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Cromwell [DVD] (1970) [2003]

Richard Harris , Alec Guinness , Ken Hughes    Parental Guidance   DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
Price: £4.67 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Cromwell [DVD] (1970) [2003] + Waterloo [DVD] + HMS Defiant [DVD] [2002]
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Product details

  • Actors: Richard Harris, Alec Guinness, Robert Morley, Dorothy Tutin, Frank Finlay
  • Directors: Ken Hughes
  • Writers: Ken Hughes
  • Producers: Andrew Donally, Irving Allen
  • Format: Subtitled, PAL
  • Language: English
  • Subtitles: Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
  • Dubbed: French, German, Italian, Spanish
  • Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: English
  • Audio Description: None
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent.
  • DVD Release Date: 10 Nov 2003
  • Run Time: 134 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0000BV1K5
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,276 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

A period drama taking place during the English Civil War of the 17th century, seen through the eyes of Roundhead leader Oliver Cromwell (Richard Harris). Cromwell had planned to take his family to the New World (North America), when a succession of religious and political problems draw him into the fold which resulted in the British Civil War.

Synopsis

Richard Harris and Alec Guinness star in a dazzling epic about the ambitious commoner who overthrewKing Charles I.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
77 of 83 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A grand epic with blemishes 5 Dec 2003
By A Customer
Format:DVD
There are two ways to view this 1970 "classic".
The first is to see this as typical overblown but very enjoyable Ken Hughes classic, the second is as a very grand but totally inaccurate historical relic.
On many levels this is a superb film..the superb battle scenes,Guinness as Charles the 1st,the amazing scenery and the even paced script and camera work.However historically this film is full of holes...very little matches the real events of 1640-1655(the time frame of the film) and whilst Hughes is clearly good at the overblown epic style these historical inaccuracies weaken the overall effect.
One huge flaw however is Richard Harris, he dominates the last hour of the film and manages to portray Cromwell as a one dimensional bore, who is either brooding or shouting.His Puritan zeal seems to be playing second fiddle to Harris hamming it up and after five viewings of this film, it seems more and more inadvisable of Hughes to allow such over-acting.
The DVD mastering is great, the picture quality is fantastic and the colours good.
Over 75% of viewers will enjoy this but more as a grand Ken Hughes romp than gritty,historical drama.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Disgusted with the religious policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religious tension and political infighting that will result in the British Civil War...
WHAT CAN I SAY ?
Alec Guiness is truly in his element as King Charles play the part with huge dignity also providing a brilliant contrast to Harris as Cromwell...Richard Harris brings his own gravitas to the role although Cromwell was a notoriously ugly and brutish man he does it with conviction and belief,Oliver Cromwell's life and character has several different elements
none of which can be seen in isolation from each other The key themes which are reflected on here are Cromwell the soldier, for it
was his military prowess that propelled his extraordinary rise to power:
Cromwell the politician as his skilful maneuvering maintained his position,
and Cromwell's religion which arguably was the motivation that drove him
from the 1630's onwards. This film portrays Cromwell as a man who knows that he must do some terrible things for the greater good of the country, and whether or not .there is any truth in that is another matter but Harris portrays him as a tortured soul driven by circumstances and the need for a greater good.plus there is A solid supporting cast also help to bring this film to life Dorothy Tutin is superb as Queen Henrietta Maria. Timothy Dalton as Prince Rupert Robert Morely is fantastic as the Earl of Manchester. The battle scenes are superb between the royalists and the parliamentary The description is accurate with this being a British civil war and not an English one as Scots plus Irish and Welsh Royalist against the parliamentarian English and the covenanters of Scotland.
this is also a very moving story of the fall of a king and the struggle he has in maintaining his throne and dignity.and also catch a glimpse of the enigma that was Cromwell...
this film is still A stunning historical recreation of the English Civil War
it is also A breathtaking epic film...
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By Trevor Willsmer HALL OF FAME TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
A valiant and not entirely successful attempt at a very English 'thinking-man's' epic, Cromwell is one of the most interesting of the historical dramas of the early seventies - and also one of the most flawed.

The first third of the film is very ropey indeed, with banal dialogue full of stilted clichés (the best lines are from history, not Ronald Hardwood or Ken Hughes), a very mannered performance Richard Harris and a clumsy dilution of history. It is only too easy to think that the English Civil War was fought because Cromwell didn't get on with the King's wife and that it was won and lost on the outcome of two battles.

