It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

So while we have 500 cable movies, why are so many movies, like this one, lost to viewers? An interesting look at British history, when they were paying the Danegeld, Michael York, as usual, gives a superb performance. Well worth hunting down to see, it's an enjoyable film.

Brilliant film, but then I'm biased as it's British history and I'm British. David Hemmings was excellent, I don't think any other actor could have portrayed Alfred the Great. If you want to know where the Brits come from watch this film and you'll see.If your studying English history then this is the film you should watch, the interplay between Michael York as Guthrun and David Hemmings should tell you a lot. You'll see where a lot of the laws that govern us come from. And how Alfred said that everybody should have access to the law and nobody should be above it.It's entertaining and educational at the same time.

Alfred the Great is not really a sweeping epic, nor is it a blood stained sword-wielding blockbuster. It's quite a quiet picture, with lots of talk, lots of emphasis on the lovely background landscapes, and a degree of fair amount of precision in terms of costume and weaponry.At the beginning, young Prince Alfred is moments away from turning his back on his duty as the future monarch and is preparing to become a priest. However he is persuaded to forsake these religious ambitions when a Danish invasion force start massacaring people on the coast. He leads the armies of Wessex and Mercia against the invading Danes, and in so doing he earns the first and only label ever to be proclaimed upon a king of England as "somebody the Great".Generally, the film is a bore. However, that gives the impression that it is a complete failure, which in all honesty is probably a bit unfair. Hemmings gives a notable leading performance, York is in uncommonly good form as the main Dane, and there are a couple of bloodily staged battle sequences. Alfred the Great is definitely a missed opportunity, but it remains watchable thanks to a handful of worthwhile moments.

When this picture first appeared en 1968, several critics complained that it had not make up its mind whether to be a swashbuckler or a lesson of history. After all this years, it is easy to see that it succeeded in both accounts, and also as a depiction of the psychological development of its chief character. Perhaps in 1968 swashbucklers were supposed to be only action, movement and blood, and the serious treatment given to this movie was ahead of its time. even in its careful explanation of the strategy Alfred employed to defeat the Danes in one of the better staged battles the cinema has seen since Griffith gave us Gettysburg in 1915.David Hemmings' work as Alfred is brilliant, and Michael York gave here what was perhaps his finest performance in films. A misunderstood movie, that deserves to be recovered after 30 years.Of course, director Clive Donner should be given almost all of the credit.