Reel history | Cromwell: Oliver's army are on their way to the bargain bin | Film

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("http://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.guardian.co.uk:80/film/2009/aug/20/reel-history-cromwell","20090826152801","http://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1251300481"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <script type="text/javascript"> document.domain = "guardian.co.uk"; </script> <title> Reel history | Cromwell: Oliver's army are on their way to the bargain bin | Film | guardian.co.uk </title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"/> <meta name="description" content="It's hard to know who to root for in Ken Hughes's wildly inaccurate Civil War drama. Richard Harris's Cromwell is a killjoy grump, and Alec Guinness's Charles I a languid fop with questionable relatives…"/> <link rel="image_src" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763615127/Cromwell-1970-004.jpg"/> <meta name="DC.date.issued" content="2009-08-20"> <meta name="keywords" content="Film,Culture,Film"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20090826152801im_/http://www.guardian.co.uk/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"/> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (!commonStaticRoot) { var commonStaticRoot = "http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/"; } if (!sectionStaticRoot) { var sectionStaticRoot = "http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/film/"; } if (!staticHost) { var staticHost="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/"; } //]]> </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/styles/wide/article-top.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/styles/wide/print.css" media="print"/>    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/styles/wide/high-contrast-common.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/zones/culture/styles/wide/high-contrast-section.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/styles/wide/base-typography.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/film/styles/wide/high-contrast-section.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/styles/wide/article-page-typography.css" media="screen"/> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ function insertStyleSheet(href) { var styleObject = document.createElement('link'); 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Richard Harris's Cromwell is a killjoy grump, and Alec Guinness's Charles I a languid fop with questionable relatives. By Alex von Tunzelmann</p> </div> <ul id="content-actions" class="strapped"> <li class="third-party-tool no-comments "> <a id="buzzlink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://uk.buzz.yahoo.com/buzz?publisherurn=the_guardian665&targetUrl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/20/reel-history-cromwell&summary=%3Cp%3EIt%27s+hard+to+know+who+to+root+for+in+Ken+Hughes%27s+wildly+inaccurate+Civil+War+drama.+Richard+Harris%27s+Cromwell+is+a+killjoy+grump%2C+and+Alec+Guinness%27s+Charles+I+a+languid+fop+with+questionable+relatives.+By+Alex+von+Tunzelmann%3C%2Fp%3E&headline=Reel history | Cromwell: Oliver's army are on their way to the bargain bin |Film |guardian.co.uk">Buzz up!</a> </li> <li class="third-party-tool"> <a id="digglink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://digg.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Ffilm%2F2009%2Faug%2F20%2Freel-history-cromwell&title=Reel+history+%7C+Cromwell%3A+Oliver%27s+army+are+on+their+way+to+the+bargain+bin">Digg it</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="content"> <ul class="article-attributes"> <li class="byline"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alexvontunzelmann" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{Alex von Tunzelmann}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}">Alex von Tunzelmann</a> </li> <li class="publication"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{guardian.co.uk}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{2}">guardian.co.uk</a>, Thursday 20 August 2009 11.30 BST </li> </ul> <div id="article-wrapper"> <div class="image"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763613284/Cromwell-1970-001.jpg" width="460" height="276" alt="Cromwell (1970)"/> <p class="caption">Mind the crockery … Richard Harris and Alec Guinness in Cromwell (1970). Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive</p> </div> <p><strong><br/>Director: Ken Hughes<br/>Entertainment grade: C–<br/>History grade: D</strong></p> <div id="factbox"> <ol> <li class="major-heading film-title">Cromwell</li> <li><b>Production year:</b> 1970</li> <li><b>Country:</b> UK</li> <li><b>Directors:</b> Ken Hughes</li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/79367/cromwell">More on this film</a></li> </ol> </div> <p>Oliver <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/79367/cromwell">Cromwell</a> was a political and military leader during the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I, he became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. The republic did not long outlast his death in 1658.</p><h2>People</h2> <span class="inline"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763647131/Cromwell-1970-003.jpg" alt="Cromwell (1970)" width="220" height="132"/> </a> <span class="caption" style="width: 220px;"> Warts and all … Richard Harris as Cromwell. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive </span> </span> <p>It's 1640, and curmudgeonly Puritan Oliver Cromwell is packing up to move to America with the rest of the fun police. He might not fit in with the Pilgrim Fathers, though: he starts out rabidly pro-king. When one fellow suggests taking up arms against the monarch, Cromwell bellows that it is treason, and throws him out of his house. Then the clown-suited Earl of Manchester puts enclosures round the common lands. Cromwell rages and fumes at the king's toff-friendly policies. Then he's in a church and, would you believe it, some royal twit has only gone and put gold things on the altar. Cromwell completely loses his rag, chucking plates and candlesticks hither and thither while yelling about graven images. "God damn this king!" he howls. It's only 20 minutes in, and already the film's apparent hero, played by Richard Harris as if suffering from acute constipation, has lost the audience's sympathy. Unless, of course, you just can't get enough of wild-eyed, pompous, middle-aged men shouting fundamentalist diktats at you. It's like watching Fox News.