1969: Alfred the Great (73rd)

What else happened this year? Summer of Love, man.

What is the plot - in one sentence? We follow Alfred The Great, a king of Wessex, England, as he fights Danish invaders, in the, ooh, 9^th century.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? He is a bit of a pious prick, and ends up ostracising himself from his nobles. After some soul-searching, he promises greater equality, bringing outlaws and noblemen to a final battle against the Vikings. The battle looks lost until a bunch of armed monks and peasants join in the fight. He forgives the Danish Leader instead of killing him, and looks to get back with his wife, who can’t stand him but still loves him. 

What is the meaning of the title? It’s a rare ‘named-after-the-main-character’ movie.

It's been ages since I wrote this, but on seeing this picture, I immediately had a facial spasm of annoyance at the redhead on the right. He's combines gymnasts jumping with his fighting and talks in verse. He didn't get his head caved in, which is a tremendous shame.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? A woman does! Alfred is meant to be very religious, but also very lusty. This angers him, and he takes it out on his wife. Slapping his wife is almost his first act as King. His wife, an old childhoold friend, is slapped around for a bit, and later prays that he won’t be so violent to her, implying some vague sexual violence too. He also sets a (very obviously friendly) dog on her. She later takes up with a ‘Danish’ Prince (played by Michael York in a fake beard), and you can’t blame her.

Other things which haven’t aged well, they are given a Viking as hostage, and he’s ‘simple-minded’ i.e. retarded.

Any thoughts? There’s a lot of drama here, which is just as well because the action scenes aren’t really up to much. There’s some impressive marching and formation setting, particularly for the final scene, but the open battle scenes are really not great.

There are a lot of famous actors in this, aside from Alfred, played by David Hemmings. His Athelstane is Julian Glover, the leader of the outlaws in the swamp is a very young, boomingly-voiced Ian McKellen, and the viking leader is Michael York. The Vikings wear all black and seem to chant in unision. There’s a battle at the beginning where they do a chant then a shield smash, and repeat for ages, which must have been exhasuting. There are a few scenes where they have a lot of extras, but the action isn’t ever quite up to it. 

Some of the added secondary voices and dubbing is also hilarious. If there's a plot to ambush the Danes, we're told that Alfred knows what he's doing, but a dozen shrill, off-screen voices question it, and his right to be king. Every time. I found it hilarious

Would you recommend this? Despite the big names, this is a pretty tepid thing. I think that the Last Kingdom covers the same era and ideas in a better way, and that's only ok, too.

It also suffers because the main character is such a prick. He's smug, pious and annoying, and it's impossible to feel any sympathy for him. 

The central romance is weird, the action not great, and the politics, such as they are, are muddy at best. Yeesh.None of the performances are terrible, but this was a huge box office failure for a reason.

Final thoughts?

Alfred has a 4 year old kid, who lives with his mother and her Danish lover. He eventually meets his son, and despite the story saying that he's 4, it's played by a very strange looking, quite large 9 year old. It's weird.

Also, this has some of the very worst 'dead acting since the Barefoot Contessa, some of the extras can be seen chatting and laughing while they are 'dead' from battle.

Another one done! You can find the rest right here baby! Hope you're all fab.