WILLIAM TELL Official Trailer 2 (2025)

WILLIAM TELL Official Trailer 2 (2025)

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WILLIAM TELL Official Trailer 2 (2025) – The Epic Legend Comes Alive! 🏹
Watch the official trailer for WILLIAM TELL (2025), the epic action-adventure film based on the legendary Swiss hero. Featuring stunning visuals, intense archery scenes, and a star-studded cast, this is a must-watch cinematic masterpiece!

Get ready to witness the ultimate cinematic adventure as the legendary hero William Tell returns to the big screen in this jaw-dropping second trailer for the 2025 blockbuster! 🎬 From breathtaking action sequences to stunning visuals, this trailer gives you a thrilling sneak peek into the epic tale of courage, rebellion, and freedom.

🔥 What’s in store?

Heart-pounding action: Watch William Tell’s iconic archery skills in action like never before!

Stunning cinematography: Immerse yourself in the breathtaking landscapes of medieval Switzerland.

A star-studded cast: Featuring Hollywood’s finest bringing this timeless story to life.

Unmissable drama: A tale of defiance, justice, and the fight for liberty that will leave you on the edge of your seat!

🎯 Why you should watch this trailer:
Whether you're a history buff, an action enthusiast, or just love a good underdog story, this trailer promises to deliver goosebumps and excitement. Don’t miss your chance to be among the first to experience the epic journey of WILLIAM TELL!
"This is about our freedom, our families!" Altitude Films has revealed the first trailer for the film William Tell, an epic new look at this iconic fictional character. It just premiered at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival last month to mostly mixed reviews, and it's set for a UK release in January. Though no US release has been set. As the nations of medieval Europe struggle for power, the ruthless Austrian Empire invades neighboring Switzerland, and a peaceful huntsman, William Tell, is thrust into the heart of their resistance. The story unfolds in the 14th Century amidst the days of the Holy Roman Empire where Europe's nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians, desiring more land, encroach upon Switzerland, a serene and pastoral nation. TIFF says it is "full of bravery, honour, and some dazzling battles, this big-screen version of the legendary hero’s tale is pure pleasure to watch. William Tell may or may not have existed in real life, but his story is so irresistible that it has become the origin story of Switzerland." Claes Bang stars as William Tell, in a cast including Connor Swindells, Golshifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Ellie Bamber, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham, Jonathan Pryce, and Sir Ben Kingsley. This does look epic & glorious.

Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Nick Hamm's film William Tell, direct from YouTube:

William Tell Film

William Tell Film

Original intro via TIFF: "In 1307, a cruel Austrian Hapsburg king (Sir Ben Kingsley) occupies the bordering Swiss cantons. His tax collectors oppress and violate the [Swiss] citizens, driving one farmer to thoughts of murderous revenge. Fleeing across a vast landscape, this farmer finds only one man who will come to his aid: William Tell (Claes Bang). Tell has returned home weary after fighting with the Knights Templar in the Holy Land. Now seeking only a quiet life with the wife he met there (Golshifteh Farahani), he’s nevertheless bound by his principles. When pushed beyond his limits by the villainy of the Hapsburg court, Tell picks up his weapons and rides into battle." William Tell is written and directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Nick Hamm, director of the films The Very Thought of You, Talk of Angels, The Hole, Godsend, Killing Bono, The Journey, Driven, White Lines, and Gigi & Nate previously. Produced by Piers Tempest, Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich, and Nick Hamm. This initially premiered at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival this fall, and it also played at Zurich Film Festival. Altitude Films will debut William Tell in UK & Irish cinemas starting on January 10th, 2025 early next year. No US release date is set yet - stay tuned. Look any good so far?
Modern cinema has depicted numerous tales about legendary figures from ancient times. However, one that has somehow managed to elude our screens is the classic tale of the Swiss folk hero, William Tell. Thankfully, that's about to change with the upcoming theatrical release of William Tell, a historical thriller about the famed titular marksman who resisted invading Austrian forces and bravely led the people of Switzerland to war against the autocratic Austrian Empire. Claes Bang plays Tell in the film, which recently made its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival. After featuring in a few other festivals, William Tell will arrive theaters soon. A trailer has been released for the film, and it is awash with brutal battle scenes teasing an intense and thrilling spectacle.

