Cromwell is compelling enough as a historical epic, and has several points of interest. The film is very beautifully filmed, with skillful cinematography, beautiful scenery and costumes. Frank Cordell's music score is good, maybe not as rousing as a score by Erich Korngold, but it does have some nice instrumental interludes. The battle sequences are very well staged,the parliamentary scenes are even better and the direction is solid. The acting was very good in general, Richard Harris was perhaps wrong in terms of build for Cromwell, and while he does overact in places he more than makes up for any misgivings in a suitably aggressive and brutish characterisation. Alec Guiness was even better, he was a marvellous actor who very rarely gave a bad performance. Here as Charles I, he generously underplays and fantastically un-yielding. Timothy Dalton is very campy here as Rupert but has some good moments, whether you think it a good or bad thing that's up to you though. However I do have complaints. One, the secondary characters could've been developed more. Two, while I had no problem with the length, I think it can take a lot of stamina to sit through long movies in one sitting, in my case, there were one or two moments where it felt rather long winded. But my main problem was the historical inaccuracies. Other reviewers have pointed them out in sufficient detail, but I will add I was especially perplexed at how this film seemed to portray the Roundheads as the good guys. All in all, has flaws but it is a good film. 8/10 Bethany Cox
Review of Cromwell
