Cromwell [DVD] (1970) [2003]

Great Historical Film, wonderfully made with great British Actors.

Really enjoyed Richard Harris's portrayal of a moody broody Cromwell who knew that the king was weak and that he could take top position in the dominance heirarchy if he challenged him, the battle scenes, tactics and strategy were fantastic as were the behind the scenes political intrigue, plotting, skullduggery and machiavellian machinations....if you liked Game of Thrones, you'll like this one too....

It was a pretty good watch. The acting and soundtrack have been justly praised. Visually it does look quite dated and the battle scenes lack the mass and violence that would be doable now. There are many historical inaccuracies and shortcuts on all levels but the tale mostly works emotionally in the film. I thought that the contrast between the Cromwell character - played as unselfish, principled, homely, determined yet prejudiced - and the King Charles' character - played as unsure, proud, changeable, but fundamentally trying to do good by his people and be tolerant - worked really well. These contrasts are the basic drivers of the film: at least to me, the depictions of the "historical events" e.g. the battles, or the parliamentary set-pieces, are less interesting because they are harder to emotionally connect to in this film, although Richard Harris does his best to inject some meaning into them. The basic issues of the time are brought out, in simplified fashion. I thought that the film highlighted the villains of the piece as Manchester and to a lesser extent, Essex, much more than either of the two principals.I find it hard to imagine that this could be anyone's favourite film, but to fans of either Alec Guinness or Richard Harris, these kind of historical epics or those particularly interested in the period, it is worth a look.

Oliver Cromwell's famous speech before he dissolved parliament should be shown to all our corrupt politicians. He called them corrupt and whore mongers, and our enemy countries have profited from our corruption, and it's still going on today.

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One of my all time favourite movies and unlike historical productions of today not changed for perceived political correctness and profiling

This is an entertaining film. It's pleasant to watch for many reasons. There are the fine actors and, being made a quite astonishing fifty years ago, it is free of the gross.It is perhaps one of the last of a long line of films of the historical sort, or a sort of historiography, produced in the previous ten to fifteen years. Being of its time it is stirringly patriotic stuff. It depends what is your taste in history. If it were made today it would probably include a damning reference to the Commonwealth government's capture of Jamaica and the beginnings of slavery there, as well as conversations between Charles and his wife while in bed having 'good sex'. Let's hope it won't be.A film called Cromwell wouldn't do if he were not made the centre of every episode, even ones where he wasn't, especially before the Civil War began. This dramatic licence turn's Cromwell into the sort of figure that the Parliamentarian-supporting newspaper and pamphleteering propaganda made him out to be at the time. At its worst, this over-dramatization makes a travesty of history and turns into a caricature Cromwell's own character. Of the latter, how Richard Harris depicts him is reasonably accurate enough in so far as it goes, but a lot else that can be established about Cromwell is omitted.The scriptwriters have taken a certain line that reflects the concerns of the present day in their time. Of course, it's their film, they can do what they like with it. However, to make Cromwell out to be a champion of democracy is to over-egg the pudding rather too much. And that's a charitable assessment of both him and them. To have Cromwell lecture Charles about democratic monarchy is both absurd in the context of the 17th century and a clumsy way of illustrating to modern audiences the effect that the ripples of change started by the Puritan revolution subsequently had. Even so, given the complexities, the scriptwriters can be given some praise for their achievement. It would be unfair to criticise them excessively.At the end of the film, what the narrator says about what England became under Cromwell's Protectorate is, again, what he and his associates would have wanted it to be, had they been successful. A chastening illustration of the sad reality is described in the recent book, Providence Lost by Paul Lay. Another recent book that re-examines the evidence about Cromwell himself, and which is a useful corrective to be read alongside watching this film, is The making of Oliver Cromwell, by Ronald Hutton.One other thing that must be said about this DVD itself is the imperfections in the copy I received. Flaws in its manufacture meant that the whole of the Battle of Naseby was skipped, and further corruption of the software resulted in only parts of the scenes at Carisbrooke and Cromwell's confrontation with the Levellers being available. Caveat emptor.