Written and directed by Nick Hamm, William Tell is set in the 14th century during the twilight of the Roman Empire when Europe's mighty nations rose against each other in a fierce struggle for supremacy. The Austrians, led by the cruel Hapsburg king (Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley) eye a peaceful Switzerland to seize their lush and pastoral lands, beginning by taxing the bordering Swiss cantons. When one oppressed farmer is fed up, he seeks help from Tell, who's just returned from war in the Holy Lands and has no interest in diving back into another war. However, as the encroaching Austrian warlords further threaten their safety, Tell is forced to pick up his crossbow and lead his countrymen in a desperate fight for freedom.

'William Tell' Features The Epic Apple Scene

The movie is a faithful adaptation of Friedrich Schiller's classic play and includes the famous Apple scene briefly teased at the start and end of the trailer. The scene which plays out extensively in the movie sees the Austrian tyrant leader challenge Tell's marksmanship, putting him to the difficult test of shooting an apple off his son's head to save their lives. In a recent interview with Collider, director Hamm shared that the movie goes beyond entertainment to become a "modern morality tale." He also explained the Apple scene, saying;

"At the center of the movie is this extraordinary scene, as you've seen, Steve, which is the apple scene. People have some sort of cultural reference to the apple. They don't know what the apple is. They don't know why it is. They just know there's a kid with an apple on his head. But when you look at, and you diagnose that scene, and you go into it, and you think, "Okay, what's that actually about?" That's about power. That's about who has it and who doesn't. And it's about the public execution of a young boy. So what we've tried to do is make an entertaining movie, a movie that takes you on a journey, that involves you intellectually and emotionally, gives you feedback for yourself, but it gives you a great sense of scale and enjoyment, ultimately."

William Tell features an ensemble that includes Oscar nominee Jonathan Pryce (The Crown), Connor Swindells (Barbie), Ellie Bamber (Willow), Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), and Emily Beecham (1899).

William Tell will be released in UK cinemas on January 10th, 2025 but is not have a US release date yet. Check out the trailer above and stay tuned for more.

william-tell_movie_poster.jpg
William Tell
Action
Biography
Drama
History
War
This epic retells the legend of William Tell, a Swiss folk hero who stands against oppression and fights for his country's freedom. The narrative highlights Tell's courageous acts and strategic insights during his confrontation with the Austrian occupation.

Release Date
February 21, 2025
Director
Nick Hamm
Cast
Amar Chadha-Patel , Rafe Spall , Jonathan Pryce , Jonah Hauer-King , Ben Kingsley , Golshifteh Farahani , Emily Beecham , Claes Bang , Ellie Bamber , Connor Swindells , Sam Keeley , Diarmaid Murtagh , Solly McLeod , Eanna Hardwicke , Paul Bullion , Jake Dunn , Aron von Andrian , Samuel Edward-Cook , Tobias Jowett , Angus Kennedy , Theodore Hamm , Gabriele Greggio , Gianluca Magni , Jess Douglas-Welsh
Runtime
133 Minutes
Main Genre
Biography
Writers
Nick Hamm
While fans are enjoying this season of Bad Sisters, there's no doubt that there's a notable Claes Bang-shaped hole, after his villainous character's demise in season 1.

Thankfully, viewers don't have to wait long to see him in a brand-new leading role, as he leads BAFTA Award-winning director Nick Hamm's new film, William Tell, which is being released in cinemas on 10th January 2025.

The film brings to life the legendary tale of the 14th century marksman, who at the start is seen as a peaceful hunter, thrust into the heart of the resistance when the Austrian Empire invades Switzerland.

Now, RadioTimes.com has got an exclusive new clip from the film, which sees William facing off against the Austrians after his son is threatened. The tense clip sees William's allies rising up as he is about to be taken away to prison.

You can watch the clip above right now.

Poster for William Tell, starring Claes Bang. He is pointing a crossbow at the camera.
Claes Bang on the official William Tell poster. Altitude
Alongside Bang, William Tell also stars Connor Swindells (Sex Education), Golshifteh Farahani (Extraction II), Ellie Bamber (Willow), Sir Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses), Jonah Hauer-King (Doctor Who), Sir Ben Kingsley (The Thursday Murder Club), Emily Beecham (1899), Amar Chadha-Patel (The Decameron) and Rafe Spall (Trying).

Director Nick Hamm has previously been behind films such as The Journey and Gigi & Nate, while he has also directed episodes of shows including White Lines and Full Circle.

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As well as his role in Bad Sisters, Bang is known for starring in series including The Outlaws, The New Look and Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss's three-part adaptation of Dracula.

