The End

This concludes my blog critique of The Princess Bride. I learned much from studying this timeless classic for my Kinetic Aesthetics class at CCBC. I don't remember how many times I’ve cried with laughter watching this movie; it just never gets old!

One thing will never change about this movie: it will always remain a true family film for ALL generations to watch. The never aging reputation of this classic fairy tale has stood and will continue to stand up against the greatest of movies in its genre.

I would recommend this film to anyone with the ability to speak and a sense of humor. There isn't an audience that I can think of who wouldn't enjoy this film in some way.

Thank you for reading my blog!

Dinell “Ash” Holmes

"Hear this now..."

The Princess Bride, for the most part, is audibly driven by its quirky narrations, unbelievably hysterical dialogue, and romantic love speeches. However, lying underneath the memorable script, are the emotional sounds of Florin, which carry much of the deep feeling of each scene. So many people worked on the editing of the sound in this film that it would be impossible to do them all justice by talking about them. But it is safe to say that without the contributions of all 14 editors and mixers, this movie could not have made the generational impact that it has.

Film Editor: Robert Leighton

Leighton was born in London, where he studied his craft at the London Film School. He first worked for the BBC as an assistant editor before emigrating to the U.S. in 1975.

Robert Leighton has collaborated with filmmaker Rob Reiner on each of his feature directorial efforts. Those films include This Is Spinal Tap,The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally...,Misery, A Few Good Men, North, The American President and Ghosts of Mississippi. He received an Oscar nomination for his work on A Few Good Men.

Other motion picture credits include The Green Mile, Bull Durham, Blaze, Life With Mikey, Courage Under Fire, Wavelength, and Delusion.

"Everybody MOVE!"

The Princess Bride is not known for its cinematic camera motion or visual drama with the frame. In fact, most of the camera movement occurs only when the actors change position; one might think of this as boring or aesthetically dull. But in a different light, it can be seen as clean cut and visually simplistic, which is needed in films with wordy dialogue and humorous interpretations.

In the two major types of scenes, dialogue scenes and fighting scenes, the format for the camera moving is virtually the same. The panning and zooming of the frame, which is mostly in the famous swordplay duel with Westley and Inigo and also in the fighting scene with Indigo and Count Rugen, merely focuses on the characters, keeping their torso in view the majority of the time. Other types of shots, such as distant long shots and even close up shots, are motionless and let the audience focus on the dialogue being delivered. This lack of fancy camera tricks actually adds to the film and keeps the viewer from becoming confused with the first set of lines.

Florin's Greatest: Cast of The Princess Bride

The greatest credit Rob Reiner deserves in the making The Princess Bride is the cast he chose. It seems almost impossible to imagine any other actors playing these hysterical, medieval fairy tale characters. Some of the cast, like Cary Elwes, Robin Wright-Penn, Andre the Giant, and Fred Savage, either launched or enhanced their acting careers with their parts in this movie. Others, such Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, and Billy Crystal, merely built on their already famous acting talent.

Cary Elwes

“Death cannot stop true love; all it can do is delay it for a while.” Westley is the true stereotypical save-the-damsel-in-distress type of protagonist that every day dreaming young girl fanaticizes about. He is brave, dashing, and strong in both mind and body; there is no one better to play such a heroic role then Cary Elwes. Elwes was new to the comedic style of film that the Princess Bride so wonderfully is, staring in only in the two serious films, Another Country and Lady Jane; but that never showed as he gracefully flowed through his trials with witty speech and British accent to save his beloved Buttercup.

Robin Wright-Penn

A new comer to the field of movies at the time (only starring in the soap opera, Santa Barbra as the unlucky-in-love rich girl, Kelly Capwell), Robin Wright was destined to become a star after her brilliant role as Buttercup, the princess bride. She fit perfectly in to the “girl of surpassing beauty and faithfulness” and spoke with a well portrayed English accent.

Chris Sarandon

The most snobbish, high and mighty, and conniving prince in all the land, Humperdinck is by far the geekiest antagonist in the entire movie. Chris Sarandon is perfect in this role, fitting into the mold of stereotypical royalty with ease. However, Sarandon would have an almost 180 degree change in character later in his career, staring as the voice of Jack Skellington in stop motion fantasy film The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Mandy Patinkin

“Hello, my name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die!” Mandy Patinkin has perhaps played the second most famous character in the film. His brilliant portrayal of the Spanish fencing master with an “overdeveloped sense of vengeance” brings laughter and excitement The Princess Bride.

