Directed by Richard Thorpe (The Honeymoon Machine), the new Warner Archive release is one of many retellings of the King Arthur legend, complete with the sword Excalibur and the Holy Grail. It’s neither the worst nor the best movie to tackle such rich subject matter, but for whatever reason, this production strips out all instances […]
Excalibur
Posted inArts & Culture
Robin of Sherwood: Set 1
No one — at least not in America — mentions Michael Praed, who starred in the title role of the British television series “Robin of Sherwood” in the mid-1980s. Perhaps Acorn Media’s release of its first 13 episodes on Blu-ray will help change that. It’s not that Praed’s acting makes him an iconic Robin — in fact, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Excalibur
I recall finding it boring and tiresome, but I was 15 — what did I know? In the 20-plus years that have intervened, I’ve revisited it several times, each more pleasurably than the last. It’s a film that just gets better with age, and it looks fabulous in its Blu-ray debut. The iconic early scene […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Night Digger
Although best-known as the creator of the enduring children’s characters Willy Wonka, Fantastic Mr. Fox and James (he of “and the Giant Peach” fame), writer Roald Dahl more than dipped his toes in darker, more adult works. One of those, “The Night Digger,” was a 1971 British thriller starring his then-wife, Patricia Neal, following her […]