When it comes to his film roles, he recently appeared in The Northman, another historical epic which also starred Alexander Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman.

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William Tell is in cinemas on 10th January 2025.
Altitude has released a trailer for the upcoming William Tell movie. Claes Bang leads the cast of the film which also includes Connor Swindells, Golshifteh Farahani, Ellie Bamber, Academy Award nominated Jonathan Pryce, Jonah Hauer-Kingand Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley.

brings to life the legendary tale of the 14th-century marksman. As the nations of medieval Europe struggle for power, the ruthless Austrian Empire invades Switzerland, and a peaceful huntsman, William Tell, is thrust into the heart of their resistance.

BAFTA-winner Nick Hamm directs the film which received its World Premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival followed by its European Premiere at the 2024 Zurich Film Festival.

This one hits UK cinemas on 10th January 2025.
The exploits of one of histories greatest folk heroes, William Tell, are making their way to the big screen, and we finally have a sense of what to expect, thanks to the release of the film’s official trailer. Starring the likes of Claes Bang and Ben Kingsley, the feature will be bringing a centuries-old Swiss legend to a wider audience.

Mosaic depicting William Tell's arrest
Mosaic by Hans Sandreuter, depicting William Tell’s arrest for not saluting Albrecht Gessler’s hat. (Photo Credit: Hans Sandreuter / Roland zh / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0)
A synopsis of the film, provided by Beta Cinema, reads as follows:

“307, the Holy Roman Empire is in turmoil. As its grip on Europe loosens, new dynasties such as the Austrian Habsburg Family encroach on new lands, desperate for power. Switzerland, the once peaceful country, is overwhelmed and bows under the Austrian might. When the local huntsman William Tell sees a farmer begging for help after murdering a cruel Austrian governor, he reluctantly agrees to guide him to a safe location.

“But as he meets with more comrades along the way, Tell realizes that this act of violence is a larger sign of what’s to come with the growing Swiss resistance. Tell is drawn into the madness when the cruel Austrian Viceroy Gessler orders him to shoot an apple from his son’s head for refusing to bend the knee to Austrian authority.

“Once Tell’s family has been threatened, there is no turning back. Tell not only commits to joining the resistance but ends up leading the fight against the Austrian forces. Scarred by his own experience in the depravity and destitution of war during the Crusades, he comes to realize what matters most: his family and preserving his country’s independence for future generations.”

Portrait of Claes Bang
Claes Bang in the Getty Images Portrait Studio Presented by IMDb and IMDbPro during the Toronto International Film Festival, at the InterContinental Toronto Centre, 2024. (Photo Credit: Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images for IMDb)
A major folk hero in Switzerland, William Tell’s exploits are the stuff of legend. A skilled marksman who lived in the early 14th century, he rose to prominence after refusing an order by local governor Albrecht Gessler to bow at his hat.

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As a way of punishing Tell, Gessler ordered him to shoot an apple off of his son’s head with his crossbow, which he successfully did. However, the governor noticed Tell had prepared two belts. When asked why, he revealed he’d planned to turn the bow on Gessler if his son had been injured, leading to Tell’s arrest.

While en route to prison, Tell saves the governor’s life, only to assassinate him upon his escape from captivity. This small act of defiance spurred a rebellion against Austrian rule, a movement that’s credited with helping the push for Swiss independence.

Read also: The End of the 900 Day Leningrad Blockade – January 27, 1944
Directed by Nick Hamm and starring Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Jonah Hauer King and Ben Kingsley, William Tell was first announced in October 2023. At the time, the film was finishing shooting in Italy, with Hamm adapting Friedrich Schiller’s 1804 play for the script.

Speaking with Variety at the time, he shared, “As a filmmaker I couldn’t ask for a more exceptional cast to bring this story to life,” adding, “Tell’s story has a relevance and immediacy that is strikingly contemporary. The Apple Scene in particular has gripped the world’s imagination for hundreds of years and yet has never been dramatized in modern cinema.”

