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Jun. 29th, 2008 02:30 pmWe've been watching Arthur Of The Britons on DVD. I missed this the first time round, because they made a big thing about eschewing the whole Merlin and Excalibur and magic business, and back then if it wasn't fantasy, sf or comedy I really wasn't interested. I'm actually quite glad about that, because I think I'm enjoying seeing it for the first time now much more than I would have then.
I'm impressed by the depth of the characterisation, especially in the semi-regular parts. Mark of Cornwall is far from the simple bellowing musclebrain that Brian Blessed's detractors seem to assume is all he can do. Rolf the Penitent, as played by Clive Revill, seems to be genuinely caught up in an internal struggle between the faith he wants to espouse and his all too human nature. There's a lot here, and if I'd seen it in the seventies I'd have missed most of it. So, well done, narrow-minded intolerant child me.
I'm impressed by the depth of the characterisation, especially in the semi-regular parts. Mark of Cornwall is far from the simple bellowing musclebrain that Brian Blessed's detractors seem to assume is all he can do. Rolf the Penitent, as played by Clive Revill, seems to be genuinely caught up in an internal struggle between the faith he wants to espouse and his all too human nature. There's a lot here, and if I'd seen it in the seventies I'd have missed most of it. So, well done, narrow-minded intolerant child me.