The first battle scene is surprisingly weak - even the extras die unconvincingly - and it is not until its aftermath and the training of the New Model Army that the film really finds its feet and gets some fire in its belly. Hughes saves his visual imagination for the Battle of Naseby, (long since turned into a motorway by the decree of an ungrateful Parliament) and gives a surprisingly gripping account of its aftermath that puts some humanity into the history.

As a warts and all portrait, the wart is most definitely missing but Richard Harris' Cromwell is a complex and convincing character, always being forced into action rather than forcing events. Alec Guinness' Charles I is also a considered portrait, a mixture of integrity and pragmatic duplicity (recalling Parliament to raise finance for a war with the Scots, he ends up allied to his enemies against his own politicians) that is entirely understandable and on occasion even sympathetic.

The cast of supporting players for the most part prove rather less convincing. Nigel Stock is quietly impressive as the King's ultimately disillusioned confidante and Geoffrey Keen solidly reliable as ever as one of Cromwell's political allies; but while Timothy Dalton's Prince Rupert of the Rhine cuts a dash as he brings his pooch into battle on his arm, Patrick Wymark's Royal advisor is a parody worthy of Blackadder the Third - as Guinness points out, "You're too loud, Lord Stafford. It is most unpleasant to the ear."

The first hour has no driving force or feeling of the relentless rush towards an irreversible destiny: the force of history is almost totally absent. Similarly, it does not really gain that much in Scope. Geoffrey Unsworth's photography is ill-served by the production and costume design and Hughes lack of visual sense. Indeed, much of this first third is surprisingly slipshod. There are some very clumsy edits, both on sound and picture and Frank Cordell's often damaging score offers an object lesson in how not to score a film.

Where Miklos Rozsa and Dimitri Tiomkin integrated their grandiose style into the fabric of the drama, composer Frank Cordell points every action with sledgehammer subtlety with crescendos on every move and under every key line of dialogue. Atrociously spotted with no faith in the audience's intelligence, there is too much Benjamin Britten in Cordell's music, which is more of an opera than a film score. Some of the problem can be put down to the appalling mixing that results in the score overpowering a scene rather than underplaying it. Only in the preparations for battle does it gain the grim restraint it needs to work.

Not a great film - for that it really needed a better script, score and director - but, after a very bad start, a very good one.

Some of the opening credits are so finely printed that they are unreadable (as they are on the video) but otherwise the print quality is quite superb, as if taken from a brand new print, though lovers of the roadshow era will be disappointed that Columbia have removed the Overture and well-timed Intermission. And what happened to the original stereo? Tut tut. No extras either.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Historical movies
An epic ùovie, evocating an important turnpoint in English history. Sublime acting and cast. A movie to have. Buy it!
Published 1 month ago by Luc Schevernels
5.0 out of 5 stars CROMWELL
Excellent historical film, first seen when I was at school. Remains fairly accurate to the real events.Great acting performances from Richard Harris and Alex Guiness.
Published 3 months ago by william miller
4.0 out of 5 stars Showing its age
The DVD was in perfect condition and arrived on time. However, the movie itself is seriously dated. Bought with Man for All Seasons and Lion in Winter, this was a dull melodramatic... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Anna C
4.0 out of 5 stars the rise of a dictator
Richard harris was one of the worlds biggest stars , then ten years after this movie his drinking got so bad he was outcasted for years until he finally got off the juice. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Michael Dobey
5.0 out of 5 stars Gift for dad!
My dad had said he had wanted this film but couldn't find it cheap considering it's age! I found it here for less than £4 and it arrived earlier than expected! :-) #happydad
Published 13 months ago by Ms. N. Hermitage
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Movie
Well what can I say such a great movie had it on video years ago .It may not be as true as History says but its certainly worth adding to your movie collection of classics. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ryank
5.0 out of 5 stars great movie about a great man
Despite the changes to history that were made in order to encapsulate it into a movie it does capture the essence of the man and his greatness.
Published 15 months ago by Maxwell Graham
5.0 out of 5 stars Looks aren't quite everything...
This is a cracking film, with a cracking cast who seem to be relishing every minute of it!

Unforunately, this is one poor DVD and it looks bad on my big TV... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mark A. Streets
5.0 out of 5 stars Guinness at his best
I thoroughly enjoyed this film - dramatic, lavishly costumed, visually exciting, great cast - but I do not go to the cinema for history lessons; had I done so, I should have been... Read more
Published 20 months ago by RR Waller
4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite satisfactory
This film is well-done and the battles, military or political, are clear enough in spite of the numerous ellipses due to the extremely dense and long period covered by the film... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jacques COULARDEAU
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