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.

Coming Soon: The Holy Grail on Film

It's been a while since I last posted, but there are some exciting new developments in the field. The first is an interesting new collection edited by Kevin J. Harty, the most active proponent of Arthurian film/television studies. The book is due out this spring just in time for Kalamazoo. Details as follows:

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

ca. 15 photos, notes, bibliography, index

softcover (7 x 10) 2015

Price: $45.00

Not Yet Published, Available Spring/Summer 2015

About the Book

This collection of new essays is the first to study film depictions of the quest for the Holy Grail—the Christian holy relic of legend supposedly used by Jesus at the Last Supper. Scholars and critics from a range of disciplines discuss American 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).

Complete contents will be posted separately once they are made available. 

About the Editor

Kevin J. Harty is 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. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, seven of which are on film and medieval studies.  

TF1's Merlin Mini-Series

The French television network TF1 aired a two-part miniseries called Merlin in 2012 . There is sparse information online about the series (see the sidebar under 2010-2019 productions), but the film, a comedic retelling of the Arthurian legend, offers yet another Merlin-centered version of the story.

Part one opens with a very Gandalf-looking Merlin (played by Gérard Jugnot) at the court of Uther Pendragon, where he helped raise and educate the young Arthur and (sometimes) Guenièvre. Ten years later, a less hirsute Merlin retires to Brocéliande after Arthur has grown up and begins to live with Viviane and her son Lancelot. However, Merlin is called back when Camelot is threatened by Arthur's cousin, Morgane, (herself a powerful magic-wielder, trained by her aged aunt) and her ally the barbarian king Vortigern (!) on the eve (?) of Arthur and Guenièvre's wedding. (Morgane had, apparently, expected to marry Arthur and become queen.) Merlin, Viviane, and Lancelot spend some time at court here, and (I think) the two mages are instrumental in stopping Morgane and Vortigern at this time. However, the villains return in part two, and Merlin is ill-prepared because the title of part one, "L'Enchanteur Désenchanté," refers to the fact that Merlin loses his powers as the years pass and he falls in love with Viviane and becomes a surrogate parent for Lancelot.

Taking place seven years later, part two, "Le Secret de Brocéliande," centers on Merlin's struggles to regain his magic in order to save the realm and restore Guenièvre to flesh after she has been turned, by the returned Morgane, into stone. This section also focuses on a quest for the Grail undertaken by Merlin and a teenaged Lancelot--the prophesied Grail-winner--to save Viviane, who is held by Morgane.

There are lots of images and some plot summary at the series official site (http://www.tf1.fr/merlin/) but no video. The following trailer comes from YouTube:

Valdés Miyares on the Grail

New overview of the representations of the Grail on film and television. Looks like essential reading on the subject.

Valdés Miyares, J. Rubén. “The Cinematic Sign of the Grail.” Corporate Medievalism. Ed. Karl Fugelso. Studies in Medievalism 21. Cambridge, Eng.: D. S. Brewer-Boydell & Brewer, 2012. 145-59.

Legend Quest Previews

Syfy aired a series last year called Legend Quest that included a number of Arthurian-themed eisides. Here are the previews of two episodes from the network's YouTube channel:






The complete series can be viewed on Hulu at http://www.hulu.com/legend-quest.

More Fate/Stay Night

The English dub of the animated feature film Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, which features various mythological and legendary figures (including a female King Arthur) in combat for the Holy Grail, comes to home video this month from Sentai Filmworks:

Having spent the last ten years of his life studying under a mysterious sorcerer, Shiro Emiya has become a Magi. As such, she can summoned the mystical female warrior, Saber, to stand in the ultimate test of sorcery and magic: the Holy Grail War. While seven teams will enter the battle, only one will leave. Is that worth the price Shiro must ultimately pay? The battle is on in FATE/STAY NIGHT – UNLILMITED BLADEWORKS!

The film follows the "official" storyline of the franchise as opposed to the composite one presented in the anime series Fate/Stay Night, which (as far as I can determine) is the only one to expand on Saber's past as King Arthur.

Apparently, there is also a prequel series Fate/Zero currently showing as an anime series on Japanese television (and now on Hulu.com at http://www.hulu.com/fatezero). The series depicts the last Holy Grail War ten years ago and introduces Lancelot.

Juan Miguel Zarandona on Daniel Mangrané and Carlos Serrano de Osma's Spanish Parsifal (1951)

Spanish Arthurian scholar Juan Miguel Zarandona has just published "Daniel Mangrané and Carlos Serrano de Osma's Spanish Parsifal (1951): a Strange Film?" in the latest number of Arthuriana 20.4 (Winter 2010). The article can also be accessed through Project MUSE.

Posted abstract as follows:

The Spanish cinematic work entitled Parsifal (1951) has always been termed ‘strange’ and regarded as an artistic failure. However, reconsideration of the context in which this film was produced suggests it is worthy of greater attention. After considering the difficult history of Spanish cinema, General Franco’s Spain, local legends of the Grail, and the Wagnerian cult in Barcelona, we can see that Parsifal is a very interesting interpretation of the story of the Arthurian knight.

Vampires and the Grail! Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are Undead

Coming to DVD on 2 November: Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are Undead, a film written and directed by Jordan Galland. The official site includes a wealth of details about the film, including the following synopsis that highlights the film's connections to the lore of "undead Arthuriana":

Julian Marsh (Hoffman) is an out of work ladies man who lands a job directing a bizarre adaption of Hamlet. After casting his best friend (Lemche) and his ex-girlfriend (Aoki) in the show, Julian finds himself in the middle of a two thousand year old conspiracy that explains the connection between Shakespeare, the Holy Grail and some seriously sexy vampires. It turns out that the play was actually written by a master vampire named Theo Horace (Ventimiglia) and it's up to Julian to recover the Grail in order to reverse the vampire's curse... If only being undead wasn't so much God-damned fun!

The following trailers are from YouTube:

Grails Lost and Found: The Lost Princess (FF 2005)

The Science Fiction Book Club is promoting this unique twist on the Grail legend. Here's the description from Amazon for the recent DVD release:

Eleanor, Queen of Fairhaven, sends her good friend and minion Don Juan, Prince of Spain, (Jose Granados), his daughter, the Princess Esmerelda (Dakota Star Granados) and his silly sidekick, Miguel (Douglas Kondziolka) on an adventure to the kingdom of Scarborough to save King Henry and Queen Anne from the clutches of the warmongering bad guy Krunkenmal.

Krankemal challenges the trio to seek out the legendary Holy Grail, a quest that leads them on a perilous journey through Renaissance Europe, filled with song, dance, laughter and high adventure. Don Juan and Miguel have brought together over 200 Renaissance actors, musicians and artisans in creating this swashbuckling comic epic your family will never forget!

If you've ever been to a Renaissance Faire and enjoyed it, then you will love this movie.