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Alex von Tunzelmann

Alex von Tunzelmann is a historian and screenwriter, and the author of books including Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History (2021)

September 2015

  • Lisztomania

    Reel history
    Scrap accuracy – give me Ringo Starr as the pope: the 10 quirkiest historical films

    Alex von Tunzelmann
    From John Wayne as Genghis Khan to 1776’s catchy showtunes about dysentery … here’s my favourite examples of movies which have played fast and loose with historical truth
  • Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy in Legend.

    Reel history
    Legend: Tom Hardy's double take dilutes the story of the Kray twins

    Ron’s escape from hospital was more ingenious, Reg’s marriage less violent … Tom Hardy’s portrayal of both twins is admirable, unlike the film’s attention to detail
  • A bit like father, a bit like son ... Ice Cube and O'Shea Jackson Jr, his off-screen son and the actor who plays him in Straight Outta Compton.

    Reel history
    Straight Outta Compton: hit biopic raps up NWA story cleanly

    The NWA-backed sweep of the rappers’ rise to success fails to note some important moments, such as Dr Dre’s violence towards women

August 2015

  • Richard Todd in the Dam Busters.

    Reel history
    The Dam Busters: hits its targets – and doesn't dumb down

    Michael Anderson’s 1955 dramatisation of the 1943 RAF mission to bomb German dams is fairly true to life and bounces along entertainingly

July 2015

  • 1936, REMBRANDT<br>CHARLES LAUGHTON & ELSA LANCHESTER Character(s): Rembrandt van Rijn, Hendrickje Stoffels Film 'REMBRANDT' (1936) Directed By ALEXANDER KORDA 01 May 1936 CTW88220 Allstar/LONDON FILM **WARNING** This Photograph is for editorial use only and is the copyright of LONDON FILM and/or the Photographer assigned by the Film or Production Company & can only be reproduced by publications in conjunction with the promotion of the above Film. A Mandatory Credit To LONDON FILM is required. The Photographer should also be credited when known. No commercial use can be granted without written authority from the Film Company.

    Reel history
    Rembrandt: art's riches-to-rags story is brought to life by Charles Laughton

  • Cornelia Sharpe and Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet’s 1973 biopic Serpico.

    Reel history
    Serpico: New York police corruption classic shoots from hip – and hits target

June 2015

  • Colin Firth as former prisoner of war Eric Lomax in The Railway Man.

    Reel history
    The Railway Man: dramatic licence is well-earned and sparingly deployed

  • An addictive forensic thriller set to music … London Road

    Reel history
    London Road: a deadly serious song and dance round the houses

May 2015

  • Katharine Hepburn as Mary, Queen of Scots in John Ford's Mary of Scotland.

    Reel history
    Mary of Scotland: Katharine Hepburn in Tudor romance with inaccurate kilts

    Katharine Hepburn’s real-life affair with director John Ford adds extra spice to this tale of a fiery proto-feminist queen’s love for the Earl of Bothwell

April 2015

  • Here comes the Sun King … Alan Rickman as Louis XIV in A Little Chaos.

    Reel history
    A Little Chaos: leads historical accuracy down the garden path

    Alan Rickman’s historical romance, about the landscape architect to the Palace of Versailles, is a limp, aimless film without any feel for 17th-century speech or manners
  • An African tribal chief sits on his throne in a scene from the film Rhodes of Africa

    Reel history
    Rhodes of Africa: only slightly less offensive than the man himself

    With narration that omits to mention Rhodesia’s African tribes in its population, things only get worse with Rhodes’ racist, imperialistic delusions masquerading as kindly paternalism
  • Richard III'

    Reel history
    Richard III: Laurence Olivier’s melodramatic baddie is seriously limp

    Hunchbacked, conniving child-killer or slandered victim of Tudor propaganda? This 1955 film is an exaggeration of a distortion that gets us no closer to the truth

March 2015

  • George Clooney and David Strathairn in Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

    Reel history
    Good Night, and Good Luck: attack on McCarthyism simplifies but satisfies

  • Orson Welles and Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes.

    Reel history
    Prince of Foxes: Orson Welles is top of the popes in incestuous period soap

February 2015

  • Albert Finney and Ioan Gruffud in Amazing Grace

    Reel history
    Is Amazing Grace's take on the slave trade historically accurate?

  • 2014, SELMA

    Reel history
    Is Selma historically accurate?

January 2015

  • American Sniper

    Reel history
    Is American Sniper historically accurate?

  • Foxcatcher with Steve Carell and Channing Tatum

    Reel history
    Is Foxcatcher historically accurate?

  • Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything

    Reel history
    The Theory of Everything skips over the black holes of marriage and science

  • Blue-eyed Moses: Christian Bale in Exodus: Gods and Kings.

    Does Exodus: Gods and Kings deserve to be banned for historical inaccuracy?

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