the letter that informs Ivanhoe that King Richard is imprisoned and a ransom is demanded in exchange for his liberty is written in MODERN CURSIVE WRITING that doesn't resemble at all the handwriting style of the 12th century.
shareIt's also written in modern English when it would in fact be in French.
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"An inglorious peace is better than a dishonourable war" ~ John Adams
I bet that it wasn't really written on animal skin parchment, either, using ink made from boiled hawthorne bark!
Come to think of it, I bet that Norman Wooland, the actor playing Richard Coeur de Lion, wasn't actually being held for ransom! And, clearly there were no camera's available in the 1100's, much less movie cameras shooting Technicolor!
It's a 55 year old movie! Not too many people from 1952 could read calligraphic French, I'd wage fewer can today. Gripe about something meaningful, at least.
Do you want the story to be BELIEVABLE? Then you must take care of anachronisms, such as Friar Tuck being a friar during the reign of Richard I, a time when the Franciscan Order--the first ever order of friars--still did not exist.
shareYou mean you're trying to BELIEVE movies? Fiction movies? Um...OK. Good luck with that.
shareIf you don't believe a movie, you will not enjoy it. My mother knew of a boy who was a real obnoxious jerk; one of his favorite ways to exasperate people was to remind them--at climactic scenes such as the last duel in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD--that Flynn and Rathbone were fighting with swords that had rubber blades, so there was no real danger of them injuring each other.
shareYou complain about anachronisms in Ivanhoe? Have you read the book? And of all the things you could have picked on, you choose font?
sharePerhaps she was relating a story from your own childhood. You seem to be the type she was describing...
shareIndeed not; I like to be absorbed in the story, to the point that, if I notice a goof, I just make a mental note of it and continue watching. I most certainly do not interrupt other people's absorption in a movie.
As for the font, I worked for a year as a proofreader, which allowed me the opportunity to learn a lot about features of printing such as the different styles of calligraphy.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
Ah, that explains it: Proofreading as a basis for movie critique. Of course, you are entitled to your opinions, but, as you are such a stickler for historical accuracy, Gutenberg did not invent the European version of the printing press until ca. 1439, long after the events of the movie, which makes your knowledge of fonts a non-sequitur.
In spite of that, you seem like a decent sort, and I think I've been overly harsh with you. My apologies. It's just that I love this movie, and don't feel that a letter in modern English in easily readable script in a FICTION movie intended for 20th century audiences is a serious transgression.
If it had to be real accurate, then the English they were speaking should have been Geoffrey Chaucer "Canterbury Tales" style English which we would have great difficulty understanding today.
They could have been speaking French too. King Richard the Lionhearted spoke French but not too much English.
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You don't expect QUO VADIS, BEN-HUR and GLADIATOR to be in Latin, do you?
Modern language is the one and only anachronism that is allowable in period movies; everything else has to be perfectly faithful to the period in which the story takes place. I remember a movie about a band of gypsies in Late Medieval Hungary in which one gypsy appears playing a VIOLIN--an instrument that was invented in the 16th century.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
The Gothic font used by Gutenberg in his Bible is based on the hand script used in Germany in his time.
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. (Albert Einstein)
And furthermore, as a costumer making medieval garb, I rolled my eyes at King Richard's modern suit jacket (without lapels) when he was imprisioned. Oh well, the film is nearly 60 years old.
Normally historical movie men's costuming is very good, it's the ladies who wear snicker-worthy anachronistic modern seams and low cut tight fitting bodice.
Rubber swords so nobody would get hurt in ROBIN HOOD? Fred Graham, who doubled Basil Rathbone, broke his ankle taking that fall? Very strange to see him in the climatic fight in the castle after all the Republic serials and westerns, not to mention the Wayne/Ford films he was in. He was considered one of the best brawlers in the business.
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