arthur_of_the_britons | Entries tagged with publicity

During 1975, a film, 1 hour 35 minutes in length, entitled "King Arthur The Young Warlord" was released straight to videotape. The film was a compilation of scenes from "Arthur of the Britons." It was later released on DVD. Here are some of the posters and covers which accompanied these releases.

This poster includes the very first piece of artwork produced for the series, as well as stills from the series.

This Spanish poster bears little resemblance to anything that happened in the series.

This British VHS cover is equally unrepresentative of the contents! What were they thinking?

This VHS cover uses a still from "The Games."

This is the most recent and most representative cover, accompanying the DVD version.

These posters were for a spanish version of "Arthur of the Britons", shown in Mexico as "El Rey de los Guerreros."

Arthur Poster merged

Though Michael Gothard's photo appears in the insert below, only Oliver Tobias and Jack Watson are mentioned by name.

Kai poster

The photo inserts were taken from actual footage, but the background picture bears little resemblance to anything the viewers would have seen on the screen.

Text:
El Rey de los Guerreros
Ano 500 D.C las hordas salvajes invaden inglaterra, pero un joven guerrero las ataca ferozmente.

Translation:
The King of the warriors
In the year 500 AD, the wild hordes invade England, but a young warrior attacks them ferociously.

Photo featuring Oliver Tobias with the Peregrine falcon that appeared in "The Treaty."

This double-page pull-out poster appears in the TV Times on 9 December. The text reads as follows:

Women all over Britain are keeping a weekly date with him – even if they do offer their children as a reason. Oliver Tobias, star of the new 24-week adventure series, Arthur of the Britons, has the sort of dark good looks with which housewives like to decorate the inside of the kitchen cupboard doors.

He is a 25-year-old six-footer with a big, healthy smile who likes to do his own stunts. He rides and sword-fights with skill and conviction, but doesn’t always escape unscathed. During a film battle sequence, Tobias let a spear through his guard and ended up with ten stitches in his head.

Despite his Swiss origins, he finds the Arthur legend more compelling than the tale of William Tell. He believes that Arthur actually existed. “I think he was a Romano-British soldier who defended the Celts against the Saxons,” says Tobias. He sees Arthur as a complex and rather sad character, a young man forced to take responsibilities far beyond his years.

Riding is Tobias’s great hobby and at the moment he is having built a quadrega – a Roman chariot to be pulled by four horses harnessed in line abreast.

Oliver Tobias was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on August 6, 1947. He is a Leo – ideal for anyone playing Arthur, since his qualities include determination, ambition and the ability to lead. His mother is German and his father Swiss, and he came to England when he was 10. He went to an acting school in London. In the theatre, he played joint lead in the London production of Hair, singing Donna and the title song, and then staged and choreographed the show in Israel. He has made two films: Romance of a Horsethief, shot in Yugoslavia in 1970, and ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore in 1971. The series in which he plays Arthur is his first big opportunity on television.

TV Times 15 Dec

The first page of this feature in the children's magazine "Look-in" from the week ending 2 December 1972 sets the stage for the re-telling of the Legend of King Arthur in a much more realistic way than it had ever been told before.

The captions are not entirely accurate. Kai is wholly Saxon by birth, but Celtic by upbringing and loyalties. In the scene shown top left, from "The Challenge", Kai is not trying to overthrow Arthur. The two of them have just had a squabble that got out of hand.

The scene shown top right is interesting, in that the photo from "The Gift of Life" is taken from a different angle to the film used in the episode. Also, Arthur appears to be running with the child, whereas in the episode, he picks it up, the film is cut, and we see a rider approach, then it cuts back to Arthur giving the child to its mother as Kai runs past. Any film of Kai dismounting, and them running with the child, was left out of the final edit.

AotB Look in 2 small

The top picture in the article below shows Kai and Llud launching spears at the Saxons in "Arthur is Dead." The picture below is captioned 'Goda, played by Hilary Dwyer' but actually shows Eithna, played by Madeleine Hinde.

