Excalibur (UK)

8 / 10
4 votes cast
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Forged by a god! Foretold by a wizard! Found by a king!
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 135 mins
Retail Price: £15.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table receives its most impressive screen treatment in Excalibur, from visionary movie maker John Boorman.

All the elements of Sir Thoams Malory`s classic Le Morte D`Arthur are here: Arthur removing the sword Excalibur from the stone; the Round Table`s noble birth and tragic decline; the heroic attempts to recover the Holy Grail; and the shifting balance of power between wily wizard Merlin.

With Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson in notable early screen roles, Excalibur serves up, The New Yorker`s Pauline Kael wrote, "one lush, Enraptured scene after another".

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English

Subtitle Tracks:
French
Italian
CC: Italian
Romanian
English
Spanish
German
CC: English
Portuguese
Dutch
Arabic
Bulgarian

Directed By:
John Boorman

Written By:
Rospo Pallenberg
Thomas Malory
John Boorman

Starring:
Patrick Stewart
Corin Redgrave
Liam Neeson
Gabriel Byrne
Cherie Lunghi
Nicholas Clay
Helen Mirren
Nigel Terry

Casting By:
Mary Selway

Soundtrack By:
Trevor Jones

Music From:
Richard Wagner
Carl Orff

Director of Photography:
Alex Thomson

Editor:
Donn Cambern

Costume Designer:
Bob Ringwood

Production Designer:
Anthony Pratt

Producer:
Michael Dryhurst
John Boorman

Executive Producer:
Edgar F. Gross
Robert A. Eisenstein

Distributor:
Warner Bros

Your Opinions and Comments

10 / 10

Wow, Excalibur is one of my all time favourite films anyway. And having it one DVD in such good quality...makes it that much better. If you haven`t seen this film...get it, the acting, the stylised shooting, and the beautiful shots make this a must get.

posted by Tchrin on 21/10/2000 04:56

9 / 10

One of my favourite films even when I only had a grainy old VHS tape. But on DVD it is spectacular. Use of Wagner and Orff music is magnificent. Manages to be stirring but is still funnier than Monty Pythons Holy Grail.
Worth it just for Igraines dance at the begining; but not a dull moment in the whole thing.
In fact I think I`ll go and watch it all again right now.
Get it.

posted by Richard Larkins on 29/10/2000 00:33

6 / 10

a good movie ruined by lack of extra features

posted by flair on 15/3/2001 15:29

7 / 10

"Excalibur" is a great film, unfortunately it has not been done justice on this disc.

The anamorphic picture is OK, but the framing is slighlty off (this isn`t a fault with my equipment as it has been commented on elsewhere, thankfully!) resulting in the tops of peoples heads being chopped off slighlty. I don`t think this is what Boorman intended when he shot it, and is a bit disconcerting.

The DD 5.1 mix isn`t very active, surround effects are minimal and the LFEs are rather crude: the fantastic score and the thunder of hooves sometimes becoming rather overpowering.

Of course the film is quite old, but this disc, like other earlier Warner Bros DVD releases (for example "Bladerunner") is in desperate need of remastering. It really is a tragedy to see excellent films treated so badly by lazy and greedy studios. Oh yes, and there are precisely NO extras.

However, if you love this film (as I do) buy it anyway, as there are no plans for any special editions in the future. There is a lot of pleasure to be had from watching this film in the best format available, and you can get it on the cheap.

posted by Pete Mallard on 5/6/2001 21:29