January '16 Movie of the Month: The Lion in Winter
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So, I finished watching The Lion In Winter last night. This was a first watch for me, but I had seen another version made in 2003 with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close.
But we're talking about the original 1968 version. One thing I noticed was how real the sets looked. The castles looked real, they should, as they were real! Instead of using a glitzy, decked out Hollywood set, the castle looked cold and austere, very authentic.
It must have been cold because in one scene with Hepburn and O'Toole I could see Hepburn's breath. They did a lot of on-location shooting for both interiors and exteriors. They shot in France, Wales and Ireland. All this attention to detail and realism, made the film seem...well, real.
The Lion in Winter is not an easy film to watch. I found if I didn't pay close attention I would miss bits of dialogue and lose my place in the ongoing, plans-within-plans. The dialogue is very stage like and reminded me of a modern adaption of a Shakespearean play.
I do love historical period pieces but this film is really about cleverly written verbiage. Really the things they say are very witty and roll of the actors lips like fine tuned proses.
This was my favorite line.
Elanor: "Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!..." A bit of a conceit to the audience, but it made me chuckle.
And look, I just wrote a bunch more about this movie. I think I'll stop before I write a novella. The Lion in Winter is a one of a kind movie, so watch it already!
But we're talking about the original 1968 version. One thing I noticed was how real the sets looked. The castles looked real, they should, as they were real! Instead of using a glitzy, decked out Hollywood set, the castle looked cold and austere, very authentic.
It must have been cold because in one scene with Hepburn and O'Toole I could see Hepburn's breath. They did a lot of on-location shooting for both interiors and exteriors. They shot in France, Wales and Ireland. All this attention to detail and realism, made the film seem...well, real.
The Lion in Winter is not an easy film to watch. I found if I didn't pay close attention I would miss bits of dialogue and lose my place in the ongoing, plans-within-plans. The dialogue is very stage like and reminded me of a modern adaption of a Shakespearean play.
I do love historical period pieces but this film is really about cleverly written verbiage. Really the things they say are very witty and roll of the actors lips like fine tuned proses.
This was my favorite line.
Elanor: "Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!..." A bit of a conceit to the audience, but it made me chuckle.
And look, I just wrote a bunch more about this movie. I think I'll stop before I write a novella. The Lion in Winter is a one of a kind movie, so watch it already!
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 01-22-16 at 02:36 PM.
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Or you could have read my review
I try not to read reviews of movies that I'm planning to see soon until after I've seen the movies, just in case there are spoilers.
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Ahh, logical
But you guys are always safe to read my reviews as I will never spoil the movie.
I forget to mention the 'hour candles' I didn't even know what they were but my wife spotted them and knew they were for measuring time. I had never seen them used in a movie before.
But you guys are always safe to read my reviews as I will never spoil the movie.I forget to mention the 'hour candles' I didn't even know what they were but my wife spotted them and knew they were for measuring time. I had never seen them used in a movie before.
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glad to hear you enjoyed it Citizen, I STILL have it waiting for me on DVR and for some inane reason I just can't seem to get to it.. . .
Really GREAT podcast, BTW, Yoda!! Some very astute and rather funny observations and - YES, Die Hard is NOT a christmas movie. It is a movie that transpires AT a christmas party. lol
Really GREAT podcast, BTW, Yoda!! Some very astute and rather funny observations and - YES, Die Hard is NOT a christmas movie. It is a movie that transpires AT a christmas party. lol
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Ooo! I forgot to mention this on the podcast, but the three would-be Kings also seem to mirror the three sons in The Godfather: Richard is Sonny (strong, hotheaded), Geoffrey is Michael (cunning, ruthless), and obviously John is Fredo ("I'M SMAHT! NOT DUMB! NOT LIKE EVERYBODY SAYS!").
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That's very interesting Yoda, I never thought about that and I've seen Godfather quite a few times!
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I think once you start looking for variations on heart/head/hands and the transcendentals, you start noticing them everywhere. They're so fundamental to the nature of drama and humanity that I think people can gravitate to them without even knowing what they are.
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I have a question. When Geoffrey is introduced, he and his soldiers attack an enemy unit. Does anyone have an idea who the enemy was? They might have been French but I doubt Dalton wouldn't have mention the attack during his visit (unless I missed something.) Since this is a work of fiction, wikipedia does not mention that scene.
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