The Normans are coming
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Normans are coming |
| Original title | The War Lord |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1965 |
| length | 123 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Franklin J. Schaffner |
| script |
John Collier , Millard Kaufman |
| production | Walter Seltzer |
| music | Jerome Moross |
| camera | Russell Metty |
| cut | Folmar Blangsted |
| occupation | |
| |
The Normans are Coming (Original title: The War Lord ) is an American knight film from 1965 with Charlton Heston based on a play by Leslie Stevens.
action
Knight Crysagon de la Crou receives a fief from the duke to protect it from the Frisians . He gets an old defense tower as a seat that serves as a castle . In the surrounding forest, pagan symbols hang on some trees, as it turns out later, it is a tree cult .
Meanwhile , from a hill, a Frisian jarl watches as his people plunder the village of the fief. When the Normans notice the Frisians, they attack them. Crysagon recognizes the Jarl, an old adversary of his family. Crysagon defeats the chief and wounds him badly. But the Frisian warriors are able to save the chief, get him on one of their boats and flee. However, in the heat of the battle, the Frisians forgot the chief's son, who now buries his chief's chain and then comes out. Thereupon he is taken by Volc, the dwarfed, as a page and finds the buried chain of the boy.
Crysagon takes a captured battle ax from the village elder's son and asks the peasants about the previous fiefdom holder, whereupon he learns that he is apparently dead. However, his farmers are enthusiastic because they hope for better protection, while others are suspicious. The priest seeks understanding for the peasants who, despite their conversion to Christianity, have retained many of their pagan customs. But Draco, Crysagon's brother, fears that the Gentiles have converted the priest.
When Crysagon moves into the neglected tower, the gate is unprotected and he finds a soldier, the former feudal lord and a bride of the village dead in bed. He then burns the bed in which both dead were lying and continues to dig the moat from the serfs so that the gate is no longer quite so unprotected. He looks from the tower in the direction of Friesenland, which is two days away, and is sure that the Frisians will come back. They kidnapped his father, robbed his property and the rest had to be paid as ransom so that Crysagon wants revenge.
While out hunting, Crysagon first meets Bronwyn, the village elder's pretty foster daughter who tends the pigs. The next day, Bors has Bronwyn brought to the sick Crysagon, who is supposed to help him burn out a wound, whereupon the latter makes no sound, and lays her cheek to his for a moment. Shortly afterwards, the recovered Crysagon meets Browyn in the forest, who is collecting herbs. She tells him about the tree cult that her people practice. In this tree cult, the oak in a grove is sacred because they believe that lightning struck connects the oak with the gods. A mistletoe that she wears on her arm symbolizes the golden branch that surrounds the holy oak. He desires her, tries to persuade her to go under a tree with her, but lets go of her.
When Crysagon is holding court in his tower, the village elder asks him to allow his son to marry Bronwyn, as they have been promised each other for ages. However, Draco later has the village priest come for Crysagon to ask about the ius primae noctis , the right to the first night. The wedding is first celebrated in a Christian way and then according to pagan custom and without the priest in a grove . Crysagon claims his right to the first night. Odins admits that it used to be the custom to give a virgin for the fertility of the earth, and Crysagon as liege lord could take this woman. But it must be done according to the old custom, in the middle of a circle of fire, according to the law of the druids . Crysagon's men have to be in full armor and stand upright until Odins picks them up at dawn and hands them over to his son as a bride. When Crysagon agrees to the pagan ritual, Bronwyn lowers his head in resignation. She is then taken to the tower, where Crysagon confesses his love to her and she is impressed by his power and helplessness.
Crysagon won't let her go to her husband's the next morning and gives her his father's ring. He asks her to stay with him and become his bride. When Draco sees this, he believes that she has bewitched his brother and, on behalf of Crysagon, has the waiting village elder sharply rejected when he tries to take Bronwyn with him. Then Marc, the groom and the other villagers want to call the Frisians to fight against Crysagon by delivering the chief's son's pendant that they received from Volc, the falconer of Crysagon. Volc has now defected to the angry villagers.
However, Crysagon discovers the Frisians who have sneaked up and want to lower the drawbridge to the castle and fights them. The chief demands his son, whom Crysagon has as a page at his castle, without having known that this is the chief's son. Now the villagers and Volc openly join the Frisians against Crysagon. After the chief calls out and goes into the forest with his men, Draco takes a bow and shoots Volc for his betrayal. While Crysagon sharpens his sword, Draco blames him for failing as a liege lord and for the incident being his fault. Draco then rides to the Duke for reinforcements. The next morning the Frisians built a battering ram, but it could be destroyed at the gate at the last moment. The following night, the Frisians set the drawbridge on fire, whereupon Crysagon throws the Frisian boy into the cellar. Crysagon can use fire to keep the Frisians from storming the castle until the burning drawbridge collapses after the battle is over. He goes to his room, where Bronwyn is anxiously waiting for him. A few days later the Frisians have built a siege tower and storm the tower. Suddenly catapults bombard the siege tower as Draco has returned with reinforcements. The Frisians then have to flee.
The Duke has promised Draco half of the Friesian boy's ransom and at the same time transferred him the fiefdom, since Draco reported everything to the duke about the incident and the Duke now considers Crysagon to be unable to protect the fiefdom. He then demands his father's ring from Bronwyn, which she does not give. Draco demands the allegiance of his men from Crysagon, but they refuse him, and wants to fight with him, which Crysagon refuses. In a scuffle, Crysagon accidentally stabs his brother with a dagger, whereupon he stumbled down the stairs of the tower and died. Since Crysagon realizes what he has caused and does not want any more bloodshed, Crysagon hands the Friesian boy over to his father, who now offers him his friendship and wants to fulfill a wish. He seeks asylum for Bronwyn in Friesland and wants to submit himself to the duke in order to possibly get the fief back. Marc, the enraged husband, throws himself at Bronwyn with a sickle, but is mortally wounded by Bors after Marc injured Crysagon when he rushed to her aid. Crysagon sends Bronwyn to the Frisians. Bors puts the seriously injured Crysagon on his horse. Hunold is supposed to hold the fief until Crysagon returns. Then Crysagon and Bors ride to the Duke.
background
- Charlton Heston wrote in his autobiography that the knight Crysagon de la Crou was one of his favorite roles. He would have liked to have Julie Christie as a film partner, but the studio turned it down.
- In contrast to many other knight films, the Middle Ages are not glorified in The Normans Come , but presented in a much more authentic way.
- Clothing, armor, helmets and hairstyles of the Normans largely correspond to historical facts, such as. B. are evidenced by the Bayeux Tapestry.
- From a historical point of view, the use of a battering ram and siege tower by the Germanic tribe of the Frisians should be viewed critically. It is also difficult to find historical evidence for the catapults used by the Normans.
- The film was shot in California , Colusa County , Malibu and Marysville .
Reviews
“The tragic love story, framed by martial battle scenes, of a Norman feudal lord in the 11th century, who passionately falls in love with a serf from the pagan druid tribe of his Flemish possessions and thus conjures up a deadly fraternal dispute in the fight with the Frisians. Staged as a barbaric hero fable with the usual Hollywood effort. "
Web links
- The War Lord in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- DVD cover at darktown.to
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Normans are coming. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 1, 2018 .