('Kingdom in Twilight'/'Ring of the Nibelungs'/'Dark Kingdom')
Max plays Eyvind, the blacksmith
Official site: www.ring-of-the-nibelungs.com
SIEGMUND (Leonard Moss), King of Xanten, faces betrayal from two of his most powerful vassals as his castle is besieged and stormed by the brothers, THORKILT and THORKWIN, and their troops. Siegmund knows the only chance for his bloodline to continue is for his wife SIEGLIND (Tamsin MacCarthy) and their four-year-old son SIEGFRIED to escape through a hidden tunnel to safety. The fearless boy, trying to help defend his home, is swept up in the arms of his mother, and they flee...but not before witnessing the brutal murder of Siegfried's father. Sieglind escapes with Siegfried no further than the river before being fatally wounded by a pursuer's arrow. She barely manages to get the exhausted and traumatized Siegfried safely onto a floating log before sinking lifeless into the dark waters. At dawn, EYVIND (Max von Sydow) the swordsmith finds the boy still floating on the log, frightened and in shock, unable to tell how he'd come there. Eyvind pulls him onto his raft and heads home. Fifteen years later the boy has grown into a man: like his "father", Siegfried (Benno Fürmann) has become one of the best swordsmiths in Germania, traveling the Rhine with Eyvind selling their wares and services. Siegfried knows no fear - he doesn't even quite understand its purpose - That is, until one night, when he sees a meteor streak across the sky and crash to Earth. Driven by curiosity and an urge that he doesn't fully understand, he makes his way to the meteorite's point of impact. There he meets BRUNNHILD (Kristanna Loken), a mysterious and beautiful young woman armed and armoured as a warrior. Siegfried finds that he must battle Brunnhild for a share of the precious metal sent from the stars, which has split into two halves. But their battle soon turns into attraction; they find themselves drawn to one another, and Siegfried is lost in a whirlwind of emotions. Brunnhild confesses that she too is powerfully attracted to him: it's as if they were two halves of a whole, unexpectedly coming together at last...
'Sword of Xanten' transfers well to its 2-disc DVD format (I say that, but I didn't see it in the cinema, so have now idea what has been chopped or added along the way...). It runs to nearly 3 hours and includes some good behind-the-scenes stuff. The 'casting' section contains the usual gushing praise for Max, as the 'elder statesman' of the ensemble, Sam West quips that he asked Max to sign his copy of 'Wild Strawberries'.
Max himself gives a few insights into the making of the film, and especially how he enjoyed his sword-wielding fight scenes (impressive for a septagenarian!). Once again, Max fans used to his DVD appearences may well suspect that it was his wife, and not some random, who interviewed him, as he speaks not as if being questioned, but allowed to muse on his own.
TRAILER
The film's trailer opens with Max's booming voice, informing us that "The world around us is in the throes of great change... the gods gave you wonderous powers.." Max does put in an appearence at the very end of the trailer.
From the trailer the film looks promising. With a $23 million budget this is going to be no Lord of the Rings, but it should out-do the simply awful 'Vercingtorix' of 2000, easily one of the worst movies Max has made.
SOME STILLS FROM THE FILM:
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