Cromwell
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Movie Reviews of Cromwell
Movie Review: Excellent History
Summary: 5 Stars
Hollywood does not make them like this anymore. All aspects of this film are great.Movie Review: One of the most interesting - and flawed - historical dramas of the Seventies
Summary: 4 Stars
A valiant and not entirely successful attempt at a very English 'thinking-man's' epic, Cromwell is one of the most interesting of the historical dramas of the early seventies - and also one of the most flawed.
The first third of the film is very ropey indeed, with banal dialogue full of stilted clichés (the best lines are from history, not Ronald Hardwood or Ken Hughes), a very mannered performance Richard Harris and a clumsy dilution of history. It is only too easy to think that the English Civil War was fought because Cromwell didn't get on with the King's wife and that it was won and lost on the outcome of two battles.
The first battle scene is surprisingly weak - even the extras die unconvincingly - and it is not until its aftermath and the training of the New Model Army that the film really finds its feet and gets some fire in its belly. Hughes saves his visual imagination for the Battle of Naseby, (long since turned into a motorway by the decree of an ungrateful Parliament) and gives a surprisingly gripping account of its aftermath that puts some humanity into the history.
As a warts and all portrait, the wart is most definitely missing but Richard Harris' Cromwell is a complex and convincing character, always being forced into action rather than forcing events. Alec Guinness' Charles I is also a considered portrait, a mixture of integrity and pragmatic duplicity (recalling Parliament to raise finance for a war with the Scots, he ends up allied to his enemies against his own politicians) that is entirely understandable and on occasion even sympathetic.
The cast of supporting players for the most part prove rather less convincing. Nigel Stock is quietly impressive as the King's ultimately disillusioned confidante and Geoffrey Keen solidly reliable as ever as one of Cromwell's political allies; but while Timothy Dalton's Prince Rupert of the Rhine cuts a dash as he brings his pooch into battle on his arm, Patrick Magee's Royal advisor is a parody worthy of Blackadder the Third - as Guinness points out, "You're too loud, Lord Stafford. It is most unpleasant to the ear."
The first hour has no driving force or feeling of the relentless rush towards an irreversible destiny: the force of history is almost totally absent. Similarly, it does not really gain that much in Scope. Geoffrey Unsworth's photography is ill-served by the production and costume design and Hughes lack of visual sense. Indeed, much of this first third is surprisingly slipshod. There are some very clumsy edits, both on sound and picture and Frank Cordell's often damaging score offers an object lesson in how not to score a film.
Where Miklos Rozsa and Dimitri Tiomkin integrated their grandiose style into the fabric of the drama, composer Frank Cordell points every action with sledgehammer subtlety with crescendos on every move and under every key line of dialogue. Atrociously spotted with no faith in the audience's intelligence, there is too much Benjamin Britten in Cordell's music, which is more of an opera than a film score. Some of the problem can be put down to the appalling mixing that results in the score overpowering a scene rather than underplaying it. Only in the preparations for battle does it gain the grim restraint it needs to work.
Not a great film - for that it really needed a better script, score and director - but, after a very bad start, a very good one.
Some of the opening credits are so finely printed that they are unreadable (as they are on the video) but otherwise the print quality is quite superb, as if taken from a brand new print, though lovers of the roadshow era will be disappointed that Columbia have removed the Overture and well-timed Intermission. And what happened to the original stereo? Tut tut.
Movie Review: Richard Harris' Cromwell Should be in Your Standard Library
Summary: 4 Stars
A good addition to any DVD library that traces a (quasi-)historical thread through Western Civilization. I started out collecting war movies but this has gradually matured into a library of films that string reasonably entertaining/enlightening pearls of Western political evolution. In truth I like movies I can watch attentively the first time, then re-watch downstream while cooking dinner or doing small repairs at the kitchen table. In Cromwell, the speaking voices of Richard Harris and Alec Guinness, even dear old Robert Morley, are wonderfully sonorous -- I don't even need to be eyes-on the screen to be warmed and chilled and floated away by the dialog. Guinness as Charles I has a wit and gravitas that steals every scene he's in. Although I thoroughly detest "top-100" lists of films -- especially since they seem to be venue-sponsored, or -- worse yet -- reflect a directed polling, I would appreciate greater visibility of critical, independent, category-specific library definitions that might, for example, also provides links into critically regarded works of written fiction and non-fiction. This would provide a basis for enhanced, disciminated choice, as well as the product tie-ins that seem so important these days. Having said this, I am disdainful of one-click teasers such as, "Since you liked Cromwell, you might also like Roman Holiday or perhaps Roman Bread." In one sense, this might seem intellectual snobbery, but I still sure do like watching Patton while making steak, salad, and french fries for dinner. "Discipline is pretty poor ...".Movie Review: Of Kings and Common Men
Summary: 4 Stars
Ever wonder what it would be like to put the ultimate 'hit' out on a king? Well, this film (though it glosses over alot of historical detail) shows how one man's actions came close to singlehandedly doing so. It piqued my interest into finding more out about this man and will probably do the same for you. This film is about the English Civil War and Oliver Cromwell's (played by Harris) part in leading the revolt against the out of touch Monarchy of King Richard I (played by Alec Guiness). Richard Harris was Irish, so the whole idea of him playing a man that had 'alot to say' about the Irish and Catholics must have ultimately been a bit ironic. Harris is a bit bombastic but gives his all into the role. At times, he is hoarse reciting his lines. The supporting cast does a fine job, notable of course is the great Alec Guinness. He is made up to look like the King, and he even subtley mimics the King's supposed speech impediment (reportedly a slight stutter that he struggled to suppress). Palace and political intrigue, battle scenes and drama abound in this film. It was even given an Oscar for its costume design, which for a cast of thousands, particularly in the battle scenes, was well done. It gives you a sense of just how difficult it must have been then to authentically recreate so many uniforms, as compared to now (where you can just CGI hundreds of soldiers). A good and entertaining film. Only a few extras but with good enough sound and picture quality, this film makes a good addition to any DVD library.Movie Review: Does History Imitate Fun, or Does Fun Imitate History?
Summary: 4 Stars
I caught this film in the middle on TV several years ago, and liked it so much I finally just had to see the whole thing. It's spellbinding! I'm sure liberties were taken with the actual history, but how many historical films *don't* do that? The gist is still there, and the characterizations are delicious--Richard Harris as a bombastic, larger-than-life Cromwell; Alec Guinness the saintly (in his own mind), unfortunate Charles I; Robert Morley the pompous Manchester. The cast members resemble their characters, and despite the almost Shakespearean delivery, there's no overacting going on. These guys are portraying major historical figures and doing it in a major historical way, and they make it pretty darn memorable too.
The only thing I really dislike is the soundtrack. The incidental music is dated, and some of the music integral to the plot, such as the choruses sung by the marching armies, isn't even in the same cosmos as what 17th-century people would have actually heard. That's why I took a star off, but it's not like it ruins the movie.
If you're interested in the English Civil War, you could do worse than see this film as an introduction. The actors bring the characters to life so vividly that when you read about them later on you'll be going, "Yeah, I *know* him!" For that alone, it's a great contribution, and it's just plain old fun in and of itself. Just be prepared to watch it all the way through, because you won't want to hit the pause button.