A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (Paperback)

by John Aberth (Author) "King Arthur is perhaps the most famous historical figure to emerge from the Middle Ages..." (more)
Key Phrases: rehabilitation trial, medieval ballads, climactic duel, Robin Hood, Middle Ages, King Arthur (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
This is an ambitious and exciting book. The author combines very up-to-date historiography -- some of it controversial but all of it interesting -- with a sensitive and deep appreciation of the art of the films. Any teacher of film or medieval studies should make use of this valuable resource.
–Jeremy duQuesnay Adams, Southern Methodist University

Product Description
Long before Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Hollywood's version of the Middle Ages had sometimes been laughable. Who can resist chuckling at The Black Knight (1954), in which Arthurian warriors ride across a plain complete with telephone poles in the background? Or The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), in which Tony Curtis-in his best medieval Bronx accent-utters the immortal line, "Yonda is the castle of my fodda"? These films may not be paragons of historical accuracy, but much of what we know-or think we know-about the Middle Ages has been dictated by what we've seen on the movie screen.
In this entertaining and deeply informative book, John Aberth-author of From the Brink of the Apocalypse-assesses the historical accuracy of well known cinematic interpretations of the Middle Ages. Separating fact from fiction in more than fifty films from the silent era to today, including Camelot, Excalibur, Braveheart, and The Adventures of Robin Hood, Aberth shows how narrative license routinely makes the distant era familiar by projecting contemporary obsessions and fears onto the past. These stock images of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress rarely sum up real life in the Middle Ages. Instead, the best and most thought-provoking works-like Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal-revel in the differences between those times and our own, drawing us into another world in order to understand and appreciate the differences.
With provocative insight into the blurred lines between medieval fact and fiction, both history buffs and film aficionados will find much food for thought here.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415938864
• ISBN-13: 978-0415938860
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #860,054 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars useful study of medieval history on film, February 11, 2006

By	J. Cowans (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Aberth provides us an excellent survey of cinematic treatments of the medieval era. Each chapter opens with a survey of the history the films cover, tnen proceeds to discuss several key films. The chapters cover King Arthur films, Viking films, Crusade films, Robin Hood films, Black Death films, and Joan of Arc films. Aberth's judgments are pretty reliable, as he favors classic films such as Bergman's Seventh Seal and Dreyer's film on Joan of Arc, but he also finds value in newer films such as Navigator. A very worthwhile study by a historian of the middle ages.

7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A great example of how NOT to write about history and film, May 8, 2005

By	E. Burt "Hollywood" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book may have some use as a reference resource, especially for those readers not familiar with many films about the Middle Ages. Its publication as a serious work of history and film is, however, an embarrassment to Routledge. Though Aberth says he does not simply want to point out historical inaccuracies and anachronisms in the films he discusses, he ends up largely doing just that. Dividing the historical background off from discussion of the films, he uses History (naively considered as transparent and self-evident to the "objective" historian) to bludgeon various films and their directors. These films and film direcotrs supposedly "distort" history in order to "push an agenda." If Aberth knows little about history, he knows even less about film and film history. Reductive readings of the films (often cribbed from other writers) in relation to their moment of production is about all Aberth has to over in a rambling, poorly written, and simplistic excuse for a book (that should never have been published). Aberth offers no explanation of the book's organization, nor does he bother to explain the omission of numerous films from his book. Unfortunately, Aberth has no competitors in English as far as book length studies go. (...)