Customer Reviews

Charlemagne [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The series brings to life the legendary Charlemagne who began as King of The Franks and ended up Emperor of The Western World.

This is one of the best historical dramas I have ever seen, I liked it even better than A Lion In Winter.

Very accurate historically, gives a portrait of a man who was a giant in his time and a natural leader who saved the Catholic Church.

I received this set for Christmas, and began watching it with a bit of scepticism as I do with all historical videos. The scepticism vanished halfway through the first episode when I found that the scripting was historically accurate, the acting outstanding, and the sets fairly realistic for the time portrayed. I would have liked the producers to touch on the choice by Charlemagne of the Frankish tongue, but otherwise it was one of the best historical movies I've watched. Great Job!!

I really like Charlemagne, as he falls into my period of studies. My husband loves Charlemagne. This man is his hero. This was one of only two films I found ever to be made of the great ruler. This was the only one I could actually buy.

Like one reviewer, his life was chopped up for this film. There were also certain things portrayed wrong, such as Charlemagne's joy at being crowned by the Pope. In reality, Charlemagne had been tricked by the Pope and was NOT happy about it. He felt the Pope was not to be involved with ruling and rulers in that way.

The ending was also dissappointing. The film took him only so far in his life. Charlemagne did more than what the movie showed. I figured the five hours would cover to his death. It did not.

As far as a movie is concerned, then this was good. Even though the ending was too quick. And heck, the actor playing Charlemagne was kind of cute too. But that's just me as a female talking.

I ordered this movie as a gift for a friend, but later noticed the product description says it is in French, which surprised me since the version I had seen was in English. Fortunately my friend said it was actually in English, but if you order it you may want to verify the language with the seller. This is a great film and worth seeing!

2011 Update: I noticed that the VHS product description no longer mentions the language at all, but that there is now a DVD available (Charlemagne 2 DVD (French only)) which is listed as "French only", so it looks like there are French versions out there. Sure wish they would release the DVD in English!

I'm a medievalist, and believe me, I've seen some HORRIBLE movies set in the time period. This is not one of them, perhaps because Hollywood had nothing to do with it. The storyline loosely follows the account written by Einhard, and Christian Brendel's portrayal of Charles is believable and even moving. The costumes and sets are very nicely done, and the cast- mostly French and Italian- is certainly not the usual pretty faces from Beverly Hills. This is a series I watch over and over and always enjoy. Yes, I have to stop and tell students "This is not exactly what happened here. The historical account is..." occasionally, but the digressions are usually not too bad, and make some sense within the context. This is a series I can recommend for classroom use as well as personal enjoyment.

Prior to viewing this series about Charlemagne I knew about him in name only.
The acting, cinematography and the overall "feel" of the series is excellent and was most entertaining.
What I found unfortunate is that certain aspects of his life were treated with little more than a few moments on film when in actual life I'm certain they were far more significant and had greater consequences than were shown on the screen.
In addition, the fact that the story ends so abruptly leaves one wondering if there had been an intention to create additional videos but the money had run out.
Overall it was great entertainment but with the ending as it was, a series that I would gladly have given 4-5 stars has ended up with the mediocre rating of three.Charlemagne (1994) (5pc)

I was entertained by this video because of the subject but thought the treatment was rather jerky, with certain periods of Charlemagne's life being telescoped and others being given too much time. Certainly Charlemagne was a fascinating character and I found the movie informative, but couldn't really get into the characters because of the "flying visit" feel of the story. The acting ranged from good to pretty terrible (some of the scenes with the discarded wives, especially) and the cinematography was also somewhat spotty ; overall, I would recommend the film for history buffs, not movie buffs.

I watched this with my father when it first aired. Both us us being history buffs, the six hours was easy to sit through on a sunday afternoon....and evening. Historically accurate with minor artistic liscence, this miniseries ranks well above most others in the genre. Though I havent seen it since its initial broadcast, I hope that it will come to DVD soon. If not, Ill have to check ebay unless the VHS comes back into print

Les 4 épisodes qui datent des années 90 ont un peu vieilli il faut le dire, mais les fans du genre y trouveront quand même leur plaisir, à condition ne pas être trop rigoureux sur la véracité historique (les bannières avec les fleurs de lys sont anachroniques, les soldats francs ressemblent davantage à des bédouins...xD). Autre petite déception, la langue disponible n'est qu'en français. Ca se laisse regarder toutefois^^

Nice movies, pleasant to see, but I have to say you haven't to be too perspicacious with the history (Fleur de lys's royal blue flag is adopted by kings two or three centuries after Charlemagne's reign, franks soldiers look like more beduins and no brogne at sight, except for frank counts XD). Anyway, it remains nice movies to watch.

Grande fresque historique permettant d'apprendre l'Histoire de France ...et de l'Europe,car Charlemagne fût le premier initiateur de l'Europe;le tout agréable à regarder grâce à des acteurs fabuleux(Christian Brendel en Charlemagne et Annie Duperey en Berthe aux grands pieds)
Avec eux,apprendre l'Histoire eet la retenir devient facile.
Ce téléfilm devrait être montré à tous les élèves ou lycéens.
Bravo!D'autant que les couleurs et qualité d'images sont de haute gamme.