DVD REVIEW: The Lion in Winter

DVD: THE LION IN WINTER

Directed by Anthony Harvey

Starring Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton

DVD release: October 17

WATCHING classic films can occasionally be a negative experience thanks to natural wear and tear making the images a lot less than pristine.

But technology can now remedy this problem and a new DVD/Blu-Ray release of a multi Oscar winner from late Sixties is proof of the difference it can make.

Studiocanal is releasing 1968 classic The Lion in Winter on October 17 and it looks as fresh as it must have looked back in the day. Maybe even better.

But the reason that seeing a crisp, colourful release of this film is so important is that it’s a movie on a grand scale where the full impact of the set designs and cinematography need to be enjoyed to the full.

Peter O’Toole teamed up with the perhaps surprising leading lady choice of Katherine Hepburn in this grand historic tale set in 12th Century England.

King Henry II (O’Toole at his laddish macho best) is obsessed with finding an heir after the death of his oldest son, another Henry, amongst his three surviving boys, Richard, John and Geoffrey.

But they loathe each other and him, as well as their mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. Put together, they stab in the back and, it has to be said, almost stab in the front at the drop of a hat. They are what would be termed today a dysfunctional family.

Power, greed and corruption mix in with thwarted love and unrequited affection in a heady mix.

Written by James Goldman from his own Broadway play, this is a history in the same sense that Shakespeare’s histories were histories. It doesn’t really matter that things probably didn’t happen like this, but the viewer can wallow in impressive performances like O’Toole as a monarch more like an East End thug than a refined peer of the realm. 

Anthony Hopkins’ first film role shows exactly why he has made such a name for himself since. As Richard he silently fumes and plans and yet has moments of intense vulnerability.

Katherine Hepburn does well as the scheming wife of Henry II in a relationship which is challenging — to them both — at best. They are rather like two children trying to always be one up on the other.

Hepburn’s accent occasionally veers in an American direction, which jars a tad, and sometimes the language used by the characters I imagine is distinctly unmediaeval, but this is more a story about a family on the edge than a history primer.

The set designs are superb and the scruffiness of the castle stands in sharp contrast to the splendour that dramas usually display in historical productions.\!q 

The cinematography of Douglas Slocombe is worth watching the re-release for on its own, to be frank.

All in all, a welcome release of a film that has great dramatic appeal, looks great and is an entertaining introduction to an important part of our history (though don’t use it for revision!).

ANTONY CLAY