World History: The Hollywood Version – Volume IV The Dark Ages

The Dark Ages – were they really so bad? Certainly not if Hollywood, and moviemaking in general, is anything to go by. In his witty, engaging study of films set in the Dark Ages, Andy Rohmer examines cinematic fascination with this period, of which Kenneth Clark once observed civilisation only made it through by ‘the skin of its teeth’. This is the fourth book in Rohmer’s World History: The Hollywood Version series in which he meticulously goes through every period in history and examines how it has been portrayed, be it glamourised or maligned, in the movies.

Rohmer defines the Dark Ages as 476 to 1050 AD, and starts with films set in the Arthurian Cycle and ends just before the Norman Conquests. He is primarily a film historian and sets out, film by film, to note the eccentricities and idiosyncrasies of celluloid history. For instance, he notes that Clive Donner’s film Alfred The Great (1969) is a ‘late Sixties attempt to do a historical epic in the language of youth revolt’. Whereas Antonie Fuqua’s big-budget King Arthur ‘vacillates inconclusively between hard, R-rated historical war film, Bruckheimer summer spectacle and parable about empire and freedom’. I’ve been a fan of Rohmer series since the beginning and I’m pleased to say that all of his observations are a delight to read. The balance between historical context, behind the scenes content and critical analysis is exactly what one would wish.

Treat yourself to a copy of this wonderful book, and don’t be surprised if it sends you in pursuit of the movies that shed light on the Dark Ages.