Just what i was looking for. This starts from the discontent of Cromwell , an England edging towards the civil war. Thankfully, this doesn’t focus too much on Cromwell or Charles in a wrong way. They both get equal air time i thought, the Battle scenes gave goosebumps. Hearing the Levies sing Christian chants, and seeing them mount their Muskets on Tripods was stuff i have never thought about alot til watching this. But the best thing about this film? The costumes and the Parliament scenes! I would say a solid 35-50% of the Scenes in this are taken in the House of Commons. Going over ludicrous debates, the infamous storming of Parliament by Charles I (Which was a perfect scene btw, everything was just so amazing about that scene. I’ve rewatched it 5 times since seeing this). Long story short, watch this. I’ll definitely be giving it a re-run in a month or so

Schon seit längerer Zeit habe ich nach diesem Film geschaut und jetzt gefunden.Über Inhalt und Leistung der Darsteller findet man bereits genügend Informationen in anderen Beiträgen.Die DVD wurde eingeschweißt geliefert.Für eine DVD ist die Bildqualität gut bis sehr gut, auf einem 55 Zoll TV kann man den Film gut anschauen.Gleichwohl ist es schade dass es den Film nicht in HD auf Blu Ray in deutscher Sprache gibt.

Perfetto. Avevo acquistato il dvd presso altri ed era pessimo (bassa risoluzione, si bloccava). Amazon è sempre una sicurezza

Arrived in good condition and was a good show!

This movie had a really nice Renaissance period flavor to it. The costumes were fabulous and the story was exciting and easy to follow. From what I understand the story is not totally historically accurate in a few details, but it is accurate in the overall events that it portrays. Of course, it is a movie and it's primary goal is to probably entertain which it does in spades. The battle scenes were great and one really gets a nice idea of the political climate of those times as the outrage of parliament over the kings cruelties, arrogance, and follies are well portrayed.

Cromwell was an ambitious undertaking for Director Ken Hughes and his two stars Richard Harris and Alec Guinness. He managed to capture the spirit of that part of the 17th century even if he didn't get all his facts right.Like the many tellings of the story of Mary Tudor and Mary Stuart which have them in climatic meeting, we have Oliver Cromwell and Mary Stuart's grandson, Charles I meeting not once, but several times. They too never met, but the story demands it.In point of fact Oliver Cromwell was a minor figure in the war between the Crown and Parliament until the Parliamentary Army lost a series of battles and looked like they were going down for the count. It was at that point that Cromwell emerged as a military leader. It turned out that this previously obscure member of Parliament who had no previous military training had a natural genius for warmaking. He turned that army around and eventually Parliament won.Cromwell could have been George Washington at this point and retired to the farm, but he used his prestige and not as reluctantly as this film shows to make himself the military dictator of Great Britain with the title of Lord Protector.The experience of Cromwell's reign scarred the English body politic for generations and to a large degree the American one as well. The whole struggle over which interpretation of Christianity would hold sway was something all of the ancestors of the American founding fathers had to deal with. That's when the idea came to them to have no established religion in America. Cromwell's large standing Ironsides Army enforcing his dictatorship led to a positive mania about no standing armies, no quartering of troops and even the right to bear arms. All this because of a collective memory of the Lord Protector.Richard Harris is a lean and mean Cromwell who keeps saying he just wants to go back to the farm, but somehow winds up grabbing for more power. Alec Guinness is the perfect conception of that luckless monarch Charles I. Please note the relationship between Guinness and Queen Henrietta Marie played by Dorothy Tutin. Two things should be remembered there. First Henrietta Marie is the sister of Louis XIV of France, a monarch with considerable more power than Charles has. Note how Tutin is constantly berating Guinness for not standing up to the Parliament. He does and see where it gets him. Secondly Charles I is one of the very few English monarchs with no royal paramours. He and the Queen were actually in love and he knew her advice was from the heart if it proved disastrous.Please note a couple of other good performances, Timothy Dalton as Prince Ruppert of the Rhine, Charles's nephew from Germany who actually was a whole lot smarter than he's shown here. And Robert Morley as the Earl of Manchester, one of Cromwell's rivals in the Parliamentary camp.Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 quite suddenly and within two years the Stuart Monarchy was restored under Charles II, oldest son of Charles I and Henrietta Marie. The collapse of the Protectorate is a subject that English historians have some raging debates over. It was very much like the collapse of the Soviet Union in our time. The collapse of the Protectorate and the Restoration of the Stuarts was filmed in Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s The Exile and really needs an up to date treatment.Cromwell as a film is magnificently photographed and directed and actually won an Oscar for costume design. But the flaws in the story line are too many and don't use this film as Cliff's notes kids.