thinker1691 Across the centuries, there are special men who rise above others and for a few brief moments in history have the honor of becoming more than the summit of their work, they become 'Great.' This is the story of one such man. He was raised well and educated by monks for the priesthood, however, war enveloped England (West Saxony) and his family persuaded him to become king. In this film "Alfred The Great" it is the superb actor David Hemmings who plays Alfred with much conviction against the Danish King Guthrum played by another notable actor Michael York. From the passages of English lore, Alfred's legend lends itself to a few of the many deeds and innovations which shaped his country and it's reforms. The battle tactics which he gleaned from ancient military journals and used effectually against the Danes as well as the inner intrigues of the royal family are chronicled in this movie. What is offered is nothing short of exceptional. A good attempt at capturing the mood of the times and the interaction between the early Saxon king and the mighty Vikings. A film which offers enough to certify it as a classic. ****

dmccabe-4 Confession; I have not seen the movie, but I do have some interesting facts to share about the making of the movie: Many of the battle scenes were filmed in Ireland using Irish army regulars as extras. The men learned the marching chants and what you hear in the movie is at least in part the actual chants of the extras.Some of the men earned extra money by doing some of the riskier shots (guys carrying kicking and screaming women for example; my Father was one such extra and earned his extra money by lying on the battlefield and permitting a horse to walk up to his 'body' and then circle around his head; some extras were unwilling to risk being stepped on, but my father's familiarity with horses convinced him that the horse would avoid stepping on a person).The Viking ships were motorized with oarsmen acting to produce the realistic effects. One boat was offered to the local boy scouts at the end of filming, but was scooped up by a buyer before the deal was closed.After days of shooting with large numbers of extras on the shores of the River Shannon near Athlone, the crew would repaint the brown grass using large buckets of green paint.Although not a review, I hope this information is of interest to the site visitors, it comes from the recollections of my Father. Cheers!

starrywisdom When I saw this film for the first time back when it was released, I was vastly disappointed. I wanted better dialogue, better costumes, and above all more fidelity to actual history. Some of the big plot engines, especially the one involving Michael York's and Prunella Ransome's characters, never happened in reality, and I have this stickler historical mentality that feels if you make a historical movie about real people, it should be, you know, accurate.I was a critic at the time, and as I recall, I gave it a fairly scathing review. But upon subsequent catch-as-catch-can late-night viewings (and why why WHY isn't this out on video and DVD?), I have come to temper my opinion. Michael York especially is outstanding---when he's onscreen you can't take your eyes off him, though I very much doubt the real-life Guthrum the Dane looked anywhere near so cute---and I so wish that Clive Donner and the writers had given his rather swoonalicious Guthrum---the Beatle Viking!---a whole lot more to do.(It's not in the movie, but in historical fact Alfred and Guthrum made a peace treaty afterwards that split England between them, Alf taking the south and west and Guthrum taking the north and east. So really Alfred bargained for his peace, and if it's Alfred the Great, it should darn well be Guthrum the Great as well...)David Hemmings's performance is as good as can be expected, given some of the thankless dialogue, and he is both tortured and twinkly; while Prunella Ransome's Queen Aelhswith is not only decorative but intriguingly liberated for a noble ninth-century lady (however historically inaccurate and ultimately unconvincing).And the supporting cast is nothing short of tremendous: Ian McKellen (and you can see Gandalf the Grey in his eyes...), Colin Blakely, Vivian Merchant (who reportedly insisted on playing her character as a mute after a dialogue rewrite was not forthcoming), Julian Glover, Peter Vaughan, Sinead Cusack in her film debut.Pity the script didn't give any of them but McKellen anything to really get into, though Vaughan munches a bit of scenery. If they'd had something better to work with, "Alfred the Great" might have been the Anglo-Saxon "Lawrence of Arabia"...

Bruce Jones I originally saw this film at its first sneak preview when it was originally made and I still vividly recall some of it's beautiful work. I think it was much under-appreciated in it's time and was a terrific work of historical drama. I think it succeeded in conveying the period mood and atmosphere to a modern audience and I especially enjoyed the characters (even down to the names) and the attention to detail in the sets and battle scenes. It was a wonderful experience that has stuck with me.