"Best ECW Movies?" Topic

Which film about the English Civil War is your favorite?

The only one I can recall is Cromwell-- Timothy Dalton as Rupert was terrific.

how about the tv series by the sword divided

By the Sword Divided is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1983 and 1985.

The series, created by John Hawkesworth was a historical drama set during the mid 17th century, dealing with the impact of the English Civil War on the fictional Lacey family, made up of both Royalist and Parliamentarian supporters.

It follows the family as it is torn apart by the conflicting and changing loyalties of the war, as families were during that time, and the defeat of the Royalist forces at the end of the First English Civil War. Series two covers the second and third civil wars and the eventual Restoration of the Monarchy. The last episodes see the surviving members of the family (from both sides of the divide) witness the arrival of King Charles II on a visit to the ancestral Lacey home.

Cromwell – best of the lot, just ignore the rugby shirts and ostrich feathers link
Witchfinder General – absolutely awful 'cult' horror film. Dire. link
By the Sword Divided – s1 nowhere near as good as s2 link
To Kill A King – really good, almost didn't get released due To finance problems link
The Devil's Whore – good script, good cast, but… Just doesn't work (a Channel 4 series) Sorry, can't direct link to my review, as bleep-o-matic won't let me use the 'w' word

Seeing as the bleep-o-matic doesn't like the word "" when inserted in a URL, yet strangely finds it okay when used as text; if you want to read my review of the 2008 C4 series pop over to link and scroll down

Apparently it is okay to use the term when capitalised

I like Cromwell.

Best Ethiopian Cricket winner movie?
No can't think of any..

A Field in England

I will 3rd Cromwell, great cast, and one of many great historial movies to come out in late 60s and into 1970s!
They dont make em like it anymore!

Isn't "The King's Special Friend" late 17th century Piedmont?

Cromwell is a truly awful film that corrupts history to suit itself. Check out Comrade Jacob for and interesting slant on the period. Someone should make a film about Montrose, or Fairfax.

By The Sword Divided came out when I was collecting my first ECW army. Watched it again recently and still love it. Final seige in series 1 is great.
"Surrender? That's a rebel word. I've never heard it!" Brilliant.

I agree it is amazing no one has done a Montrose and/or MacColla movie! What a story.

BTSD is my favourite – both Cromwell and Charles very well acted, and some original speeches cropped and included, ie Charles's trial and that of John Fletcher, whose words were the same as those of one of the regicides.The siege was certainly very good, as were the sword fights in both series. Sorry I can't agree on To Kill a King – I've seldom seen a worse historical film.

To be honest I don't think there is good one.

if I had to pick one it would be Cromwell loved Sir Alec Guinness as King Charles

I found Cromwell was rather barfable, using him as a heroic Cold Wars propaganda device.

I've always loved By The Sword Divided. Season 2 isn't too bad either. Both are on YouTube, which is nice cause the Beeb has never re-released the DVDs and the old ones sell for a mint.

For me, The Devil's Whore is much more enjoyable than Cromwell.

Have not seen, but some recommended from IMDb:

To Kill A King (2003)

Winstanley (1975)

A Field In England (2013)

Witchfinder General (1968)
(aka Matthew Hopkins: Conqueror Worm)

Are we sure that the ECW soldiers didnt wear rugby striped shirts? It seems good enough for King and Country toy soldiers.

Some cavalry officer's buffcoats had lacing or other striped decorations on their sleeves. I've always assumed this was the origin of the stripey sleeves.

Cromwell is my favorite

Have only just come across this thread so forgive my late entry but thought I'd mention the 1975 B&W film "Winstanley".

It centres on the "Digger" movement of Gerrard Winstanley and features Fairfax quite a bit too. The film credits the book "Comrade Jacob" as the starting point however, although recommending it as a remarkable piece of work, David Caute felt it didn't adequately cover the religious side of the movement's motivation expressed in his book and removed his screen-writer credit. Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo co-produced the film – yep <that> Andrew Mollo that wrote the Blandford military uniform books so expect the costumes and armour to be excellent.

Re-enactors and the Tower of London Armoury were involved too although it must be stressed this is a very low budget production with mostly amateur actors (Jerome Willis as Fairfax being an exception) and is not a "war movie" as such.

The restored DVD version includes brilliant extras such as a "making of" documentary in colour and recent interviews with the directors/producers.

link
imdb.com/title/tt0073911

I've never seen Witchfinder General so I'll take everyone's word for it that it's abject tat. But the underlying premise, that of making "an English western", strikes me as utter genius. If you wanted to do that, to make a sort of Once Upon A Time in America not set in America, then you need a lawless place and time, lots of armed and dangerous civilians, instant enmities among them readily understood by the audience, and forces of law and order of doubtful moral and legal authority.

The only candidate era in British history would be the ECW.

You could certainly do Indian westerns as well (Indian Indian not native American "Indian" obvs). Spanish too, in the Peninsular War era.

Could you have a French western? A Russian western?

4th Cuirassier – have a look at 'Blood Loyal' on YouTube. Full film available to watch.

It("Witchfinder General") also can be found under the alt.title "The Conqueror Worm".

Could you have a French western? A Russian western?

I know we're heading off topic somewhat here but there is a celebrated Soviet-era 1970 film called "White Sun of the Desert". It's set at the end of the Russian Civil War on the lawless southern border with what is now Turkmenistan. Mexican insurgents/revolutionaries/bandits (depending on your point-of-view) are replaced by the Basmachi equivalent. There's a Clint Eastwood like ex-Red Army guy they come up against.
imdb.com/title/tt0066565

Then there's the "Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno" Russian TV serial about the wild Russian Civil War anarchist fighting in Ukraine against all comers – Whites, Reds, Nationalists, foreign interventionists, bandits…Kind of like a Viva Zapata/Pancho Villa figure:
link
YouTube link

So not Russian "westerns" but ironically known as "easterns"! :)

Full movie

Witchfinder General

YouTube link

link
Finally got around to reviewing Winstanley

Witchfinder General. A fantastic film.

A Field in England. Utterly incomprehensible.

Cromwell. It's got horses in it so it's not all bad.

KYPD38, thanks for your review of Winstanley. Have you watched any of the extras? I found the "Making of.." documentary just as interesting as the film itself. Perhaps…whisper it…even better!

Strange that it seems to be quite expensive at certain, ahem, "behemoths" :) The BFI's own shop has the latest dual-format version for just £9.99 GBP
link

Agree with you on the extras Mike.

Good spot on the BFI shop.

There's a film I hadn't heard of on Amazon Prime (UK) at the moment Hex

Review and link to the trailer link

Wish they could do a good movie on Marston Moor and Naseby. Those are the only battles of the ECW I'm interested in.