That Scene with the Catherine O'Hara Swordfight...
There's a lot of Catherine O'Hara retrospecting going on now (as there should be), with discussions of her best work, and how many times she was the high point of a movie (some lackluster, some great).
I've watched her work ever since SCTV showed up on the tube in the wee hours (the 1/2 hour Canadian version, which begat the NBC-funded show, which begat....); and there are numerous wonderful bits/scenes/skits that she was in which come to mind.
But in our household, the hands-down favorite of her many works is "the Catherine O'Hara Swordfighting Scene", that was one of the extras of Criterion's The Princess Bride laserdisc.
It is a hoot. Yeah, it's full of slapstick/silent comedy conventions (that usually bore me); but the fight scene has a sort of sheer, Looney Tunes cartoon energy that lays waste to all my nitpicking.
And O'Hara, as an ersatz Veronica Lake villain, is the very best part of it. Her delivery, her spoof of the femme fatale tropes, and her sheer unflappable superiority in the face of law and order is a treat.
Here's the full scene, with sound:
Source for the entire episode.
(I know, the resolution of this clip isn't great; I remember it being clearer on the laserdisc. Apparently the scene never made it to the Criterion The Princess Bride DVD/Blu Ray/4K collection of extras.)
Some background and context after the cut:
Back in the 90s, we discovered this scene on The Criterion Collection's Princess Bride laserdisc. Then, as now, Criterion provided a bounty of extras; and amongst all the Princess Bride commentary and background was a curious addition: a scene from an episode of Rob Reiner's very short-lived 1991 TV series, Morton & Hayes.
I'm not certain why it's on the laserdisc; the only connection with The Princess Bride appears to be that it was another swordfight scene that Reiner was involved in. As usual with Criterion, the director has a lot of say in their presentation of the movie, and he may have suggested it be added to the extras.
(BTW, Reiner didn't direct this Morton & Hayes episode ("Daffy Dicks") -- it was Christopher Guest, who also starred in it.)
Morton & Hayes was a true oddball -- an attempt to recreate (as best as I can determine) old 1940's black-and-white movie comedy for a modern (well, 1990s) audience. It seems to have been built on the bones of the Abbott and Costello movies (Morton and Hayes resemble the 2 significantly -- particularly the straight man/clown dynamic), though the humor was closer to Bob Hope's 40s stuff (e.g., the 1939 The Cat and the Canary).
Some context for the scene: Catherine O'Hara's character is, basically, a homicidal Veronica Lake spoof, who is revealed at the end of the episode (a murder mystery comedy) as the evil twin of her saintly (and wealthy) sister, who she has murdered, along with about everyone else in the mansion, to inherit her sister's vast fortune.
The only other characters remaining in the mansion are our two hapless detectives, Morton & Hayes; and the scene opens as she prepares to snuff them out.
(Also, you have to admire a script that contains that fine old phrase, "the shank of the evening".)
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I really enjoyed Catherine O'Hara's work over many years, in just about everything I saw her in. R.I.P.; you will be missed.
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âYou burn hot enough to light an ocean on fire.â -Robert Thier
A huge thank you to Dresden Blue for taking these photos of Ash and I having fun on the beach at Kindle this year.
Being out there among the mist and fire felt so surreal.
This is just a small selection of the moments she captured, but I'll be sharing more from her and other photographers over the next few days as I play catchup. :)
V!Scott would have absolutely noticed that Martyn was a false nobleman the instant swords were pulled. Scott grew up rich and would have gotten proper swordsmanship training in his human years. Martyn was a commoner wearing a nobleman's clothing. He would barely have known how to wield a sword, he would likely be swinging it around rather than use actual tactics.
Hello! Nobody asked for this, but Iâm the sword nerd so weâre doing it. Enjoy. Is this procrastination from writing my fics? You'll never know yes, yes it is (Also this got super long, so itâs gonna go under a read more to spare the dash)
Some preliminaries: I have been practicing HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts, also known sometimes as historical fencing, itâs a sport that encompasses many kinds of weapons but focuses mainly on swords, drawing its techniques and martial philosophy from surviving manuals from the late Middle Ages-Early Renaissance era) for about eight years now, specifically Italian longsword, and Iâve taught the beginnerâs course at my club several times. Iâve also been training stick fighting (a colloquial way of referring to the combination of different cane fighting systems) for five years, as well as knife and other various weapons (and other objects, we recently did some work on using bottles as self-defense weapons, it was fun). Basically, I kinda know my shit. That being said, I am by no means an expert, and this is for fun, so feel free to take anything I say with a grain of salt :). Also, regarding the technical terms for this analysis, I learned all of that terminology in Spanish, so Iâll do my best to translate and look for the proper terms in English, but there might be some incorrect language in there, for those of you who might know HEMA too.