Christopher Guest

As Count Rugen (aka. The Six-fingered Man), Guest seems to be the true antagonist in this film, upstaging Humperdinck with his cynicism and strange appreciation for pain. He has a quite subtle style of comedy in this film, often spouting out rather bizarre thoughts concerning life and revenge.

Andre’ the Giant

"Anybody want a peanut?" Rob Reiner summed up Andre’s role as Fezzik the best. Reiner said “that he was literally the only human on the planet that could play this part.” Andre’s role primarily rested on his wrestling status, his wonderful size, and his unique French speaking voice. The greatest asset to his role as Fezzik is the contrast between his large ominous size and his kind and gentle character; this keeps the audience loving Fezzik the ‘Rhyming Giant.’

Wallace Shawn

“He didn’t fall? Inconceivable!” There is no one better for the role of Vizzini than Wallace Shawn. He strikes fear in those who are under his command, even though he is only half their size. And nobody carries the comedy more than he in this film; he wows us with his “dizzying intellect” and makes us giggle the whole way through even to his humorous death when he literally falls over in mid laughter.

Peter Falk

“Your vote of confidence is overwhelming!” Who would have thought that the gumshoe detective Columbo would become a witty book reading grandfather visiting his sick grandson? Falk give a great performance as he narrates the story of The Princess Bride. Falk's rough voice saying “true love…” and narrating the story gives the film an added layer of humor. I can’t imagine anyone else in this role.

Fred Savage

“Doesn’t sound too bad. I’ll try and stay awake.” Fred Savage, at the time of The Princess Bride, was still fresh to the movie spotlight, only playing in the film The Boy Who Could Fly and other minor television roles including The Twilight Zone and Crime Story. His role as the sick, slightly obstinate Grandson gained him national attention and launched his acting career.

Billy Crystal

“…true love is the greatest thing in the world, excepted for a nice MLT, Mutton, Lettuce, and Tomato; where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are ripe...there so perky, I love that…” Who says that the best roles are the main characters? Billy Crystal’s performance as the Miracle Max is the funniest and greatest acting in the movie, only topped by Wallace Shawn’s Vizzini. Crystal seems to work well with Rob Reiner, starring in the rock n roll satire This Is Spinal Tap and the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally; both directed by Reiner.

Mise en Scene

The Mise en Scene of the Princess Bride is rather simple, portraying a romantic, fairy tale style of elegance and adventure with each scene. There are a variety of shots used in this film; the close up, medium, and far shots, however, dominate the screen and carry the majority of the tones and emotions.

The close up shots are primarily used for the romantic scenes between Wesley and Buttercup, making the shot seem close and extremely intimate. However, some of the comedy shot use this as well, giving the audience a clear picture of the comedic facial expressions of the speaker. One example of this is the Battle of Wits between Westley and Vizzini. The scene constantly switches between these two masterminds as the humorous bout entertains the audience. Vizzini dominates this part of the film, hamming up each line with his hysterical explanations and clown-like facial expressions.

Medium shots are probably the most used in the film, using both the cast and the scene to portray the action. The majority of the fight scenes are done in this fashion so as to keep the audience in the fray and to carry the dialogue. The most famous fight scene in the Princess Bride, the swordplay between Westley and Indigo, relies heavily on this style and rarely veer away from it

When the film uses far shots, it is usually for scenery purposes, such as the scaling of the Cliffs of Insanity. These scenes usually depict the distance in which the characters must travel, and are mostly incorporated in Westley and Buttercup’s escape from Humperdinck and his men.

Cary Elwes: The Man in Black

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes, known to the movie world as Cary Elwes, is a British actor known for his many performances ranging from comedic roles, such as The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men In Tights, to more dramatic roles, like Lady Jane, Glory, and Georgia Rule. Cary Elwes was born in London on October 26, 1962 to Dominic Elwes and Tessa Georgina Kennedy.

Cary Elwes started his acting career in Mariek Kanievska’s film, Another Contry, in which he played James Hercourt, a young, sentimental homosexual from Eton-esque traditional English boarding school. His first notable role, however, was Guilford Dudley in the British epic Lady Jane. After turning down an offer to join the Royal Shakespeare Company to continue to work in movies, Elwes was casted by director Rob Reiner as the stable boy turned hero Wesley in The Princess Bride. This movie was Elwes first major attempt at comedy.