Medieval Era Movies?

[Sacc]

What are some good ones? Excluding Braveheart and 300. I'd also be interested in a good documentary.

Sorry if this is the wrong section, but I thought I'd get the best responses here.

[pwijnands]

300 is a Medieval movie??

Kingdom of Heaven is a fairly good movie. There's a movie about Joan of Arc, but I don't remember it's name.
To tell the truth, not a lot of movies about the Middle Ages come to mind. I was about to mention "King Arthur" but that's in Roman times. They should make more blockbuster movies like Braveheart about the Middle Ages. I know some people don't like Hollywood too much, but their movies always look great tough.

[DrIstvaan]

Well, if being serious is not a strong criterium, you should watch the ever-classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It is hilarious.

[pwijnands]

Yes, it even has an army storming a castle at some point. Until they get arrested that is.

[Valbruch]

I believe pwijnands means The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Its quite a good movie. But Breaveheart and Kingdom of Heaven are the best medieval-inspired movies so far.

[Arthum]

Apart from all that has been mentioned so far, you might watch out for some Henry V. movie adaptations (there are several imo) or Macbeth.There's also an Arthur-movie set in a high medieval-esque setting. Maybe one of the dozens of Robin Hoods will catch your fancy.There's an old british tv-series that was okay, there's also a new one from which you should keep away from as far as possible, even if it's by the BBC.Don't forget good ole Hollywood's El Cid.

I personally would recommend:
The BBC doc The Crusades from and with Terry Jones (former Monty Python member):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111931/
as well as Jabberwocky (also some of the MP-crew, so don't expect it to be completely serious):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076221/
I remember having watched Ivanhoe on tv and thought it was quite alright as well:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118354/
Alexander Nevski,still one of the greatest:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029850/
I also liked Cadfael, crime stories set in medieval england:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108717/

There's a lot more of course, especially when following M2TW's timeline including the Renaissance and the Conquest of the Americas.

P.S.

How could I've forgotten one of the best medieval movies,"Name of the Rose":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091605/

[Vor]

I believe pwijnands means The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Its quite a good movie. But Breaveheart and Kingdom of Heaven are the best medieval-inspired movies so far.

Yeah, it was on last weekend. Milla Jovovich plays Joan of Arc, its not a bad film.

[pwijnands]

It's the one where that old black man plays god. And no, it's not Bruce Almighthy although he plays god in both movies. Can't remember his name though.

[Radiso-FIN]

Two Medieval Era Movies, which I like very much:
Mel Gibson's BRAVEHEART
Kingdom of Heaven

[Sacc]

Some good suggestions. Thanks guys, I'll have to add a few of those to the netflix que.

I know 300 isn't medieval, but it belongs in the total war family. Sort of like the tom cruise shogun"ish" movie.

Kingdom of Heaven was really good. Forgot about that one.

[Cyrus Spitama]

Hey, no one remembered all the Robin Hood movies?

[Antissa]

For documentaries, I suggest you check out Battlefield:Britain

Battlefield Britain is a 2004 BBC television documentary series about famous battles in the history of Great Britain. It was presented by Peter Snow and his son, Dan Snow. There were eight 60-minute episodes made, each focusing on a different battle. The episodes featured "interviews" with soldiers from both sides, re-enactments of the battles and computer generated scenes with bird eye views and blocks to show troop movement.

Medieval Warfare At The Battle of Hastings-
Heralding the beginning of the Norman Conquest, the Battle of Hastings, when William faced Harold on the south coast, was one of the bloodiest and most important battles ever fought on British soil.

Owain Glyn Dwr And The Battle For Wales-
The BBC series took a look at a decisive battle of the Welsh rebellion and its great leader, Owain Glyn Dwr.

[Vor]

13th Warrior is another, its based in Medieval times I believe, but has a fantasy undertone. I caught the end of it a week or so back. From what I understood there was an Muslim Prince and a bunch of Scandinavians hunting some wytch and her army.

