PERFORMING ARTS

Cinema of Swords: A Popular Guide to Movies About Knights, Barbarians, and Vikings (and Samurai and Musketeers and Gladiators and Outlaw Heroes)

by Lawrence Ellsworth
Applause. Jun. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781493065622. $50. FILM
COPY ISBN
Historical-fiction translator and video game designer Ellsworth (The Big Book of Swashbuckling Adventure) presents a colorfully composed, campy source for browsing film and TV acrobatic characters who usually fought out of idealism and chivalry without guns in quasi-historical settings. This photo-filled compendium of approximately 400 film and TV adventures is arranged alphabetically by title with reviews. Ranging from the silent era through the 1980s, selections also include subtitled non-English works now available through streaming. Film and pop culture fans who are less familiar with this genre will enjoy the five-star rated gems, such as The Thief of Bagdad, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Black Swan, Spartacus, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and The Princess Bride. Numerous Akira Kurosawa samurai films are also featured.
VERDICT Deliberately designed for fun instead of scholarship, this book offers much to enhance studies and stir the imaginations of pop culture fans.
Reviewed by Frederick J. Augustyn Jr , May 01, 2023
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