The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey (1988)

Director:

Vincent Ward

Writers:

Geoff Chapple (writer)
Kely Lyons (writer)

Release Date:

15 December 1988 (Australia)

Genre:

Fantasy | Adventure

Tagline:

Time-Travel Adventure of the Year!

Plot:

Men seeking relief from the Black Death, guided by a boy's vision, dig a tunnel from 14th century England to 20th century New Zealand.

Plot Keywords:

Village | Black Death | 14th Century | England | Death

Awards:

21 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Bruce Lyons	...	Connor
Chris Haywood	...	Arno
Hamish McFarlane	...	Griffin
Marshall Napier	...	Searle
Noel Appleby	...	Ulf
Paul Livingston	...	Martin
Sarah Peirse	...	Linnet
Mark Wheatley	...	Tog 1
Tony Herbert	...	Tog 2
Jessica Cardiff-Smith	...	Esme
Roy Wesney	...	Grandpa
Kathleen-Elizabeth Kelly	...	Grandma
Jay Saussey	...	Griffin's girlfriend
Charles Walker	...	Old Chrissie
Desmond Kelly	...	Smithy

Also Known As:

The Navigator
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (alternative spelling)
The Navigator: An Odyssey Across Time (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Australia | New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company:

Arenafilm

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Alien³' (2003) (V)

Definatly under the rainbow

This is truly a lost gem of a film. It is beautifully photographed, well-acted, well paced, and well written. It is a fantasy film that relies on the fantasy and not on the SFX budget. Something we see all too little of these days.

It is the story of a little boy that has visions during medieval times of a great city, and to save the village from the horrors of the Black Death, he, his brother Connor, and a few others must travel there and erect a spike on the cathedral there. Of course, this is a fruitless enterprise and Connor knows it, but no one would listen to him; they were stuck on a single idea and would hear nothing else.

Their journey to what turned out to be New Zealand is both humorous and sad. There were times when one would be brought almost to tears and at other times laughing hard enough to hurt, but the sad element was dominant.

As with all the films I like to review, it has a strong 'cult movie' appeal, but it is more accessable to general audiences than, say, Six-String Samurai was. Seeing that the Director (Vincent Ward) later did 'What Dreams May Come' (I'll review that one in a few weeks) this film deserves to brought back into the spotlight.