Customer Reviews

Great Kings of England: William the Conqueror [VHS]

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

 

 

This is about productions from Kulture Video. The acting is 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 really little or no "acting." The "actors" just stand still and talk. 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 two videotapes made by Kulture Video--King Alfred the Great and Sir Francis Drake. Both of them suffer from the above-disclosed problems. 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." I also have the Kulture Video production of a Stravinsky ballet. It 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.

This is about productions from Kulture Video. The acting is wooden, and generally consists of "actors" dressed up in period costumes, and reciting a memorized monologue, while standing still, and 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 two videotapes made by Kulture Video--King Alfred the Great and Sir Francis Drake. Both of them suffer from the above-disclosed problems. 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." I also have the Kulture Video production of a Stravinsky ballet. It 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.

Because the relevant events happened almost one millennium ago and the drawings of the time were so primitive, it would be difficult to say anything here is inaccurate. This is completely opposite to how "A Beautiful Mind" had its myriad critics. The actor portraying William the Conqueror looked like Guy Pearce or Bill Paxton.

This work did not focus upon battles alone. It started with William's out-of-wedlock birth and ended with his death two decades after his victory in Britain. You can look at these historical facts as trinational, rather than binational. One sees England and France, but Normandy was like a Viking-influenced offshoot of France. This work had about three interviewed scholars, rather than just one.