The analysis will be divided into three broad categories: technical analysis, narrative analysis, and individual fighting styles, but thereâs a lot of overlap between all three, so we might be going a little back and forth between the sections. Iâll also be focusing specifically on sword vs sword fights, so I wonât be including fight scenes where a single sword is involved, and battles will be mostly skimmed over because thatâs a different type of analysis.
Part 1: technical analysis
Finally, I will be analyzing only the first two movies because I refuse to subject myself to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, not even for swords (also what I remember of the swordfighting in it is enough to make me want to bang my head against a desk (fuck youuuuu reverse grip), so, you know).
Onward!
I will preface this section by saying that the Chronicles of Narnia movies do fall into many of the same pitfalls as other movies (too big swings, impractical movements, an appalling lack of thrusts, etc.), but Hollywood is gonna Hollywood. That being said, one of the things I was pleasantly surprised by when I rewatched them after many years without watching them was how good the swordfighting is, especially in comparison with other movies or shows coughThe Witchercough. In this section Iâll be talking a little bit about the types of swords used, then the techniques I could see.
There are a few different types of swords used throughout the movies, but the main ones I was able to identify are longswords, arming swords, and sideswords (Iâm pretty sure the swords the fauns and other characters use are khopeshes, but theyâre not as prominent as the other types of swords, and also I know a hell of a lot less about them); the mice also use rapiers, but thereâs not enough focus on their fights to be able to truly analyze their technique (a shame, really, but what can you do).
Longswords are two handed swords, used mainly by the centaurs in the movie; theyâre also fairly bigger than standard longswords to accommodate the centaursâ size, so much so that they might in fact be closer to the zweihänder or the montante in terms of overall size, but their proportions are those of a longsword. Arming swords can vary between one and a half hands and one hand, but most of the ones we see in the movies (of which Rhindon is the main example) are one and a half hands, a size that is designed to be able to switch between one hand and two hands on the handle, so they can be used by themselves or with other implements such as offhand weapons or shields. Finally, sideswords or spada da lato, used by the Telmarines in the second movie, are one handed swords, though the fact that theyâre good for both cutting and thrusting means that theyâre rarely used with offhand weapons; historically, they were a Renaissance sword quite popular in Italy, and were concurrent with the rapier, which would eventually become its successor.
Longswords and arming swords are fairly standard swords for fantasy settings, but the choice to use sideswords for the Telmarines is an interesting and very clever one, as it reinforces the Spanish/Italian inspiration for the Telmarines, even if no one would really notice unless theyâre sword nerds (like yours truly). As mentioned above, theyâre a one handed sword, but we do see Caspian using both hands during the first fight against Peter in the forest.
Now, this is most likely an error to mark in the âHollywood is gonna Hollywoodâ column, but we could argue a Watsonian explanation of him needing both hands to counter Peterâs stronger blows. Personally, Iâm not particularly fond of such an explanation, primarily because brute strength is not as important in a swordfight as fiction would have you believe (more on this later). We also see Caspian using an offhand dagger, something not common with sideswords, but this makes a bit more tactical sense, as one handed sword + offhand dagger is a tried and true combination.
We donât see much use of longswords outside the battles, where itâs fairly difficult to identify specific techniques, but thereâs plenty to see in regards to arming swords, as theyâre the most commonly used swords in both movies. Now, I will say that as my experience is in Italian longsword, the techniques I will be discussing will inevitably be from that school. Itâs more than likely that there are recognizable German techniques (the other main school of longsword) given that thereâs only so much you can do with a sword, but I donât know enough about that school to recognize and analyze its techniques.
One of the things I was pleasantly surprised by is that you can see at least four rather clear and fairly clean techniques being applied during different combats (you can see a gifset I made of these techniques here), so weâre gonna break them down from least to most complex.
