting of 'Stone Henge' (?) and the glowing vision of the acrobatic warrior + the bull. The scenery is quite refined and extravagant; shot in Wales I believe.

I do consider this a good quality show (for fantasy, obviously !) and a significant production to rank alongside other Fantasy productions from the same era; BBC Narnia, Jim Henson's The storyteller, Willow, Neverending Story, etc. Just ignore the negative reviews; if you like this era of fantasy then watch this !