Alfred the Great

At least for this period, and in a so accurate and careful way in terms of historical details, this movie from UK - and plus directed by a very eclectic film maker Clive Donner, who had not really a personal style - is far far far far better than most of todays straight to DVDs or streaming platforms craps, most of them from eastern Europe and helped by CGI galore, and certainly not by powerful or concincing actors. I repeat, there was great great care in the making of this film, it is also far more true than it would have been produced by Hollywood - which did not care about actual facts at all, prefering epic side with thousands of extras in awesome and gruesome battle scenes. But here you ALSO have terrific battle scenes, such as the last one. So, in this movie, you have both, quality in terms of script and also the spectacular elements which is not the least at all. My favourite from Clive Donner. Battle scenes and overall story telling has nothing to envy to BRAVEHART.

A disappointment. This film is filled with so many factual and historical errors it's not even funny. So it fails as a history lesson. But it also fails as entertainment, because the film is too slow-paced and the dialogue boring and the acting generally uninspired. A common film plot is to make the protagonist all good and the antagonist all bad. Black and white. But one of the big weaknesses of the film is the demonizing of the danes. At the time of the danish invasions, the danish society was in many ways more advanced than the saxon. They had a large set laws, and thus what happened to the woman at the feast would not have happened. The "spartan phalanx" as presented in the movie was a common norse formation "svinfylkingen", the spartans fought more like the danes fight in the movies. The greatness of Alfred was that he learned from his enemies and from his own mistakes. He emulated what was good in the danish society and built a society to resist the danes, both in civil life and military. But by demonizing the danes, the film also reduces the accomplishments of Alfred. Historically a great man, made small by a film like this.

The only ones getting away with their honor intact from this film is the set and costume makers. Least favorite moment in movie: A woman armed with a stick kills 5 or so heavily armored danes. Sigh.

Like me numerous people commenting on this film have done so from memory and have not seen the film since its original release in 1969. This must be indeed be testimony to its lasting appeal for, strangely, it would appear that this film has not been released on DVD/Blu-ray. I will not discuss the historical content which seems to have met with rather mixed reviews (failing memories?) but I shall concentrate instead on the off-screen relationship of the principal protagonists played by David Hemmings and Prunella Ransome. Hemmings was, by his own admission, a 'Jack the Lad' who when asked to kiss Ransome in rehearsal did so in a manner that can only be described as being in the French style. Ransome was so furious that she refused to speak to him offset and in fact there was no communication between them again for nearly thirty years. Hemmings eventually apologised at a function they were attending and it was their final meeting for they were both dead within 4 years. The cause of Ransome's death has never been made public.

I liked this. Set in England in the 870s it tells the story of one of the great Kings in history. Hemmings does a great job as the complicated cynical Alfred who wants to be a priest but is forced into becoming King because his leadership qualities are badly needed against the marauding Danes. Hemmings Alfred is a formidable character but he's refreshingly no Hollywood hero. The battle scenes are excellent when you consider this was made on a low budget way back in 1969. There's a great aerial shot of a battle focusing on Alfred who's just come from the monastery to answer his country's call, giving off the impression that while he might prefer to be a holy man of letters, he can still effortlessly slide into the battlefield in an I can take or leave this manner. Hence his greatness.

A pretty decent film overall. "Chapters" in the story change with a gimmicky visual effect of Hemmings' face looking at itself in transition (from would-be priest to young king, from ruler to man on the run, etc.), it's sometimes hard to catch the names of the individual characters (and the final credits don't help much), and the battle scenes (though staged well) might be seen as overlong. But the film tells its story effectively, brings the characters and events to life and gives us a nice look at 9th century England, and how its people rallied around a king who learned from his early mistakes. I found the actors believable in their roles, the interpretation of events plausible and came away feeling like I knew something about King Alfred and his thoughts. Wouldn't take it as light entertainment, but would recommend it as dramatised history. --Of course, Hemmings' Alfred relies on cleverness, while York's Viking leader Guthrum leans mainly on bravado; familiar parts for both.