(no subject)

[avevale_intelligencer]

We'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.

Comments

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

Arthur of the Britons might just qualify as my First Fandom. It might also have been the thing that ruined my life, since Oliver Tobias as Arthur pretty much spoilt me for anything that real life could produce. It was also the thing that sparked my interest in Arthurian fiction and ancient monuments (good), and part of the reason I moved to Penzance (on the whole, bad, apart from providing fodder for the occasional 'I did this weird thing once' story). I got it on DVD for my birthday, and haven't yet dared watch it in case it doesn't live up to my remembrance.

[murphys-lawyer.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh o golly oh wow that's out too? Ah well, who needs to eat and it'll go well next to my Robin of Sherwood discs that I bought to flush the recent version out of my brain...

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

I recently started a community for AotB if you were interested.
http://community.livejournal.com/arthur_britons/profile