It's like finding a sword in a haystack

January 14, 2007 12:18 PM

Dear kind folks Ask Metafilter: I am Desperately seeking public domain/creative commons footage of knights fighting.

I'm looking for some footage of people or knights duking it out with swords. I've tried browsing through the public domain archives on the internet, but I haven't found much of anything. I now place myself at the mercy of the internet. Does anyone know of a place I can get video clips of sword fights from old films? Or, does anyone have any ideas of films that are in the public domain that feature sword fights?

Thanks in advance!

posted by CXImran to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Touch of Magic, A (1961) apparently has a knight fight scene with an evil charmer, and even a dragon!
posted by stereo at 12:31 PM on January 14, 2007

The movie Cyrano De Bergerac (1950) is in the public domain and available from archive.org. It has sword fights, but not knights.
posted by RichardP at 12:39 PM on January 14, 2007

The SCA is always staging historical re-enactments of swordfights. You might try searching for "heavy list" or "rapier" and/or "SCA" on youtube, then contacting the videographer to see if you can use their video. Some of the rapier battles look quite theatrical; the heavy list is rather slow and lumbering by comparison.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:02 PM on January 14, 2007

Don't rule out copyrighted material. Rights are sometimes very cheap, particuarly if you'll agree to time limits on use and are doing something not for profit with limited distribution. (Of course, sometimes rights are insanely expensive on old and obscure material, you really never can tell.)
posted by MattD at 4:34 PM on January 14, 2007