This popped up in my YouTube feed recently. The Blu-rays are now available direct from Arrow Video or other vendors.
Sponsored by The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, the "Matter of Britain on Screen" blog is designed as an aid to explorations of the transformations undergone by the Matter of Britain as it is translated to film, television, and related electronic media, such as games and internet video.
Excalibur is not a thing, something you can hold in your hand.
Excalibur is the good in you.
The power to do good, to stand up for what's right, to slay dragons, to capture bank robbers.
You always carry Excalibur in your heart.
Robert Tinnell, Kids of the Round Table (1995)
Showing posts with label Excalibur (film). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Excalibur (film). Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2026
Friday, December 26, 2025
Coming Soon - Excalibur Limited Edition Blu-ray
Excalibur Limited Edition Blu-ray
Current price: $45.00. Recommended Retail Price: $59.99. Save $14.99.
Pre-order
Release Date: 24 February 2026
Product Overview
Arrow Video
FORGED BY A GOD. FORETOLD BY A WIZARD. FOUND BY A KING.
From John Boorman, the director of Point Blank, Deliverance and Zardoz comes the definitive cinematic telling of the life and enduring legend of King Arthur, from birth to death and beyond.
Behold, the Sword of Power! Excalibur! Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one with man and death was but a dream. Given by Merlin to Uther Pendragon to unite the land in peace but wasted on lust. Driven into stone by Uther's dying hand, there to await the coming of a true King. A journey into the wonders and horrors of the imagination, this is the story of Arthur, the knights of the round table, the golden age of Camelot, the quest for the Holy Grail and of course, the wizard, Merlin.
With an extraordinary cast that includes Helen Mirren, Gabriel Byrne, Nicol Williamson and Liam Neeson, Oscar-nominated cinematography by Alex Thomson (Legend) and a thundering score by Trevor Jones, Excalibur returns in a stunning new restoration. From the blood and mud of the battlefield, to the glowing green of ancient woods and gleaming gold of Camelot, experience Excalibur as you never have before.
Product Features
3-DISC 4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative by Arrow Films presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 for the first time on home video
- Contains both the 141-minute Theatrical Cut and the 120-minute TV Version of the film
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Reversible sleeve featuring two original artwork options
- Collectors' perfect-bound booklet containing writing by Charlie Brigden, K.A. Laity, Kimberly Lindbergs, Josh Nelson, Philip Kemp, John Reppion, Icy Sedgwick and Jez Winship
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring two original artwork options
- Six postcard-sized reproduction art cards
DISC 1 - FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of the 141min Theatrical Cut of the film in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Restored original lossless mono and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options
- Brand new audio commentary by Brian Hoyle, author of The Cinema of John Boorman
- Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker David Kittredge, director of Boorman and the Devil
DISC 2 - EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
- The Making of Excalibur: Myth into Movie, a never before released 48-minute documentary directed by Neil Jordan during the production of Excalibur
- To Be a Knight and Follow a King, a newly filmed interview with director John Boorman and actor Charley Boorman
- When Death Was but a Dream, a newly filmed interview with creative associate Neil Jordan
- The Charm of Making, a newly filmed interview with production designer Anthony Pratt
- Confessions of a Professional "Pain-in-the-ass", a newly filmed interview with 2nd unit director Peter MacDonald
- Anam Cara, a new featurette on the working friendship of John Boorman and co-writer Rospo Pallenberg featuring a newly filmed interview with Pallenberg
- Divided Nature, a brand new featurette by film historians Howard S. Berger and Kevin Marr
- Trailers
- Image galleries
DISC 3 - BONUS (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE BLU-RAY)
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the 120-minute TV Version of the film, previously unavailable on home video
- Original lossless mono audio
- Excalibur: Behind the Movie, a 50-minute retrospective documentary in which cast and crew look back on the making of the film
Product details
Run Time
141 / 120 MINS
Director
John Boorman
Certificate
R
Actor
Nigel Terry Nicol Williamson Helen Mirren Liam Neeson
Subtitle Languages
English SDH
Theatrical Release Year
1981
Main Language
English
Number of Discs
3
Region
A
Brand
Arrow Films
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Out Now: A Green and Pagan Land
New from McFarland:
A Green and Pagan Land: Myth, Magic and Landscape in British Film and Television
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/a-green-and-pagan-land/
David Huckvale
$39.95
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 227
Bibliographic Info: 33 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7050-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2993-3
Imprint: McFarland
British literature often refers to pagan and classical themes through richly detailed landscapes that suggest more than a mere backdrop of physical features. The myth-inspired writings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Lord Dunsany and even Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows informed later British films and television dramas such as The Owl Service (1969-70), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973), Excalibur (1981) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The author analyzes the evocative language and esthetics of landscapes in literature, film, television and music, and how “psycho-geography” is used to explore the influence of the past on the present.