More from us: Clive Owen to Star in Historical Thriller ‘Kristallnacht’

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William Tell was initially shown at both the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Zurich Film Festival. The movie is slated to premiere in theaters on January 10, 2025.
William Tell

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Nick Hamm
Screenplay by Nick Hamm
Based on William Tell
by Friedrich Schiller
Produced by
Piers Tempest
Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich
Nick Hamm
Starring
Claes Bang
Connor Swindells
Golshifteh Farahani
Jonah Hauer-King
Ellie Bamber
Rafe Spall
Emily Beecham
Jonathan Pryce
Ben Kingsley
Cinematography Jamie D. Ramsay
Edited by Tariq Anwar
Music by Steven Price
Production
companies
Free Turn Films
Tempo Productions
Beta Cinema
Distributed by
Altitude Film Distribution[1] (United Kingdom)
Eagle Pictures (Italy)
SquareOne Entertainment[1] (Switzerland)
Release dates
September 5, 2024 (TIFF)
January 10, 2025 (United Kingdom)
Running time 133 minutes
Countries
United Kingdom
Italy
Switzerland
Language English
William Tell is a 2024 epic historical drama written and directed by Nick Hamm, based on the play of the same name by Friedrich Schiller. It stars Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Golshifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Ellie Bamber, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham, Jonathan Pryce, and Ben Kingsley.

The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 5, 2024.[2] It will be released in the United Kingdom on 10 January 2025.

Premise
William Tell defends his family and homeland Switzerland when it comes under attack from the Austrian king.

Cast
Claes Bang as William Tell
Connor Swindells as Gessler
Golshifteh Farahani as Suna
Jonah Hauer-King as Rudenz
Ellie Bamber as Bertha
Rafe Spall
Emily Beecham
Jonathan Pryce
Ben Kingsley as King Albert
Amar Chadha-Patel as Furst
Sam Keeley as Baumgarten
Jake Dunn as Stussl
Tobias Jowett as Walter
Solly McLeod
Production
The production, which would be directed and adapted by Nick Hamm, received funding to shoot in South Tyrol in June 2023.[3]

In October 2023, the production was fully announced, with Claes Bang set to star as the titular folk hero. Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber, Golshifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham, Jonathan Pryce and Ben Kingsley were also cast, with production entering its final week in Italy.[4] Post-production was underway by May 2024.[5]

References
Goodfellow, Melanie (6 September 2024). "Claes Bang Picture 'William Tell' Sells To UK & Ireland, German-Speaking Territories For Beta Ahead Of Toronto WP". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
D'Alessandro, Anthony (2024-08-13). "TIFF Adds 20 More Movies To Lineup With 'Saturday Night', Jacob Elordi & Daisy Edgar-Jones' 'On Swift Horses', Max Minghella's 'Shell', 'Megalopolis' & More". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
"Secondo round di finanziamento 2023: dalla commedia poliziesca al film fantasy – l'Alto Adige è al centro delle produzioni internazionali". IDM Film Commission Südtirol (in Italian). June 26, 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
Goodfellow, Melanie (October 24, 2023). "Beta Cinema Launches Nick Hamm's Epic William Tell With Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber, Golshifteh Farahani & Ben Kingsley; Releases First-Look Image – AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
Ford, Lily (May 16, 2024). "Nick Hamm's Epic William Tell, Starring Claes Bang as Resistance Fighter, Sells Wide". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
External links
William Tell at IMDb
vte
William Tell
vte
Films directed by Nick Hamm
Categories: 2024 filmsCultural depictions of William TellBritish historical drama filmsBritish epic filmsFilms directed by Nick HammFilms scored by Steven PriceFilms shot in ItalyFilms based on William Tell (play)2024 drama films2020s British films
William Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell, pronounced [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈtɛl] ⓘ; French: Guillaume Tell; Italian: Guglielmo Tell; Romansh: Guglielm Tell) is a fictional folk hero of Switzerland. According to the legend, Tell was an expert mountain climber and marksman with a crossbow who assassinated Albrecht Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of the Austrian dukes of the House of Habsburg positioned in Altdorf, in the canton of Uri. Tell's defiance and tyrannicide encouraged the population to open rebellion and to make a pact against the foreign rulers with neighbouring Schwyz and Unterwalden, marking the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy. Tell was considered the father of the Swiss Confederacy.

Set in the early 14th century (traditional date 1307, during the rule of Albert of Habsburg), the first written records of the legend date to the latter part of the 15th century, when the Swiss Confederacy was gaining military and political influence. Tell is a central figure in Swiss national historiography, along with Arnold von Winkelried, the hero of Sempach (1386). He was important as a symbol during the formative stage of modern Switzerland in the 19th century, known as the period of Restoration and Regeneration, as well as in the wider history of 18th- to 19th-century Europe as a symbol of resistance against aristocratic rule, especially in the Revolutions of 1848 against the House of Habsburg which had ruled Austria for centuries.[1]

Legend

Tell's leap (Tellensprung) from the boat of his captors at the Axen cliffs; study by Ernst Stückelberg (1879) for his fresco at the Tellskapelle.

