A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film John Aberth

In A Knight at the Movies, historian John Aberth separates fact from fiction in cinematic favorites from the silent era to today, including Camelot, Excalibur, and Braveheart. With an eye for anachronistic detail, he reminds us that Hollywood's version of the Middle Ages had been laughable long before Monty Python and the Holy Grail. From the Black Knight, in which Arthurian warriors ride across a plain complete with telephone poles in the background, to The Black Shield of Falworth, in which Tony Curtis - in his best medieval Bronx accent - utters the immortal line "Yonda is the castle of my fodda," these movies are often unintentionally hilarious. They may not be paragons of historical accuracy, but Aberth shows that much of what we know - or think we know - about the Middle Ages has been dictated by what we've seen on the movie screen. A Knight at the Movies takes us behind the stock images of knights in shinning armor and damsels in distress, illuminating how real life in the Middle Ages compares with what we have seen on the silver screen. This richly entertaining and deeply informative book is essential reading for anyone interested in history and film.