</p><h2>Politics</h2> <span class="inline"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763060812/Cromwell-1970-003.jpg" alt="Cromwell (1970)" width="220" height="132"/> </a> <span class="caption" style="width: 220px;"> Fop-in-chief … Alec Guiness as Charles I. Photograph: Kobal </span> </span> <p>The hero void cannot be filled by languid fop-in-chief Charles I (Alec Guinness). Inaccurately, Cromwell suggests that England become a democracy. "Democracy, Mr Cromwell," replies the king, "was a Greek drollery based on the foolish notion that there are extraordinary possibilities in very ordinary people." And then he flies off on his broomstick, surrounded by winged monkeys. No, not really. Cromwell goes on to suggest that everyone should have schools and universities as well as democracy, and someone even talks about votes for the poor and underprivileged. This is completely wrong. The groups that spoke for the rights of the common man during the English Civil War were the Levellers and the Diggers. Cromwell suppressed both. Some Levellers actually went on to ally with Royalists. Absent entirely from the movie, too, is his Irish campaign, which even in its most forgiving interpretation doesn't do much for Old Ironsides's supposed status as a hero of liberation.</p><h2>War</h2> <span class="inline"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763279277/Cromwell-1970-003.jpg" alt="Cromwell (1970)" width="220" height="132"/> </a> <span class="caption" style="width: 220px;"> Ready for action. Photograph: Kobal </span> </span> <p>At the Battle of Edgehill, Charles's dashing nephew Prince Rupert of the Rhine (Timothy Dalton) arrives with his big flashy sword and fluffy white poodle, the latter groomed to match his elaborately plumed hat. Rupert did have such a poodle, Boy, which was the envy of the Grand Turk. It was often seen on the battlefield, and ultimately joined the death toll at the Battle of Marston Moor. Prince and pooch are shown leading the Royalists to a resounding victory, despite Cromwell's brave frontline fighting. This isn't true at all. Edgehill was inconclusive, and Cromwell arrived a day too late to fight. Predictably, he reacts by shouting even more, and stomps off to form the New Model Army. Cue a training montage of recruits struggling over fences, clashing swords together and decapitating straw Royalists. Thereafter the film skips directly to the Battle of Naseby, at which it claims the Parliamentarians were outnumbered. That's exactly the wrong way round.</p><h2>Regicide</h2> <span class="inline"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2009/8/20/1250763178451/Cromwell-1970-003.jpg" alt="Cromwell (1970)" width="220" height="132"/> </a> <span class="caption" style="width: 220px;"> The King and I. Photograph: Kobal </span> </span> <p>The most accurate scenes are those of Charles's goodbyes to his children and execution, and even those aren't right. His marriage is portrayed as a half-hearted struggle against a scheming Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, lazily characterised as Lady Macbeth. Playing Charles, Guinness aims for quiet dignity, and achieves stilted apathy. When king and queen kiss goodbye, the earth stays resolutely still. Finally, the axe falls, and the executioner holds up the king's severed head, crying "Behold the head of a traitor!" Famously, these words were not said at Charles's execution: the executioner wished to remain anonymous. A few not especially credible rumours said it was Cromwell himself. Unfortunately, this is followed by yet more scenes of parliamentary debates on committees of inquiry, which are exactly as thrilling as they sound.</p><h2>Verdict</h2><p>Roll on the Restoration.</p> </div> </div> <div id="related"> <ul id="article-toolbox-side"> <li class="printable"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/aug/20/reel-history-cromwell/print" rel="nofollow" id="printlink" class="printable rollover" title="Link to a printer-friendly version" name="&lid={pageToolbox}{Printer-friendly version}&lpos={pageToolbox}{1}"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/78272/common/images/icon_print.gif" alt="Print this" class="trail-icon"/><span>Printable version</span></a></li> <li><a class="rollover sendlink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/351736753" title="Opens an email form" name="&lid={pageToolbox}{Email a 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href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/series/reelhistory" name="&lid={moreInSeries}{Index}&lpos={moreInSeries}{3}">Reel history index</a></p> </div> <div id="footer" class="film footer"> <ul id="footer-links"> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://syndication.guardian.co.uk/" name="&lid={areas/common/footer}{License/buy our content}&lpos={areas/common/footer}{1}">License/buy our content</a> | </li> <li><a href="/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/Users/help/article/0,,933905,00.html" name="&lid={areas/common/footer}{Privacy policy}&lpos={areas/common/footer}{2}">Privacy policy</a> | </li> <li><a href="/web/20090826152801/http://www.guardian.co.uk/Users/help/article/0,,933909,00.html" name="&lid={areas/common/footer}{Terms/conditions}&lpos={areas/common/footer}{3}">Terms & conditions</a> | </li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090826152801/http://adinfo-guardian.co.uk/" 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Reel history | Cromwell: Oliver's army are on their way to the bargain bin | Film | guardian.co.uk