Quest for King Arthur (2004 TV Movie) User Reviews

Excellent & Complete Account of the King Arthur Myths & Legends

[garife · 8/10 · 26 October 2006]

CONTAINS SPOILERS! First, I'm a huge fan of Patrick Stewart. I think his voice lends a lot of credence to this video. This documentary, which I watched on the 'History International' channel, was not only well-narrated, but it also had a high historically-objective quality. It covers the mysterious post-Roman occupation person made famous in the movie "King Arthur" as well as the consequent mythologizing of the character. However, this mysterious character's name is not know, but his bravery on the battlefield is apparently what stood out. It was later that this character was named "Arturius". Later, during the Middle Ages, this person was resurrected by various writers of the time in an attempt to create the perfect chivalry code. The myth of Arthur as we know it today was born during this time. However, other elements were added later as well: Gwenivere, the love triangle, Excalubur, etc .. All legends are covered here, but the production focuses mostly on written accounts. The program successfully parses through what might be real and what is not. If you're looking for an excellent in-depth visual of the King Arthur legends and myths, then this is your video.

2 inaccuracies

[john-ledgerwood2007 · 20 October 2007]

Overall a good documentary, but I wanted to point out to 2 inaccuracies: two pictures allegedly of King Arthur are shown constantly for example around 37:34. The first, is not of King Arthur but of Jesus. One can see the X I which stands for Jesus Christ in Greek. The second which depicts a battle is in fact of Great Alexander fighting Xerxes and it is very famous. The camera focuses on Xerxes. Again, it is a mosaic of Battle of Issus representing the battle of Alexander the Great against Darius III, perhaps after an earlier Greek painting of Philoxenus of Eretria. This mosaic was found in Pompeii in the House of the Faun and is now in the National Museum of Naples. It is dated first century BC. So both these pictures have nothing to do with King Arthur. I wonder why would they use them? It just discredits the entire effort.