The first one we see is this
Itâs not so much a technique-technique as it is a guard, specifically posta di fenestra or window guard. This is a rather basic guard, itâs actually one of the six guards we teach in the beginnersâ course at my club, but that doesnât make it any less effective. In Italian longsword itâs whatâs called an unstable guard, that is to say, it does not have a direct anchor point in the body; the appeal of unstable guards is that you can perform pretty much any type of cut from them, though one their drawbacks is that you do need to prepare the cuts (breaking the guard in the process) and thus youâre announcing what youâre going to do. Now, fenestra specifically is a rather interesting guard, as it is quite deceptive. By keeping the tip of your sword in a menacing position and in the direction of your opponentâs eyes, the perspective will blur your opponentâs perception of your swordâs length, thus sometimes tricking them into thinking you are closer than you actually are and launching an attack from a distance that is more favorable to you. I really like its use here, because a lot of Edmundâs fighting style relies on speed and drawing his opponents in as opposed to seeking them out actively, so fenestra is a really suited guard for such an approach.
Next up weâve got this technique.
This is what we call a play, and this one specifically is called colpo di villano or the Peasantâs Blow. This play is executed in what is called long or wide distance, that is, the distance from which you can hit your opponent with your sword by advancing one step forward. Short aside (itâs relevant, I swear), one of the main manuals studied in Italian longsword is Il Fior di Battaglia, by Fiore dei Liberi, and it presents two main distances: long or wide (giocco largo) and narrow or tight (giocco stretto; this is the distance from which you can intervene on your opponentâs body/center of gravity without having to take a step forward); however, the way we teach in my club (based on my teacherâs own interpretation of the manuals) distinguishes two extra distances, broken distance, when you canât hit your opponent with your sword even if you take a step forward, and medium distance, when you can grab your opponentâs sword or hands/arms without needing to take a step forward.
But back to the play, the Peasantâs Blow is one of the first plays taught, as it is rather simple but quite effective. The way that it works is that you catch your opponentâs blow with the middle of your sword and let it pass by dropping the tip of your sword, then immediately return and counterstrike with a downward cut to the hands or head. Now, as you can see in the gif, this move is rather cleanly executed in the movie, though unfortunately it does seem that the finishing cut is unaligned and would have hit with the flat instead of with the edge. Once again, a Watsonian argument could be made that Edmund wasnât actually trying to kill Trumpkin and thus purposefully chose to misalign his edge, but it would have been fun and in my opinion more impressive to see a clean finish for the play, as the best swordsmen do know how to stop the blow if need be.
The next play we see in action is this disarm during the final duel between Peter and Miraz.
This play as we see it in the movie is executed from middle distance, and as you can see in the gif the way it works is by grabbing the part of the blade closest to the hilt (at least in my club we call it the âstrongâ of the sword) and using your own sword as leverage to break your opponentâs grip on their sword. Now, here we do see some muddling of the play as it is explained in the manual, as the âproperâ way to do it would be to grab the handle or the pommel of your opponentâs sword, as opposed to the actual blade, but the thing is that in actual combat the techniques you learn during training will never come out as clean. The reality of combat means that the circumstances of the fight will be constantly changing, and so the techniques will have to be adapted on the fly, so if youâre fighting outside of a sports context the golden rule will be âwhatever worksâ. And, well, in this case, it works.
Finally, the fourth technique we see at work is another disarm play.
The way it is depicted in the manual is once again a little different from how we see it executed here, but the principle is the same: you grab your opponentâs blade with both hands, disarm them by using the leverage of the spin, and then use their sword to injure or kill them. This play is executed from narrow distance, and it starts when you arrive at the bind (the moment when the two swords collide in that classic x shape); per the manual, the play would be executed by dropping your own sword in order to grab your opponentâs, but the same principle applies in a situation such as we see it in the movie, where youâve already been disarmed yourself. Now, in a real fight the finishing move of the play would have been directed at Mirazâs neck or head, as theyâre the least protected parts of his body at that point in the duel, and jamming a sword between the plates of an armor is a hell of a lot more complicated than movies would have you believe, but this is a situation where I personally believe the narrative had to take precedence over realism, since Peter killing Miraz directly would have led to a rather different narrative outcome.
In general, the Narnia movies have a lot going for them in terms of realism in swordfighting: the movements are visibly more controlled and less unnecessarily dramatic, there are little to no spins in the middle of a battle that would leave a characterâs back completely exposed, most fights are short and direct, and from a fencerâs viewpoint (my own at least, though others might have other perspectives) itâs clear that a lot of work went into making them both believable and visually appealing (this is still a visual medium, after all), which is more than I can say for a lot of media. The other thing I really enjoy is that each character we see swordfighting has their own clear style that is visually distinct from other characters; for example, the disarms we see Peter doing are a lot more technically complex than the Peasantâs Blow we see Edmund doing or Caspianâs general fighting style, but each of their movements in battle fits their individual characters. Iâll do a short breakdown of individual fighting styles in part 3, but for now letâs take a look at the narrative aspect of swordfighting.
