We require no Freudian subtext, no revisionist analysis it is enough that Robin wants to rob the rich, pay the poor and defend the Saxons not against all Normans, only the bad ones: ‘It’s injustice I hate, not the Normans.’” Seven Samurai (1954) A group of warriors is chosen to protect a small Japanese village.Īlthough widely ignored and panned in its native country upon its release, Akira Kurosawa’s legendary Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) was voted in 2000 by a group of critics as the greatest Japanese film of all time. Roger Ebert writes, “In these cynical days when swashbucklers cannot be presented without an ironic subtext, this great 1938 film exists in an eternal summer of bravery and romance. Fun trivia fact: The sound of Robin’s arrow sailing through the wind has been used in all of the Star Wars films. An early example of a Technicolor film, The Adventures of Robin Hood’s producers used all 11 Technicolor cameras in existence to film it. Olivia de Havilland plays his love interest, the beautiful Maid Marian. Legendarily dashing Hollywood leading man Errol Flynn plays the title role as the leader of renegades who fight oppression by dwelling in Sherwood Forest. This film is set in the year 1191, after England’s King Richard the Lionhearted has been captured by the Austrian king, leaving British peasants under the ruthless dominion of Richard’s brother, King John. Best Medieval Movies The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Errol Flynn (right) stars as the legendary proto-socialist.Īlthough it’s uncertain whether Robin Hood ever even existed, the legend that emerged around a renegade archer who steals from the rich and gives to the poor is a cornerstone of British folklore. Here are some quintessential medieval movies. They are notable for their grittiness and their focus on emotional resilience and brute force to overcome titanically grueling periods such as the Black Death, which killed an estimated third to half of Europe’s entire population in the span of only four years-1347-1351.Īlthough times change and the world can’t help but get more modern, filmmakers continue to return to the Middle Ages because it was a time rich in both magic and misery. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was considered an impossible adaptation for decades, and the combination of computer effects and exotic landscapes has delivered brilliant cinema moments in recent years.Medieval movies are period dramas set during this thousand years of darkness.
It’s also worth mentioning that technological advances have provided a big boost for the genre. They guide us through numerous locations, impossible landscapes, and colourful characters, and the recent impact of adaptations like Game of Thrones is proving that fantasy works well as a mental escape for young and adult audiences alike. The feudal system that ruled Western civilization for centuries is certainly an ideal scenario for artistic epics, and the contrasts between nobility and peasantry, loyalty and treason, or honor and blood still leave a strong impact in modern audiences.įantasy films bring many of these elements into a new reign where there are no limits other that those allowed by the author’s imagination. There is much appeal in stories set in the Middle Ages. New generations of artists have endlessly reused many of Tolkien’s elements in their own worlds, but a few of them have, especially in recent times, found a way to twist them. We owe medieval fantasy to JRR Tolkien, who certainly didn’t create it, but established good part of the foundations of the genre as we know it today.
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