Customer Reviews

Great Kings of England: King Alfred the Great [VHS]

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

 

 

This video is based on material found in Asser's Life of Alfred and is, in fact, "narrated" by an actor costumed as Asser. The photographic quality is quite good, and the video does somewhat capture the "feel" of the time period. It includes most of the stories about Alfred, including the bit about the cakes. The biggest disappointment was the actor who plays Alfred. He's a bit too baby-faced for the part and lacks the charisma one would associate with a king as powerful and influential as Alfred.

This is about all video productions from Kulture Video. The acting is always wooden, and generally consists of "actors" dressed up in period costumes, and reciting a memorized monologue, while staring blankly somewhere beyond the camera. There is generally little or no dialogue. Nearly all of the scenes show just one "actor" by himself or by herself. The speech is generally difficult to understand, because of poor diction on the part of the "actors" and because of the low quality of the recording.

There are plenty of excellent actors, available from 2-year colleges, 4-year colleges, and from community theaters. Therefore, Kulture Video simply has no excuse for its failure to find any decent actors.

I bought three videotapes made by Kulture Video: (1) King Alfred the Great; (2) Sir Francis Drake; and (3) Ballet of Firebird. All of these STINK. It is often not possible to understand what the "actors" are saying, since the sound recording is so poor, and there is little or nothing whatsoever in the video that might be construed as actual "acting." The Kulture Video production of Firebird is a true horror. The image is out of focus throughout. And the camera is stable throughout. The ballet is not shown from different angles, for example, from close up or from far away.

You have been warned.

Has OK acting. But tells the story well.