Steineded How sad is this?

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

John T. Ryan BEING A SORT OF Robin Hood of the Continental set; as well as having a sort of World-wide fame in History and Legend, WILLIAM TELL was a natural for the TV producers to bring to the small screen. With the medieval costumes and sets, it was as if it could be made as a carbon copy of Richard Greene's ROBIN HOOD.THERE WOULD BE some fundamental differences, of course. For starters, Will used a Crossbow. Being much more accurate and having a great deal more penetrating power, it was once considered to be the "Ultimate Weapon!" (Well, at least of the hand carried variety.) BUT THAT IS only incidental. Tell's story is set in the 15th Century A.D. and is a Swiss patriot. The series makes him much more like Robin Hood than a military guerrilla leader, which was most likely the truth. Either way, both Robin and William have basis in historical fact, but their exploits and stature have grown considerably in Legend.ONE THING SEEMS to have veracity is that he was locked in a struggle with Austrian Governor, Gessler, whom he eventually killed. The series kicks off with Gessler's forcing William Tell into shooting the apple off of his own son's head. After being successful, Gessler asks why Tell has two arrows; to which William replies, "Because, if my Son had been harmed, the next one was for you!" THEN WILLIAM TELL flees off to the woods and organizes a revolt to establish a new country, which he says will be called, "Switzerland!" (a lot of playing it loose with what History there was on William Tell!) THE SERIES, WHICH lasted but one season had a cast featuring Conrad Phillips (William Tell), Willoughby Goddard (Gessler), Jennifer Jayne (Mrs. Tell) and Richard Rogers (as young Walter Tell, son of Apple on head fame). We are familiar with it during its run in syndication on American TV.IN PERHAPS ONE attempt to add some accuracy in the series, the opening theme song (see Summary above) includes a sort of musical quotation lifted from both the Rossini overture of the same name and from Swiss traditional music. Now that's accuracy for you!

bs3dc William Tell is well acted with a cast that includes many household names as regulars and guest stars such as Michael Caine, Christopher Lee, Sid James, James Booth and Nigel Green (both in Zulu). For many of the guest stars it was probably one of their first appearances on screen so the series is interesting for that alone. William Tell himself is confidently played (though a bit sternly in my opinion) by Conrad Phillips. His wife Hedda Tell (Jennifer Jayne) is also a strong character even if she does disappear for several episodes at a time, perhaps due to other commitments. The same can be said for Nigel Green who uses his large presence to great effect as the gigantic but rather gullible "Bear." Willoughby Goddard makes a great foil for Tell as the obese and extremely evil Gessler (prepared to behead even children over the slightest offence).William Tell makes for better family viewing than most such attempts now as these are often dumbed down, too politically correct, or use rubbish actors (the recent BBC Robin Hood series for example is guilty of all three). There is no sex, bad language or extreme violence though the story is more brutal than in Robin Hood with Richard Greene, perhaps because it is more about freedom fighters trying to save Switzerland from the Austrians than just trying to stop corruption. If you enjoyed this series I would heartily recommend Robin Hood and Buccaneers, both filmed around the same time in the 50's and very similar in the type of storyline.My favourite episode is probably Manhunt with the ever-villainous Christopher Lee as the Emperors brother who tries to hunt down William Tell and friends like animals. This is probably because it tries to be a bit different from the other episodes which frankly can become a bit repetitive. Having sad that it is no mean feat to write interesting stories that take place in just over 20 minutes and with such an obviously miniscule budget to work with. Overall, undemanding, action-packed adventure yarns that should be able to hold the attention of younger viewers due to the short running time.

David Anthony The Ralph Smart-produced episode of "William Tell", "The Gauntlet of St Gerhardt", tells the story of the Tell family stalking and tormenting a party of Austrian soldiers who have kidnapped a friar (a character not unlike Tuck from "The Adventures of Robin Hood"). This adventure was scripted, as several of them were, by Doreen Montgomery from Ralph Smart's original story. In several respects, it resembles Ralph's famous Australian film "Bush Christmas" (1947) where a group of children hunt down a band of horse thieves. Ralph obviously drew from scenes in his earlier film, particularly the scene where the Austrians wake up to find their boots have been stolen forcing them to wrap their feet in rags for protection in the bush. While "The Gauntlet of Sir Gerhard" alluded to the past film, the "William Tell" episode "The Prisoner", also directed by Viennese-born Australian Peter Maxwell, pointed to the future. In this episode, a youthful Michael Caine as the title character is referred to as Prisoner No. 6.Now I wonder if Patrick McGoohan, star of another Ralph Smart-produced series "Danger Man", had borrowed this title for his sublime follow-up to "Danger Man" also called "The Prisoner".I would like to think this is more than a coincidence because it adds a certain mystique to these wonderful series. But perhaps I am, like William Tell or Robin Hood, drawing a long bow.

malmail-safe Some of the series were filmed near where I lived in North Wales. The film company hired my pony for some of the scenes when he was rode by Hedda Tell (Jennifer Jane). I was fortunate enough to get a week off school to take my pony down to the 'set' each day and stay the day. It was quite an experience for a 10 year old! I still remember those days with fond memories especially when our local doctor was travelling past the set very early one morning. He did not know about the shoot and was very taken aback when he saw several men in medieval army dress appear from behind the rocks!There was also an interesting scene on the lake when one boat (containing soldiers) were firing arrows at another. I was fascinated to see that the actors in the boat being fired at stuck the arrows in the side of the boat themselves!!