Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 11 nominations total
- Lot
- (as Ciarin Hinds)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe initial fight scene had to be filmed three times. It was filmed at night, and all of the film came out underexposed the first two times, due to a fault in the exposure meter. The cameraman had a nervous breakdown over the issue and quit.
- GoofsDuring the final battle scene against Mordred, the background audio track of men yelling and swordplay is clearly a re-tread of the Leon De Grance castle battle. In the final battle scene, one can clearly hear the "throw the rope" line that Merlin yells to Arthur from Leon De Grance castle battle, as well as the yell from Arthur as he jumped from the castle into the moat. (00:37:02 same as 02:88:18, 00:40:12 same as 02:09:58).
- Quotes
Merlin: STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there that night, with Arthur, the King!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.
- Alternate versionsCBS edited 20 minutes from this film for its 1985 network television premiere.
- ConnectionsEdited into Wizards and Warriors: The Kidnap (1983)
- SoundtracksPrelude to Parsifal
by Richard Wagner
Specially recorded by London Philharmonic Orchestra (as The London Philharmonic Orchestra)
Conducted by Norman Del Mar
This story delivers great performances, sets and battle scenes. In the scene in the beginning where Uther becomes king, as witnessed by Merlin, we can see the look of disgust and pity on his face as knights get their arms chopped off! Merlin has worked for years to arrange peace in the kingdom and the moment is at hand, the dawn of a new Golden Age...although it will be Arthur, not Uther, who ushers this in, and it lasts all too briefly. Merlin is played by Nicol Williamson in an outstanding performance! He is comic, wise, and very, very, deadly if you cross his path. The best on-screen Merlin I have ever seen. Arthur is the true hero whose all too human capacity for love gets the best of him and threatens to leave the kingdom in the clutches of the vile Mordred. Morgana, as played by Helen Mirren, is a stunning combination of beauty and evil. The other cast members round out this great film: Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne. The sets are astounding, dark foreboding man-made castles contrasted against lush green forests reflecting a lost time when the forces of nature, not man, dominated the earth. See this film! Easily John Boorman's best picture to date.
- Borboletta
- Jul 30, 2001
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $34,967,437
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $4,519,706
- Apr 12, 1981
- Gross worldwide
- $34,971,136
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