#57 - Creaky Chair Guide to Historical Epics

On this extra-long episode we present our Creaky Chair guide to the historical epic. We decided that 'historical' meant anything pre-20th century and had to have some basis in historical fact. Sam went for Abel Gance's 1927 silent classic 'Napoléon' (which, clocking in at some 5 hours, is the most epic of our choices in terms of length), as well as 'Ran' (1985), Akira Kurosawa's loose adaptation of 'King Lear' set in the time of warring Japanese feudal dynasties. Bill opted for sword-and-sandals Roman epics 'Ben-Hur' (1959) starring Charlton Heston, and Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator' (2000) starring Russell Crowe and Oliver Reed. Michael chose Andrei Tarkovsky's 1966 masterpiece 'Andrei Rublev' about the Russian icon painter, and Mel Gibson's divisive 'Braveheart' (1995) about the Scottish folk hero William Wallace. Before all the historical epics chat, we also find time to discuss the shock recent news about Warner Bros' decision to scrap 'Batgirl' entirely, and ponder what the implications for the film industry might be.