John Boorman's "Excalibur" and Wagner

[Mr Pee]

I've just watched this for the first time in many years, and although I remembered that there was a fair bit of Wagner used on the soundtrack, I'd forgotten quite how much, and indeed how many Wagnerian similarities there are. Siegfried's Funeral Music, in particular the Sword Motif section, is used a lot when Excalibur is drawn from the stone and whenever the Sword creates a particular moment of drama, the prelude to Tristan is used for the love scenes between Lancelot and Guinevere, and the Parsifal prelude is used during the quest for the Grail. Arthur indeed becomes, to all intents and purposes, Amfortas, and is revived by drinking from the Grail, which is found and brought back to Camelot by Percival.

I am aware that le Morte D'Arthur has many such similarities anyway, but the fact that Boorman chose to highlight them with the use of Wagner's music makes me think that he must have been deliberately highlighting the Wagner connections as well. I can only assume he must be a Wagnerian from this film!

The Wagner excerpts were specially recorded by the LPO and Norman Del Mar, and very fine they sound too.

And Nicol Williamson's turn as Merlin is an absolute hoot!

[Catherine Bott]

Before the Wagner went into the mix, there was some improvised solo vocal music (based on medieval melodies) created by me in an empty studio (number 1 at the late lamented CTS in Wembley) at John Boorman's request. Sadly, the footage I was working with didn't survive the editing process, and he told me he was thinking of replacing some of Trevor Jones's score with Wagner anyway: but it was fascinating to work with a great director who was so imaginative and thoughtful. I do pop up elsewhere in Excalibur: it was the first film I sang solos on but by no means the last. Just think, I could have supplied quite a lot of copy for the popular Sound of Cinema season if they'd asked me!

[Bryn]

... I could have supplied quite a lot of copy for the popular Sound of Cinema season if they'd asked me!

Would that they had.

Must give Zardoz (with its Mao quotes) another viewing some time. Oh, and Emerald Forest.

[jayne lee wilson]

I settled down to watch this for the first time on a late night TV showing years ago and was completely thrown by the Wagner, especially the Parsifal prelude and the Siegfried funeral march, I was in floods with the amazing ending as the sword returns to the lake. But I loved the whole film - when the slight, young Arthur first pulls the sword from the stone his father tells him "Put it back!"

[Bryn]

While I have Excalibur on VHS somewhere, I have just splashed out 1p (plus £1.26 p&p) on a "Used - Very Good" DVD of it.

[Mr Pee]

I.... was completely thrown by the Wagner, especially the Parsifal prelude and the Siegfried funeral march, I was in floods with the amazing ending as the sword returns to the lake. But I loved the whole film - when the slight, young Arthur first pulls the sword from the stone his father tells him "Put it back!"

Me too!

[Alain Maréchal]

While I have Excalibur on VHS somewhere, I have just splashed out 1p (plus £1.26 p&p) on a "Used - Very Good" DVD of it.

It needs the big wide screen. The knights riding through an apple orchard in blossom to the sound of Carmina Burana was magnificent.
2nd August 1981, Sunday afternoon at the ABC Shaftesbury Avenue. There were four of us. We constituted about 25% of the audience.