Look-in 1972b

Text:

As the story opens, we see the Celtic chiefs struggling, one by one, to move a great boulder. Beneath it lies a sword, and great honour awaits the first man to lift that sword above his head. But all the chiefs fail – and then the young warrior called Arthur steps forward. He shows them how to move the boulder by pushing together – but as the surprised men recover from their effort, they realize that Arthur has snatched up the sword and now holds it aloft.

Arthur has established his right to become war-leader of the Celts. At the same time, he has taught his men two important lessons. First, that unity is strength. And second, that victory goes to the man who thinks and plans rather than to the strongest.

Dream of a united Britain

But although Arthur becomes leader of Celtic resistance to the Saxon invaders of Britain, he needs all his wisdom and bravery to keep his place. His men are only too ready to fight among themselves. And of his two lieutenants, only the veteran warrior Llud is completely reliable. The other, Kai, is part-Saxon, a violent and head-strong young man who sometimes sees Arthur’s careful planning as a sign of weakness. But with these men, Arthur strives to bring about his dream of a united Britain.

“Arthur of the Britons” is based on what historians, rather than imaginative writers, can tell us about Arthur. In fact, we know very little. But what we do know is that a man called Arthur once existed, and that his deeds were so great that he was to be remembered for centuries as a mighty leader. From about A.D. 1200 onward, when the stories of Arthur were first written down, the legends of ‘King Arthur’ took on the more colourful form in which we read them today.

It is these legends, no more true than fairy-tales, that HTV’s “Arthur of the Britons” strips away – to show us the real man who lies behind him.

This photo in this news article giving advance publicity for the series, shows the heroes wearing a prototype costume, some elements of which were abandoned before filming began. For example, Llud is never seen wearing a jacket like this in the series, and - in colour versions of this picture - Arthur and Kai are shown cross-gartered, whereas in the series, this is an element of the Saxon and Jute costumes.

costume clip

This poster was probably drawn up in July 1972, when filming had just got under way. It features an artist's impressions, possibly from photos, of scenes from "Arthur is Dead" and "The Challenge."

Poster courtesy of Paul Lewis.

Romance, legend, myth and misunderstanding veil the true story of ARTHUR, the man who roused all England to repel a barbaric invader. Behind the legend lies a freedom fighter, a leader of genius.

In “ARTHUR of the Britons”, HTV West, within whose borders ARTHUR built his own Camelot, have created a 24-part series on the life and battles of the hero ‘king’.

It is the dramatic story of desperate men and desperate times, an age of bloodshed, but an age also of a warrior who held dear the vision of a free, united and Christian kingdom.

The £500,000 series was filmed on West Country locations that once rang to the clash of Celtic and Saxon sword. Two stockaded encampments, one Celtic and one Saxon, were recreated in painstaking detail.

The writers who contribute are of international repute. They include: Terence Feeley, Robert Banks Stewart, David Osborn, David Pursall and Jack Seddon.

ARTHUR and his story belong to the so-called Dark Ages of English history that must remain partly veiled. This television series is the first realistic attempt to look behind that veil.

The text reiterates the premise of the show: Arthur as a wily war leader, trying to unite his people against invaders.

It is interesting to note that Arthur is referred to as "a warrior who held dear the vision of a free, united and Christian kingdom." But nowhere in the series does Arthur refer to his own religious faith, and though a white banner with a red cross is on display in Arthur's village, he never fights anyone simply because they are not Christians; indeed, his foster-father, Llud, believes in different deities, though we are not told which ones.

In "Arthur is Dead", a large book - which might well be a Bible - is seen in Arthur's room; later in the series he consults a monk, but about an agricultural rather than a spiritual problem, and later still, he takes issue with Rolf, for preaching Christian peace and love, causing some of the Celts to lay down their arms.

Perhaps it was thought that a Christian leader might hold greater appeal, but religious fervour just didn't fit with the character of the practical hero they had created in Arthur.

This fascinating glimpse into the early planning stages of "Arthur of the Britons" was kindly supplied by Paul Lewis, who preserved the article.

HTV to spend £1/2 m on King Arthur series

HTV West is to spend more than £500,000 one a new adventure series, a 24-part saga devoted to the exploits of King Arthur.

