Customer Reviews

Biography - King Arthur: His Life And Legends (A&E DVD Archives)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall, this is a great DVD. It gets a little "documentary-esque" at times, but it's full of fascinating archaeological information and research. Some of the archaeologists' accents might be a little difficult for students to understand, assuming it's used in a classroom setting like I chose to do. My students seem to really enjoy it, especially when we compare King Arthur to modern-day "superheroes" so they can see how there are certain literary and historical consistencies that we share with a foreign people who existed over a thousand years ago.

Biography tells the origin of the variations of the story of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Good for those who know little about him but, as a fan of the legends, i learned nothing new from the video. But it was only 50 minutes of my life and it was worth being told again.

This video is an excellent introduction to Arthurian legend. There are a few pieces of information that do not jive with the Malory version that I teach, but there are so many versions of the legend that I get a chance to explain the differences to my students. Overall, I highly recommend.

I'm guessing that if I was part of the creation of this video or had a lot of money invested toward the marketing of this video, I might feel compelled to consider a higher rating than 2 star. Unfortunately, I have seen more than one other video of King Arthur legends. If you want a truly enjoyable recounting of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, or an academically valid documentary that captivates adults; you're still looking. This one is a snore. The narrator tries to add their own flourish of style to how they think Merlin might have talked. I sure wish they hadn't done that. Walt Disney Studios might be looking for him though.

This is not a bad medium to introduce Arthur to high school or college survey classes. It's not the greatest film-making; images are somewhat repetitive, presented as backdrop over the main narration, and the dialogue is mixed a bit low in the soundtrack, but it is still visually interesting while providing students a basic orientation to the rather difficult notion that the Arthurian legends actually developed over time to serve evolving societal needs; Druid mysticism, prophetic kingship, the legitimacy of divine rule, the French influence of chivalry, recovering the loss of the Holy Land, Romanticism,and more recently, utopian constructions, and neo-pagan interests. They won't catch all this one time through, but it's a memorable referential for further study.

Very useful as an intro to King Arthur. I used this as a perfect prelude to reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight followed by Le Mort D'Arthur. There is sufficient commentary as well as effective still visuals and storytelling. I found it excellent for the classroom because it's short enough on time and comprehensive enough in content to provide adequate background for reading the King Arthur tales.

I used this in my classroom a snippet at a time. I found that 1 or 2 chapters were great to start the class and get students on task. This DVD provided more background as we worked through the King Arthur Legend in my sophomore literature class.

We all know the story of King Arthur and the round table through movies books and plays.

Once again biography is excellent at showing what circumstances and people are responsible for the Arthurian legend(s). You realize that not only is there different versions but that versions grew through time as the need arose for a Camelot and different views of the King.

Maybe to keep continuity to the history line, the program is resented more in a series of sound bites, from different authorities as opposed to only one authority at a time telling about the life and legends. Also true to "Biography" there is a spin to the story which gleans leaves out T. H. White (The Once and Future King) and Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon).

The Mists of Avalon