YouTube has a treasure trove of classic films that are free with ads—legally. Indeed, in watching some of these films on my desktop, I’ve had no ads actually pop up (and I’m not using some kind of cheeky ad blocker). YouTube has fed me some great films, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the best I’ve seen so far is 1970’s Cromwell, a historical drama based on the life of the the Puritan warrior and later Lord Protector of England Oliver Cromwell. The film also stars Obi-Wan Kenobi—excuse me, Alec Guinness—as King Charles I in a pitch-perfect performance (Richard Harris also delivers a fiery performance as Cromwell).

Here’s the entire film here; it is well worth investing in the runtime, and I found it gripping for the entire duration:

Now that you’ve spent the morning watching the movie, on to the review!

Cromwell opens with Oliver Cromwell and his family planning to depart for the New World, as his fellow Puritans urge him to stay for the good of England. When King Charles I calls Parliament together in 1630 to seek financing for wars against the Scots and the Irish, Cromwell and the other members of Parliament unleash a series of demands and complaints, as it has been many years since Parliament last sat. Charles himself is under a great deal of suspicion due to his unpopular policies, including his alleged affiliation with the Catholic faith via his wife.

When Parliament demands an arrangement that would make Charles, in effect, a constitutional monarch, he refuses; soon after, he marches into Parliament with an armed guard to arrest the men who proposed the scheme. This breach of Parliament results in the eruption of the English Civil War.

Cromwell soon grows weary of the equivocating of the more aristocratic members of Parliament and their more gentlemanly, ineffective approach to warfare, and trains up the New Model Army, a professionalized fighting force. This army proves to be brutally effective, and the Roundheads (the Puritan/Parliamentary forces) begin wresting control of major English cities away from the Cavaliers (the Royalists).

This part of the film is pretty exciting, as we see Cromwell’s righteous indignation on full display. On the Cavalier side, Charles realizes he is dealing with an increasingly desperate situation. In one particularly arresting scene, his loyal (and badly injured) nephew Prince Rupert reports on his failure to hold Bristol. Charles, with a mix of regal disappointment and strategic desperation, banishes his wounded nephew back to the Continent. Rupert’s wounds are not just external—he receives the news with a great deal of anguish.

Cromwell parlays with the defeated Charles, and assures his mutinous men that the king is a man of his word. Cromwell has three of the leading mutineers draw straws, with the man drawing the shortest being put to death. As the execution is taking place, Cromwell learns that the king is attempting to raise a Catholic army consisting of Irish soldiers, and rushes back to reverse the execution order, only to find it is too late. At this point, Cromwell shows some contrition—and goes “no mercy” on the recalcitrant king.

King Charles is arrested, and his dramatic trial for high treason begins. Guinness is at his best here (apparently, Guinness was reluctant to take the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars for fear it would overshadow his work in Cromwell), showing the king’s grit in the face of a death sentence that has been determined before the trial begins. He famously challenges Parliament as to who has the authority to put a king on trial. It’s a powerful standoff, as Charles refuses to cooperate with what he sees as an illegal (or, at least, extralegal) trial; as king, these men hold no power of him.

As Charles awaits his execution, he says one last goodbye to his children (his wife and the heir, the future Charles II, have already fled to the Continent, over the objections of the prince). It is in the scenes with his family that we see a softer side to Charles. We also see throughout the film the impossible compromises and situations facing the king, and how his actions are often the “least terrible” among many bad choices. However, Charles’s insistence upon his absolute power as king runs headfirst into Cromwell’s grim determination that any king should be accountable to Parliament. It’s a classic power struggle that continues to define the Anglosphere in the constant struggle between executive and legislative authority.

Charles goes to the gallows bravely, and encourages the executioner to strike true, forgiving him in advance. With the king beheaded, Parliament takes over, only for Cromwell to grow frustrated with their venality and corruption. He dramatically enters Parliament with his own troops, mirroring Charles’s actions earlier in the film. Cromwell sits upon a seat of power in an empty Parliament, and a voiceover informs us that he made England a great nation.

The flick is a wonderful introduction to the English Civil War. While it’s not 100% historically accurate and takes some liberties with the source material, it does capture the drama and nuance of the English Civil War. While I think the film was a bit hagiographic in Cromwell’s favor, it did portray Charles with some compassion and nuance. At his worst, Charles is authoritarian and duplicitous, but he often behaves duplicitously out of desperation. When justice comes for him, he faces it boldly.

Meanwhile, we witness how Cromwell’s hardened principles slowly morph him into the very authoritarian he sought to overthrow (even after rejecting being crowned king by Parliament, before seizing power anyone out of frustration with Parliament’s corruption). It shows the power that one determined man can have in shaping events, but also the perils of one’s principles being so rigid, they warp under the pressure. Cromwell also makes mistakes, often because he is so uncompromising. It’s very clear, too, we’re dealing with a man who is not used to dealing with the slipperiness and craftiness of the powerful, whether they’re in Parliament or the monarchy, and he replaces his initial naiveté with a grim resolve to destroy the king.

You absolutely must watch this film. The English Civil War is something of a “master key” to understanding English and American politics. The American Civil War was, in a number of ways, a sectional sequel to the English Civil War: the Southern Cavaliers against the New England and Western Roundheads. Indeed, the American Revolution was a replay of the English Civil War, fought in part over arguments about royal authority versus representative rule. The drama of Cromwell highlights the real drama of the English Civil War, and the continuing debate over what kind of government we should have.

The film is also just good. I watched it over the course of maybe three sittings, but I always watched more each time than I intended. It was that hard to pull away. The costuming and the portrayals of the figures—especially Guinness’s turn as Charles I—are excellent. Even at 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film will zip by.

It’s a must-see!