About the Author(s)
David Huckvale has worked as a researcher, writer and presenter for BBC Radio and as a lecturer for various universities in England. He lives in rural Bedfordshire.
A Green and Pagan Land: Myth, Magic and Landscape in British Film and Television
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/a-green-and-pagan-land/
David Huckvale
$39.95
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 227
Bibliographic Info: 33 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7050-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2993-3
Imprint: McFarland
British literature often refers to pagan and classical themes through richly detailed landscapes that suggest more than a mere backdrop of physical features. The myth-inspired writings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Lord Dunsany and even Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows informed later British films and television dramas such as The Owl Service (1969-70), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973), Excalibur (1981) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The author analyzes the evocative language and esthetics of landscapes in literature, film, television and music, and how “psycho-geography” is used to explore the influence of the past on the present.
About the Author(s)
David Huckvale has worked as a researcher, writer and presenter for BBC Radio and as a lecturer for various universities in England. He lives in rural Bedfordshire.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The Holy Grail on Film Updated
Here is the full information about Kevin Harty's new collection:The Holy Grail on Film: Essays on the Cinematic Quest
Edited by Kevin J. Harty
Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-7785-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2053-4
17 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
256pp. softcover (7 x 10) 2015
Buy Now! Price: $45.00
Available for immediate shipment
About the Book
This collection of new essays is the first to study film depictions of the quest for the Holy Grail—the holy Christian relic of legend supposedly used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Scholars from a range of disciplines discuss American, Australian and European films that offer fresh perspectives on this enduring myth of the Arthurian world and Western culture, including The Silver Chalice (1954), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Excalibur (1981), The Road Warrior (1981), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Fisher King (1991), The Da Vinci Code (2006), The Waterboy (1998), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Holy Grail, Silent Grail (Kevin J. Harty) 7
The Silver Chalice: The Once and Future Grail (K. S. Whetter) 21
Lancelot du lac: Robert Bresson’s Arthurian Realism (Joan Tasker Grimbert) 37
Perceval of the Avant-Garde: Rohmer, Blank and von Trier (Alan Baragona) 50
Hans-Jurgen Syberberg’s Parsifal: Remystifying Kundry (Jon Sherman) 67
"Lovely Filth": Monty Python and the Matter of the Holy Grail (Christine M. Neufeld) 81
John Boorman’s Excalibur and the Irrigating Light of the Grail (Raeleen Chai-Elsholz with Jean-Marc Elsholz) 98
The Da Vinci Code and the Myth of History (Susan Aronstein) 112
Percival in Cooperstown: Arthurian Legend, Baseball Mythology and the Mediated Quest in Barry Levinson’s The Natural (James Jesson) 128
Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King (Cory James Rushton) 143
A Son, His Father, Some Nazis and the Grail: Lucas and Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Joseph M. Sullivan) 158
A Grail or a Mirage? Searching the Wasteland of The Road Warrior (Paul B. Sturtevant) 173
The Grail as Symbolic Quest in Tarkovsky’s Stalker (Andrew B. R. Elliott) 187
The Waterboy and Swamp Chivalry: A Grail Knight for American Teens (Laurie A. Finke and Martin B. Shichtman) 202
Holy Grail, Schlocky Grail (David W. Marshall) 215
About the Contributors 233
Index 237
About the Editor
Kevin J. Harty, a professor and chair of English, and coordinator of the Undergraduate General Education Core, at La Salle University in Philadelphia and associate editor of Arthuriana, the official journal of the North American Branch of the International Arthurian Society (of which he is the former president), has written 14 books.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Hoyle's Cinema of John Boorman
New from Scarecrow is an interesting-looking book on John Boorman, though a cursory glance at the bibliography leaves me rather disappointed from the get go. There is an extended treatment of Excalibur, but, unfortunately, the author offers little engagement with the prodigious scholarship on the film noting only monographs by Aberth, Aronstein, and the Umlands; Lacy's piece in The Arthurian Encyclopedia (from 1986!); and Wakefield's essay. Likewise, there is some discussion of Boorman's work on a Lord of the Rings film, but no apparent knowledge of recent work on this project by Janet Brennan Croft.
