King Arthur, the Young Warlord

As has been said in other reviews this is a feature film that has been put together by cleverly editing the popular children's television series that was screened in the UK in the early seventies. It was immensely popular and is fondly remembered by many people of that generation. Like so many UK TV series of that period it was shot on a minimal budget and at times tends to be somewhat creaky and the dialogue at times clunky - but the stories were written by many of the top television screenwriters of the period and many of the 30 minutes shows are little gems. The low budget also meant that the set designers were apt to be creative and thus what we have are wooden sets and oodles of mud - in other words brutal realism. And - the key cast members Tobias, Gothard and Watson - plus a wonderful bombastic Brian Blessed - fill the screen with gusto and give larger than life performances that make you fondly chuckle and root for them. One reviewer has pointed out that he feels that it is historically inaccurate. He is wrong. If there was an Arthur/Artoise - he was a Celtic warlord - who may have become a king during the early period of the dark ages, when Rome withdrew from Britain. Thus historically - it is the most accurate version of the legends yet made. As an aside the original television series - 23 episodes - has now been released as a box set.

1st watched 3/5/2022 - 4 out of 10 (Dir - ???): Documentary-style beginning of a telling of a young King Arthur who tries to bring together warring lands into one peaceful union of southern part of what we now call England. He uses unusual means including the tactful retreat(run-away per Monty Python fame), and other shrewd methods that are not the most noble. This movie is actually a compilation of BBC television programs pasted together into a movie, and it comes across that way sometimes with each episode intertwined by dialogue. Arthur begins the movie as a chieftain with a few loyal friends. The other lands are feuding with them initially, and he brings them together to fight one enemy. His methods are at many times deceitful, which kind of turned me against him. Examples include one episode where he messes up a marriage to get more land, and another one where he promises treasure where there isn't any to get help to rescue his friends. This may work for a sitcom, but not a historical movie. This one is to bypassed if you don't want to learn terrible ways to be a leader.

No flashing steel-armored knights and dazzling pageantry, this is a telling of the Arthur tale as he probably was - a British warlord struggling to maintain order and civilization after the withdrawal of the Roman legions in the fifth century. Arthur is mentored by Ambrosius Aurelianus, the "last of the Romans" in war and diplomacy, and together they fight against the barbarians pressing down on the remnants of Roman Britain.

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.

Since this film has begun to appear on cheap DVD compilations, I feel it my duty to warn the potential viewer of the following: 1. This film was clearly made as a pilot for a television show which I don't believe ever made it to the home entertainment center.

2. This film has nothing to do with the King Arthur of legend.

3. This film has nothing to do with any possible historical King Arthur.

4. This film has nothing to do with either the Dark Ages, or the Middle Ages.

5. The dialog is just one long recital of every "swashbuckler" cliché in film history.

6. The actors are very unprofessional and very hammy.

7. The story is absurd and absurdly directed. No wonder the actors didn't perform well - given such weak material, who could? 8. The sets were cheaply tossed together, the camera work is shoddy, the editing poor, the costumes a laughable conglomeration of fashions from different time periods, and the action sequences unbelievable and confusingly filmed.

Follow the example of TV execs who here made one of their better decisions: reject this film.