Part 2: narrative analysis
Now, if youâve recently watched Prince Caspian, or just know the movie really well, you might notice that thereâs a disarm that I didnât break down in the technical analysis section.
This is because, from a technical standpoint, this isnât an actual technique or play (or at the very least, I have never seen it depicted in any manual). Even if youâre wielding a one handed sword, it is highly unlikely that an opponent would be able to disarm you by simply âwrappingâ their sword around yours unless you have a really weak grip, not to mention that in this case the swords are meeting middle to middle, so they would be pretty matched in effective strength, and Caspian has both hands on the handle, so not a weak grip at all (the same can be said for the disarm we see during the Edmund-Trumpkin spar, though that one would be slightly more realistic, since Trumpkin only has one hand on the handle; still not realistic, though).
However! Narratively, it is quite interesting, because itâs part of a larger pattern of how we see Peter fight. In both the fight with Caspian and the duel with Miraz, we see him go for the disarm first, every time, before he goes for the kill. In fact, in both of those fights there is a clear moment in which Peter essentially switches tracks and goes from fighting in a more sports-like manner to fighting in a life-or-death manner. And as someone who has trained both for sports and for self-defense, let me tell you, those are two very different mindsets: when youâre fighting for sport (or tournament style duels, in a fantasy/medieval setting), your focus is going to be on technique, on scoring points and/or maintaining the fight for as long as it takes to assert your skill (or fulfill whatever objective was set as the goal of the fight); in a self-defense situation, your focus is going to be on dropping your opponent as fast as possible and as definitively as possible in order to exit the combat situation and avoid as much damage to yourself as you can. As much as we make fun of the RockTM, that is absolutely how you know Peterâs been in life or death situations before, but it also shows that full on deadly violence is his last resort, once it has been established that his opponent is definitely trying to kill him.
In the duel, you can see after the respite that he begins to match Mirazâs blows a lot more, discarding finesse for stronger blows and attacks that go straight for his neck or face (in rewatching this scene I did notice several thrusts, which I applaud because thrusts are one of the most effective attacks with a sword and theyâre greatly underutilized in fiction, mostly because theyâre a lot less showy than the big cuts). Furthermore, back in LWW, there is also a turning point to how he fights during the final battle, which is when Edmund is injured. Before that, we can see him being a lot more controlled in his movements, possibly due to his awareness of his own inexperience with a sword, but after that point you can see he begins to fight in a much more intense way, eventually matching the Witchâs more violent swings.
The battles are obviously narrative high points, as they tend to be in fantasy movies, but itâs interesting how each one-on-one swordfight has its own weight. In the first movie, the fight between Peter and the White Witch is the climax of the battle, but itâs also in some ways the culmination of Peterâs arc in the movie, of him learning to lead and take on the mantle of responsibility, and using all of that in the service of others. The spar between Edmund and Trumpkin is the starting point for the Pevensies to regain their place in Narnia, making themselves known to the Narnians and reaffirming their skills, both to themselves and to the people for whom theyâre only legends; personally, I feel that scene also does a really good job of highlighting the Pevensiesâ dynamics and how theyâve been shaped by their time as monarchs, how they donât hesitate to defer to one another and allow someone else to take point if the situation calls for it, whether because theyâd be best suited for it or as part of a strategy. The fight between Peter and Caspian in the woods is not only the beginning of their antagonism, but it also shows quite clearly how evenly matched they are, how even when they are at odds, theyâre still not so different from one another (itâs also interesting how much symbolism around swords is involved in Peter and Caspianâs relationship, especially the repeated instances of handing each other a sword: practically every single significant point in their relationship is marked either by one of them handing a sword to the other or has a sword involved in some capacity). The final duel, of course, is a pivotal moment in the narrative, but the pacing of the fighting and the technical aspect of it are perfectly matched to its narrative importance, from Mirazâs overreliance on brute strength over technique (something that is eventually his downfall, as brute strength is actually more detrimental than helpful in a swordfight: some of the main elements of good swordfighting technique are speed, precision and control, and all of those are hindered by excessive force, not to mention that a swordâs mechanics are designed to optimize the strength you use by working as a lever, so there is literally no advantage to fighting by relying on pure strength) to Peterâs ongoing adapting of his movements to match, all the way to Peterâs decision not to kill Miraz directly.