The story of the West Country’s own legendary hero will be filmed on the locations actually associated with Arthur, among them Cadbury Camp, the reputed site of Camelot, and holy Glastonbury.

Filming will begin in June.

“This is a very exciting project by any standards and reflects our confidence in the production team, led by Patrick Dromgoole, we have created at Bristol,” said managing director Tony Gorard last week.

The series will be done by the same team who produced the 13-part series, Pretenders, and the play Thick as Thieves, which was the winner of the Royal Television Society’s “Pye Oscar” as the best regional production of the year.

HTV has found an American distributor, Heritage Enterprises, for the new series. Mr Arthur Steloff, of Heritage, said, “There is enormous interest in a programme based on King Arthur and I am confident we can achieve world-wide sales.”

Lord Harlech, Chairman of HTV said, “The series will be as historically authentic as we can make it. Arthur was a young and powerful fighter who fought savagely and successfully to defend the remnants of Roman Britain against the invading Saxons.”

“We are tearing up the cosy Victorian water-colour picture of Arthur and showing instead the hard tough cavalry leader he must really have been,” he added.

The series will show how Arthur moulded the splintered British tribes into the force that repelled barbarian invaders bent on conquest, and moulded still more – the shape of a kingdom to come.

The role of Arthur will be played by Oliver Tobias, star of the London production of Hair. Michael Gothard, well-known for his appearance in The Last Valley and in Ken Russell’s The Devils plays Kai, a loyal follower of the King.

Jack Watson who starred in Pretenders is cast as Ludd The Silver Handed, a powerful Celtic warrior who rides as Arthur’s right hand. Merlin will be played by Maurice Evans.

Peter Miller is the producer and his team includes Roy Baird, the executive producer for Women In Love, Henry VIII and If.

Writers engaged include Terence Feely, Robert Banks Stewart, Jack Seddon, David Purcell, Stuart Douglas and Bob Baker and Dave Martin the Bristol playwrights responsible for both Pretender and Thick As Thieves.

It is interesting that at this stage, they were still referring to Arthur as "King Arthur", though he is never referred to as such in the series. Also interesting is the fact that nowhere is it stated that the series is for children, though in the UK, it was shown late afternoon, when children would be watching after school.

Early plans to film at sites connected with the little we know, or think we know, of the historical Arthur - including Cadbury Camp and Glastonbury - must have been abandoned at an early stage.

Also abandoned was Merlin, whom the article says was to be played by Maurice Evans - Dr Zaius in "Planet of the Apes"(1968). As Patrick Dromgoole has said: "It was difficult to stick to a realistic theme of an available gang of pro-British professional soldiers available where needed, without losing the mystical aspects of Merlin."

£500,000 was a great deal of money to spend on such a series at the time, so it isn't surprising that selling it to foreign networks was a high priority. This plan came to fruition, with "Arthur of the Britons" being shown, in various forms, sometimes under a different name, and either dubbed or subtitled, in France ("Arthur, Roi des Celtes"), Germany ("Konig Arthur"), Spain ("Arturo de Bretaña"), many Eastern European countries, Australia, the USA ("King Arthur") and South America ("El Rey de los Guerreros").

TV Today 15 June 1972 small

The photo sent with this press release may well have been this early portrait of Oliver Tobias as Arthur.

Photo courtesy of Oliver Tobias and Rex Features. Not for distribution.

This early piece of artwork was preserved by the series' composer, Paul Lewis. It appears to have been produced before filming began, though clearly the main characters had been cast. Also, it had already been decided that Arthur should ride a white horse, and the font used in the series had been designed.

Arthur is seen carrying a shield of a type he only uses in the first episode - a round shield with a boss, which he later identifies as being of Saxon design. Also, we never see a Saxon longboat as shown in the poster - in full sail - in the series.

The picture of Kai - with a stubbly beard, which he doesn't wear in "Arthur of the Britons" - must have been drawn from stills of Michael Gothard playing Hansen in "The Last Valley", with which the producers were familiar.

The Last Valley 16

Michael Gothard as Hansen

The artwork also appears to have been used as a cover for a publicity folder. These are the folded over edges, with the details they evidently considered most important at the time.