# Sword Of Xanten (aka The Ring of the Nibelungs aka Kingdom in Twilight)



## elrilgalia (Jan 12, 2006)

> Europe - the Dark Ages. When the evil Twin Kings betray his father, the King of Xanten, the young Prince Siegried narrowly escapes with his life. Rescued by the kindly blacksmith Eyvind, he is raised as a simple blacksmith, unaware of this true kingly heritage. When the gods send him a sign of his destiny in the forum of a fallen meteor, he is led bothe to the metal which will be forged into his destined weapon, and the woman fated to be his live: Brunhild, the Valkyrie warrior wueen. Duty drives them apart, but they swear to reunite - and never to leave another.
> Siegfried comes to the kingdom of Burgund, where he earns the respect of its king, Gunther, and the love of the princess Krienhild. But a powerful evil is plaguing the land, and it is p to Siegfried, armed only with the sword forged from the gods' metal, to slay the dragon Fafnir and to claim the dragon's gold as his own. With this treasure comes the curse of its rightful owners, the mystic Nibelungs, and the hatred of Gunther's adviser, the villainous Hagen, who covets the gold for his own. To gain the treasure, Hagen uses black magic to make Siegfried fall in love with Kriemhile and forget Brunhild, the love the gods had chosen for him. The curse then spins an expanding web of betrayal, deception and greed that traps everyone, plunging a world into chaos.
> BACKGROUND
> J R R Tolkien said that the Nibelung saga was an inspiration for his Lord of the Rings trilogy "Its a common question we're asked, and it is true" says exec producer, Tim Halkin
> The composer Wagner also based his Ring operas on one of the versions of the Nibelungen sagas.


Cast

Benno Fürmann .... Eric/Siegfried 
Kristanna Loken .... Brunnhild (as Kristanna Løken) 
Alicia Witt .... Kriemhild 
Julian Sands .... Hagen 
Samuel West .... King Gunther 
Max von Sydow .... Eyvind 
Robert Pattinson .... Giselher 
http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/films/xanten/1.jpg
http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/films/xanten/2.jpg
http://www.cinemas-online.co.uk/films/xanten/4.jpg
http://www.ring-of-the-nibelungs.com/
Have you seen it ???


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## Wolfshead (Jan 23, 2006)

I saw it on Channel 4 here in the UK over Christmas. It was quite a marathon (something like 3 hours and 20 minutes!), but I enjoyed it. However, it was severely lacking in most things - acting skills, plot development and character development mostly. I think it was too big a task for the makers. It either needed another film (at least), or to be cut down more to include less story.

And it was made just for TV wasn't it? ie, it was never in the cinemas.


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