The Cinema of John Boorman
By Brian Hoyle
Scarecrow Press
Pages: 286
Size: 6 1/4 x 9 1/2
978-0-8108-8395-6 • Hardback -- September 2012 • $65.00 • (£39.95)
978-0-8108-8396-3 • eBook -- September 2012 • $64.99 • (£39.95)
John Boorman has written and directed more than 25 television and feature films, including such classics as Deliverance, Point Blank, Hope and Glory, and Excalibur. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including twice for best Director (Deliverance and Hope and Glory). In the first full-length critical study of the director in more than two decades, author Brian Hoyle presents a comprehensive examination of Boorman’s career to date.
The Cinema of John Boorman offers a film-by-film appraisal of the director’s career, including his feature films and little-known works for television. Drawing on unpublished archive material, Hoyle provides a close reading of each of Boorman's films. Organized chronologically, each chapter examines two or three films and links them thematically. This study also describes Boorman’s interest in myths and quest narratives, as well as his relationship with writers and literature. Making the case that Boorman is both an auteur and a visionary, The Cinema of John Boorman will be of interest not only to fans of the director’s work but to film scholars in general.
Brian Hoyle lectures on film studies and English literature at the University of Dundee. He is the author of numerous articles covering British and American cinema, including articles on Orson Welles, Joseph H. Lewis, Ken Russell, and Derek Jarman.
The Cinema of John Boorman
By Brian Hoyle
Scarecrow Press
Pages: 286
Size: 6 1/4 x 9 1/2
978-0-8108-8395-6 • Hardback -- September 2012 • $65.00 • (£39.95)
978-0-8108-8396-3 • eBook -- September 2012 • $64.99 • (£39.95)
John Boorman has written and directed more than 25 television and feature films, including such classics as Deliverance, Point Blank, Hope and Glory, and Excalibur. He has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including twice for best Director (Deliverance and Hope and Glory). In the first full-length critical study of the director in more than two decades, author Brian Hoyle presents a comprehensive examination of Boorman’s career to date.
The Cinema of John Boorman offers a film-by-film appraisal of the director’s career, including his feature films and little-known works for television. Drawing on unpublished archive material, Hoyle provides a close reading of each of Boorman's films. Organized chronologically, each chapter examines two or three films and links them thematically. This study also describes Boorman’s interest in myths and quest narratives, as well as his relationship with writers and literature. Making the case that Boorman is both an auteur and a visionary, The Cinema of John Boorman will be of interest not only to fans of the director’s work but to film scholars in general.
Brian Hoyle lectures on film studies and English literature at the University of Dundee. He is the author of numerous articles covering British and American cinema, including articles on Orson Welles, Joseph H. Lewis, Ken Russell, and Derek Jarman.
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Blog Editor, The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
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