"The Lion in Winter" (1968)

It is interesting that I have no problems whatsoever with old movies made in 1920s and 1930s but production of 1960s and 1970s I find hard to watch because it looks so dated and everything is damn slow.Everything made in gold days of cinema seems like a fantasy,while 1960s sets look simply awful and there is always a strange,experimental look about them,from directors pointing at the tree branch to a silly costumes and actors hamming it up.

Luckily,script is sometimes so good that I enjoy the movie in spite of everything. I saw "Lion in winter" long time ago and wanted to refresh my memory - yes,it has million completely unnecessary scenes with a tree branch and church bells ringing but I understand this is a movie version of theatre play so probably they thought it is important to bring the feeling of outside world to it - in 1960s version everything is dirty and chicken are running around while king and the queen are walking across the muddy courtyard. I doubt very much in the realism of these scenes because perhaps poor aristocrats had chicken running around,but the king of England definitely had better surroundings.

However,the script is brilliant and actors are killing each other verbally - I actually laughed out loud several times,thrilled with their sharp exchanges - Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn are so stunning in their love/hate relationship that its hard to imagine anyone else in these roles,but other supporting actors are great as well - it is great to see actors who were legends of their generations next to the actors who would grow up to be giants later,like for example Anthony Hopkins and yes,future James Bond who was surprisingly strong as french king (full of spite,malicious and manipulative as anybody in the story). Even the meek king's mistress (Princess Alys) who was completely bland and grey at first,turns out to be merciless and dangerous towards the end.

I would actually love to see this movie re-made by today's standards (with appropriate glamour and no chicken running towards the king of England)- surely they would add some computer-animated battlefield scenes today,never mind - and even better,this would be thrill to see live in theatre.

Katherine Heburn won Oscar for her role in this movie,it was the only time in the history that two actresses shared the award for the main female role: Barbra Streisand also won Oscar for her movie debut and its impossible to even compare these two roles,because both Streisand and Hepburn were top in what they did.