Watch The Mists of Avalon For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Excellent but underrated film

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It takes a bit over an hour to really start getting in this two part TV movie that attempts to take all of the characters of the Arthurian legend and turn it into something truly epic. Take everything you remember of the Lerner and Lowe musical, Disney's "The Sword and the Stone", the magical " Excalibur" and both the movie and stage versions of "The Holy Grail", aka "Spamalot". Sex it up a bit, tossing in some brother and sisterly love, a vindictive aunt, and you've got the makings of an intriguing variation of a most familiar tale, told from the point of view of the often villainized Morgan Le Fey.Other updates of classic fairy tales and legends often become misandrist in their themes, but fortunately this avoids that, giving women equal intelligence, if not equal power. While the men are evil as in brutal in battle, the evil women are calculating, turning deep into the dark arts to achieve their ends, which ends up with Arthur and sister Morgan an unknown night together and information that could lead to the destruction of Arthur's "perfect" kingdom. It also makes insinuations of Arthur allowing wife Guenevere allowance to be with Lancelot, an odd menage a tois that happens over the montage of dark arts occurring at the very same time. Of the cast, Angelica Huston adds another unique characterization to her portfolio as the aging "Lady of the Lake" who isn't evil by nature but puts some shocking plots in motion. Joan Allen is the wicked aunt who uses the information of what she knows to her advantage, the perfect villainess to move the plot forward to her benefit for a while and ultimately a fantastic destruction. This feels perfectly set in the dark ages as the civilized post Roman world tried to expand outward. It's quite a show piece, and if not satisfying consistently with other Arthur Pendragon legends (only moderately acted by the leads), it certainly knows a way of gaining and keeping the viewer's attention.

What's immediately clear in watching this mini-series for anyone's who's carefully read the book is the moment MZB passed and the producers got full control of the film's direction. Part one adheres loosely to the book. Part two departs from it entirely and reverts to the typical telling of the tale. It looses completely the threads of the women's story to the point where the only way to get Morgaine back into the action is to put her on a horse, give her a sword, and send her into battle. Important sub-plots which would tell us more about MZB's character's are dropped ostensibly due to time constraints, but others are created which add nothing at all to the story. In effect, Part one is recognizably MZB, though it loses all its profundity. Part two is NOT recognizable as MZB's story. Anyone who had read the book and was shown only Part two would have no reason to connect the two at all. Yes, lovely costumes, sets, and actors... a nice pageant, but that is not what Bradley wrote. What a shame! What it needed was someone with the dedication that Peter Jackson had for LoTR. Clearly that is not what it had.What I might have thought had I never read the book?... Having spent 22 years in professional theatre, likely I would not have finished watching it. I would have shut it off about 20 minutes into Part two. Let us hope one day to see the treatment this magnificent story deserves, but this is not that day.

Anyone who has read the book, "Mists of Avalon" and loved it will hate this movie. It is a cheap, poor reflection of the masterpiece that Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote decades ago. All of her fans should write in protest! For instance, Morgaine and Author knew each other immediately after the Beltane feast. Also, Mordred does not kill Vivaine. Also, there are many important characters missing from this film. Such as, three of Morgause's sons, Ninane, and Kevin the Harper. These are some of the many inaccuracies that plague this film.If only they could have done the book justice . . . that would make an excellent film!

I enjoyed this movie, but the book is even better. However, it does make you look at the Camelot stories in a different light. Morgaine was always made out to be an evil manipulative woman out to destroy King Arthur. This story gives a totally different perspective. You get to see how she was manipulated into having relations with Arthur without her knowledge. She had Mordred taken from her and raised by her sister to be a man who only wanted to destroy Arthur and Morgaine in order to take the throne and have power. In the end, Morgaine was the only person who truly cared about Arthur and made sure to take him home to Avalon at his death.