The best Anthony Quayle’s history movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Anthony Quayle’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Anthony Quayle.
Lawrence of Arabia
8.3/10
The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence's mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic figure in the cause of Arab unity but his psychological instability threatens to undermine his achievements.
The Fall of the Roman Empire
6.7/10
Drawn from the same events that later inspired Gladiator, the film charts the power-hungry greed and father-son betrayal that led to Rome's collapse at the bloody hands of the Barbarians.
Anne of the Thousand Days
7.4/10
Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
The Battle of the River Plate
6.6/10
In the opening years of World War II the Royal Navy was fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open and the British Isles supplied. Of great danger were the numerous surface/commerce raiders that had slipped out of German waters just before war was declared. Supplied by axis cargo ships or tankers, they primarily attacked and sank merchant shipping, and they could and did strike anywhere and everywhere. This is the story of one such ship – the 'Admiral Graf Spee' – and how 3 lightly armed Royal Navy cruisers with mere 6 and 8 inch guns boldly took on this powerful 'pocket battleship' armed with 11 inch guns.
H.M.S. Defiant
7.1/10
Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.
Bequest to the Nation
6.3/10
Set before the Battle of Trafalgar, this is the story of relationship between Admiral Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton during the Napoleonic Wars.
Saraband for Dead Lovers
6.5/10
Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.
Moses the Lawgiver
6.1/10
Story of Moses. Originally a TV Miniseries recut for theaters
The Story of David
6.2/10
Filmed in Israel and Spain, the four-hour made-for-TV movie "The Story of David" stars Timothy Bottoms as the Biblical king. The "David and Goliath" legend is presented as credibly as possible, while David's later disastrous romance with Bathsheba (Jane Seymour) is handled with taste and decorum. Also in the cast are Anthony Quayle as King Saul, and Terence Hardiman as Bathsheba's unfortunate warrior husband Uriah.
Henry IV Part 1
7.9/10
Henry Bolingbroke has now been crowned King of England, but faces a rebellion headed by the embittered Earl of Northumberland and his son (nicknamed 'Hotspur'). Henry's son Hal, the Prince of Wales, has thrown over life at court in favour of heavy drinking and petty theft in the company of a debauched elderly knight, Sir John Falstaff. Hal must extricate himself from some legal problems, regain his father's good opinions and help suppress the uprising.
Henry IV Part 2
7.8/10
The death of King Henry the Fourth and the coronation of King Henry the Fifth.
