Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe: Amazon.ca: David Barrass, Ralph Brown, Jimmy Chisholm, Trevor Cooper, Ciar�n Hinds, David Horovitch, Susan Lynch, Victoria Smurfit, Steven Waddington, James Cosmo, Simon Donald, Rory Edwards: DVD

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This grand six-part adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's rousing adventure of the Middle Ages makes the most of its generous running time. In the course of five hours, director Stuart Orme tells the epic tale of the idealistic young knight Ivanhoe (Steven Waddington) and his battle against the evil Templar Bois-Guilbert (Ciarán Hinds, whose thoughtful performance gives his dark character a compelling dimension). Caught between the rivalries and religious struggles are Ivanhoe's betrothed Rowena (Victoria Smurfit) and the brave, beautiful Jewess healer Rebecca (Susan Lynch), who wins Ivanhoe's heart with her courage. Set against the historical backdrop of a Britain straining under the corrupt rule of Prince John while Richard the Lionhearted fights in the Crusades, director Stuart Orme makes up for a small budget (the crowd scenes are somewhat skimpy) with sweep, scale, and the lush green British countryside of verdant forests and rolling hills, where ancient castles still stand. While this production can't compete with the majesty of the gorgeous 1952 Hollywood production, Orme creates his own vision in which Merrye Olde England is grounded in earthy colors, creating a country of both sunny fields and dark, dangerous timberlands, open sunlit courts, and cramped candlelit inns. The uniformly superb cast etches vivid characters and the length allows the novel's rich array of subplots to play out (including appearances by Robin Hood and his men and the Black Knight) and slowly wind together for the exciting conclusion. --Sean Axmaker

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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Ivanhoe DVD Review, May 20 2006

By

Jenny C. Blaine "jennycblaine" (saint paul, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (DVD)

Ivanhoe on DVD is a great romantic epic. If you have no knowledge of English history in the 1200s, this will educate you in a non-academic enjoyable way. The film has good realistic jousting and sword-fighting. The cast is excellent. Prince John is delightfully evil and slippery. The movie follows Sir Walter Scott's story nearly enough, and retains a sense of humor that will delight intelligent modern viewers. Ciaran Hinds plays a highly satisfying bad guy as well, and Christopher Lee is much more chilling than when he played Saruman.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Almost in Spite of Itself, Oct 21 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (DVD)

I can't say how faithful to the novel this version of Ivanhoe is, but I can say that the screenplay and, particularly, the direction are both a bit on the clumsy side. Still, the superb cast makes up for those weaknesses with style and grace: they make the heroes believably fallible (yet still admirably noble), the loves between the major characters subtle and sophisticated, and the villains more complex than the sort of cardboard cutouts you'd expect in a tale of medieval derring-do and intrigue. In fact, the fine acting alone makes this film worth watching, with Ciaran Hinds as de Bois-Guilbert and Christopher Lee in a disturbing yet charismatic turn as the Grand Master of the Knights Templar giving particuarly memorable performances.

Outside of that, the director makes the most of a limited budget. The fight scenes sure won't make you forget Braveheart, but they're plenty graphic--surprisingly so at the end of the film--and about as exciting as you can expect from a TV movie with limited extras. It's not really the battles and jousts and duels, though, that keep Ivanhoe exciting outside of the fascinating personal relationships. Rather, it's all the political intrigues that hold your attention. Here there are factions within factions, and almost everyone is jockeying for power and paying the price of that power: loneliness, betrayal, assassinations, and the like. One of the more interesting political aspects of the movie is its big theme of anti-Semitism. The film reminds historically unaware viewers that hatred of Jews didn't just magically spring up in Nazi Germany in the 30's, but had been deeply seated in Europe for centuries.

Overall, despite more than a few rough patches, this is a fun, exciting movie. It has the romance and chivalry you'd expect, plus some depth and complexity that you probably wouldn't expect.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, Aug 17 2001

By

k-rad (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ivanhoe (VHS Tape)

Wow! What I can say - I loved it! Although I haven't watched the 1982 adaptation of this film yet, I feel that I can safely say that this version is undoubtedly my favourite. No - for the sceptics out there this film is not an absolutely faithful rendition of Sir Walter Scott's novel but it successfully conveys the character and plot developments expressed by Sir Walter. I enjoyed the film so much that it forced me to read the quite lengthy and tedious novel over and over again.

Ciaran Hinds being one of my all time favourites definitely did not disappoint as Bois-Guilbert. But does he ever? I must admit that he was also my initial attraction to the film as the novel is not one I greatly enjoy eventhough it is an amazing piece of literature. Although George Sanders gave a magnificent performance as Bois-Guilbert in the 1952 version and was supporting Robert Taylor's timeless performance, Hinds is not only perfect for the part but he also upstages Steven Waddington who plays the leading role of Ivanhoe in this version. Waddington is very good but Hinds is awesome and still is the main reason why I never tire from repeatedly watching this film and reading the novel. Susan Lynch is quite remarkable as Rebecca. She is just as good as Elizabeth Taylor and suits the part equally. However, Victoria Smurfit who plays Rowena is a bit bland for my liking. Joan Fontaine's admirable performance is greatly superior.

Compared to the 1952 adaptation, this version gives the viewer more insight into the characters' relationships, personalities and the reasons for many of their actions which are illustrated thoughout the novel. The animosity between King Richard and Prince John is particularly more accurately portrayed as opposed to the 1952 version.

This film is so well manufactured that it makes you enjoy Sir Walter Scott's classic much much more. It is without a doubt a must see.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars New Ivanhoe-great!
I'll try to be brief. This is a fantastic movie. I enjoyed it far more than Spider Man 2, or any of the Lord of the Rings. Read more

Published on July 13 2004 by glenn J Notsch

2.0 out of 5 stars "Realistic" but dull
Ivanhoe is a great classic of romantic literature. The creators of this version, however, abandoned the romantic aspects entirely in order to present what they see as how it... Read more