As we work in a confined space for a long periods of time our a small group of people has developed certain forms of shorthand communication. Sometimes it seems like half of our banter at A&A is movie quotes ("On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."). Since other people occasionally visit us we've decided to share our guide to the movies that we recommend to new employees. Some of these flicks had profound influence on us and others are guilty pleasures, while others make non sword folk roll their eyes but we watch anyway :-).
One of the largest challenges about getting older is that younger folks often have no idea some of these films exist. To this day it surprises us that people who like swords have no idea who Errol Flynn was, that there are many versions of the Musketeer movies, and the best ones were made in the 70's (see up and coming below).
Below we have the full list sorted chronologically. While It used to take some serious dedication to watch all of these, the internet has made it easier than ever to watch these and join the banter. Back in the early days of the modern sword market, some makers where passing around a video tape of highlights from some of the obscure films on this list, and we thought we were in heaven with grainy multi copy stills to work from :-)
So watch some of the bad, good and great movies listed below. We do not discriminate, if there are swords and we can use the dialog to get a point across :-), we use it. We recommend that you open this link in another window and listen to the best pirate score ever while you read the rest of the blog.
Some excellent Gents to hang with
Of course, some of these films are better than others, and there are also some real stinkers included. Which ones are the very best is a point of bitter contention, so watch them and make up your own mind and do not be afraid to challenge your
Arms & Armor Essential Viewing List-
1920's
The Viking (1928) all color silent film
1930's
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
1940's
1950's
The Master of Ballantrae (1953)
Knights of the Round Table (1953)
The Black Shield of Falworth (1954)
The Dark Avenger/The Warriors (1955)
1960's
1970's
Lone Wolf and Cub (1972-1980) 7 films
The Four Musketeers: Milady’s Revenge (1974)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
1980's
The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
1990's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
The Advocate (1994) Also known as The Hour of The Pig.
The Revenge of the Musketeers (1994)
2000's
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Captain Alatriste: The Spanish Musketeer (2006)
Elizabeth the Golden Age (2007)
Arn: The Knight Templar (2007)
Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End (2008)
note: two above combined in English release.
2010's
We do not have all sword movies on the list of course, and there are probably some we have missed, but it is a good start.
Some tidbits to wet your whistle
We wanted to add these to recent efforts on youtube that have not only excellent production but high quality depictions related to swords and their use, both are definitely worth a watch.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985.
Another blog post on one of the best fight choreographers to ever take sword to hand.