I might come back to this particular section, as there is a lot to analyze, but in general I want to emphasize how well swordfighting is used in these movies. Itâs not there just as set dressing, or to make for a cool looking but ultimately irrelevant scene; each of the swordfights have narrative weight, they allow us to learn things about the charactersâ mindsets and intentions, theyâre culminations of story and character arcs, and yeah, theyâre still visually quite impressive! As I mentioned before, there are still elements that are downright incorrect or even complete nonsense, but they are markedly less than in other movies or TV shows, and itâs not only a relief for a fencer like myself, but it makes it so much more enjoyable to watch, even if you might not know all the minutiae of swordfighting.
Part 3: individual styles breakdown
This is a rather short breakdown of the fighting styles of the main characters we see swordfighting, basically the most important aspects of their individual techniques, to complement what Iâve already talked about in the previous sections.
The Witch: dual wielding, clearly accustomed to using the wand as a main weapon, as she primarily uses the sword to defend the wand. Once she switches to two swords she mainly uses the swords in tandem, instead of using one to attack and the other to defend, which is more common as it is more effective (we do see Oreius and later Edmund dual wield, and they both do the latter). So, even though she is skilled in using two weapons, itâs clear that her main weapon is the wand, as opposed to a sword, and thus does not adapt effectively when sheâs wielding two swords.
Peter: one the main characteristics of Peterâs fighting style is adaptability. In both movies (but mainly in Prince Caspian) we see how he adapts to his opponents, matching the energy and the movements of the person heâs facing. He favors control and finesse, repeatedly goes for the disarm first but will not hesitate to strike to kill, especially if itâs clear that his opponent is trying to kill him back. One interesting detail is that you can see how his style evolves from one movie to the other, reflecting how heâs spent years swordfighting: for example, you can see that in Prince Caspian his movements are a lot more controlled and precise and he uses his shield noticeably more effectively (one of the smaller details that I love is the difference in how he sheathes his sword: if you pay attention, youâll notice that in LWW he always has to look at his sword to sheathe it, vs in Prince Caspian where he never looks while sheathing).
Edmund: fast and precise movements, waits for opponent to strike first and then goes for the counterstrike, draws his opponent in (through taunts if necessary) as opposed to seeking them out and adapts in turn. When dual wielding, he uses both swords separately, attacking and defending at the same time. As with Peter, you can also notice how his style evolves to reflect his years of experience, mostly in how his movements become much more purposeful, as opposed to just swinging the sword and hoping to catch something.
Caspian: wide swings (possibly to compensate for inexperience), takes the initiative but errs on the side of too much force behind the blows, which leaves him vulnerable to counterstrikes. Clearly has no qualms about fighting âdirtyâ (in most instances of duels or spars in a nobility environment, things like kicking would be frowned upon, but when it comes to a life or death situation, you know, whatever works is good). When using the offhand dagger, he clearly uses it mostly for defense, blocking and deflecting, as is the most common usage for offhand daggers.
Miraz: big swings with lots of windup (something that is rather ineffective, windup will add nothing but time to the attack, time that can be used by your opponent to counterstrike), doesnât use the shield as protection but rather as more of an offhand weapon, leaves himself exposed after his swings; overall, his style favors offense and overwhelming the opponent through brute strength. In fact, Iâd say heâs not that good of a swordsman, and a mace or war hammer would be much more suited weapons for him.
So! Thatâs about it for now, but like I said, I might eventually return to certain sections to dive into it a little more; that being said, I really hope you enjoyed me yapping about swords for over 4k words, and if you have any more questions my inbox is always open, I loooove talking about swords and swordfighting :)
*CITATIONS! Because, yes, Iâm that kind of nerd. For all the stuff about Fiore, I used my own notes from my classes and Guy Windsorâs "From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: The Longsword Techniques of Fiore Dei Liberi". Itâs a really good translation of Fioreâs manuals, and a really good starting point if you want to dive into the historical side of fencing (it comes with several links to videos where the author demonstrates the techniques as heâs interpreted them, top notch stuff).
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I'm not saying my tecnique is smooth I'm saying during a drill the instructor told me "can you do that again? Yeah keep everything the same, do it again. Ok right, now do it again but I'm filming you. Ready? Go. Ok. Again. Another take from here. Ok good thank you" in the "forbidden from taking pictures nor videos club"
Another one for the HEMA folks, or SCA or LARP or other collections of capital letters! It is available here if you are inclined to wear clothes or stick things on other things
If my clubmates would stop saying banger things like this I would be able to stop drawing piles of weapons and twisty banners. But for now it's a pretty fun challenge for my art so I'll allow it