[Atterdag]

Moved to The Arts

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Let me tell what stuff I've seen about Medieval era:

1. A Knight's Tale - cheesy movie about knights n' tourneys
2. Erik The Viking (Monty style comedy about vikings)
3. Robin Hood - Men in Tights (comedy)
4. Timeline (100yrs war)
5. Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut esp.
6. Braveheart (though unhistorical but I like it very much, very emotional+great battles)
7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (well that's golden classic)
8. Crusades with Terry Jones (great doc)
9. MM Millennium documentary series - 11,12,13,14 centuries
10. Excalibur (old good movie)
11. Henry V (battle of Agincourt 1415)
12. King Arthur 2004 - cheesy, but I quite like it nonetheless
13. Beowulf (2007) not exactly medieval, but dark age tale
14. Engineering an Empire - Byzantines; Russia, England, Aztecs, Maya (doc)
15. Crusades: Crescent and the Cross + extra Templars (awesome doc on crusades)
16. Marco Polo tv series (2007)
17. PBS Empires Holy Warriors: Richard and Saladin
18. Empire of the Mongols (doc)
19. History's Channel Barbarians (Goths, Huns, Vikings, Mongols, Franks, Saxons, Vandals, Lombards) - simply priceless info if you're lazy to read books
20. Joan of Arc both movie (M.Jovovic) and tv series
21. First Knight - cheesy movie about King Arthur
22. Europe in the Middle Ages (4pts documentary very good, showing lots of weapons and armour)
23. Dynasties.Mongols (doc)
24. Weapons that Made Britain (sword, longbow, lance, shield, armour) - superb series
25. The Knight's Templar (4pts doc, very detailed)
26. Knights and Armour (doc, perfect for some M2TW mood)
27. Islam - Empire of Faith (doc)
28. Line of Fire Agincourt (doc)
29. Battle of the Clans (doc)
30. playing M2TW! (haha, just kiddin, had to make it 30 )

Well if wanna know more details, contact me via pm
Cheers

[DrIstvaan]

Whoa, that's a whole lot of titles! Well done, this post of yours is very informative!
One extra title that came into mind is "L'armata Brancaleone". Unfortunately, AFAIK it is only available in Italian language, but those of you who speak Italian should check it out... It is a highly entertaining story of a "not-so-high-born" would-be propriator of a piece of land.

[Erwin Rommel]

beats them all!!! heres a part of it, make sure you watch ALL

[ThiudareiksGunthigg]

The fact that people are having to list documentaries and Python comedies shows exactly how few movies there are set in the actual Middle Ages (as opposed to some kind of fantasyish/medievalish Hollywood world). And the mainstream ones that do exist - eg Braveheart and Kingdom of Heaven - aren't exactly great.

And virtually none of them get the era even remotely correct. To do that would require depicting the period as it was rather than presenting the garbled version of it that most people have, which wouldn't do at all.

The movie of The Name of the Rose is remarkable for the attention to tiny details in the sets, costumes and design. Unfortunately that doesn't extend to the script, which butchered Umberto Eco's meticulously researched novel because it didn't conform to the cliched view of the Middle Ages as a filthy superstitous Dark Age. So the movie dumbed down his story, added a witch trial and a peasant uprising and decided to kill some historical characters in silly ways just for laughs.

Surprisingly, even though Timeline is based on a silly Michael Crichton novel and the movie is dumb beyond belief, someone actually bothered to do their homework on the arms and armour. It's a pity Ridley Scott didn't hire him for Kingdom of Heaven or that movie would have at least looked a lot better despite the stupid modern political sermons.

[Ringeck]

Surprisingly, even though Timeline is based on a silly Michael Crichton novel and the movie is dumb beyond belief, someone actually bothered to do their homework on the arms and armour. It's a pity Ridley Scott didn't hire him for Kingdom of Heaven or that movie would have at least looked a lot better despite the stupid modern political sermons.

Timeline, according to the jungle telegraph, had an art and costume director that actually listened to the canadian reenactors they had hired as extras, and the result was - if not perfect - far better than usual.

[Hansa]

Timeline, according to the jungle telegraph, had an art and costume director that actually listened to the canadian reenactors they had hired as extras, and the result was - if not perfect - far better than usual.

I hadn't heard of that film before TG mentioned it. Seemed interesting so I looked it up on IMDB, and, oh dear. Seems awful, regardless of whether its costumes and kit look realistic or not. Though I haven't seen the film, give me good old (not so historically accurate kit) Becket over this crap any day.

If we are including films about people transported through time, Just Visiting is a terribly bad, silly film about a medieval French aristocrat sent to modern Chicago. Although its utterly unhistorical, silly and stupid, I have to admit that I found it quite funny. Don't expect to find any shred of historical accuracy in it though.

And BTW, does anyone know of any upcoming medieval themed films that actually look promising?