Page of the White Book of Sarnen (p. 447, first page of the Tell legend, pp. 447–449).
The first reference to Tell, as yet without a specified given name, appears in the White Book of Sarnen (German: Weisses Buch von Sarnen). This volume was written in c. 1474 by Hans Schriber, state secretary (Landschreiber) Obwalden. It mentions the Rütli oath (German: Rütlischwur) and names Tell as one of the conspirators of the Rütli, whose heroic tyrannicide triggered the Burgenbruch rebellion.[2]

An equally early account of Tell is found in the Tellenlied, a song composed in the 1470s, with its oldest extant manuscript copy dating to 1501. The song begins with the Tell legend, which it presents as the origin of the Confederacy, calling Tell the "first confederate". The narrative includes Tell's apple shot, his preparation of a second arrow to shoot Gessler, and his escape, but it does not mention any assassination of Gessler.[3] The text then enumerates the cantons of the Confederacy, and says was expanded with "current events" during the course of the Burgundy Wars, ending with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.[3]

Aegidius Tschudi, writing c. 1570, presents an extended version of the legend. Still essentially based on the account in the White Book, Tschudi adds further detail. Tschudi is known to habitually have "fleshed out" his sources, so that all detail from Tschudi not found in the earlier accounts may be suspected of being Tschudi's invention.[4] Such additional detail includes Tell's given name Wilhelm, and his being a native of Bürglen, Uri in the Schächental, the precise date of the apple-shot, given as 18 November 1307 as well as the account of Tell's death in 1354.

It is Tschudi's version that became influential in early modern Switzerland and entered public consciousness as the "William Tell" legend. According to Tschudi's account, William Tell was known as a strong man and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the House of Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri, and Tell became one of the conspirators of Werner Stauffacher who vowed to resist Habsburg rule. Albrecht Gessler was the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, Switzerland. He raised a pole under the village linden tree, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before it.

In Tschudi's account, on 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son. He passed by the hat, but publicly refused to bow to it, and was consequently arrested. Gessler was intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, but resentful of his defiance, so he devised a cruel punishment. Tell and his son were both to be executed; however, he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son Walter in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow. Gessler then noticed that Tell had removed two crossbow bolts from his quiver, so he asked why. Tell was reluctant to answer, but Gessler promised that he would not kill him; he replied that, had he killed his son, he would have killed Gessler with the second bolt. Gessler was furious and ordered Tell to be bound, saying that he had promised to spare his life, but would imprison him for the remainder of his life.

Tschudi's continues that Tell was being carried in Gessler's boat to the dungeon in the castle at Küssnacht when a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, and the guards were afraid that their boat would sink. They begged Gessler to remove Tell's shackles so that he could take the helm and save them. Gessler gave in, but Tell steered the boat to a rocky place and leaped out. The site is known in the "White Book" as the "Tellsplatte" ("Tell's slab"); it has been marked by a memorial chapel since the 16th century. Tell ran cross-country to Küssnacht with Gessler in pursuit. Tell assassinated him using the second crossbow bolt, along a stretch of the road cut through the rock between Immensee and Küssnacht, which is known as the Hohle Gasse.[5] Tell's act sparked a rebellion, which led to the formation of the Old Swiss Confederacy.[6] According to Tschudi, Tell fought again against Austria in the 1315 Battle of Morgarten. Tschudi also has an account of Tell's death in 1354, according to which he was killed trying to save a child from drowning in the Schächental River in Uri.[6]

Early modern reception
Chronicles

A depiction of the apple-shot scene in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia (1554 edition).
There are a number of sources for the Tell legend later than the earliest account in the White Book of Sarnen but earlier than Tschudi's version of ca. 1570.

These include the account in the chronicle of Melchior Russ from Lucerne. Dated to 1482, this is an incoherent compilation of older writings, including the Song of the Founding of the Confederation, Conrad Justinger's Bernese Chronicle, and the Chronicle of the State of Bern (in German, Chronik der Stadt Bern).[7] Another early account is in Petermann Etterlin's Chronicle of the Swiss Confederation (German: Kronika von der loblichen Eydtgenossenschaft) of 1507, the earliest printed version of the Tell story.[8]

The Chronicon Helveticum was compiled by Aegidius Tschudi of Glarus in the years leading up to his death in early 1572. For more than 150 years, it existed only in manuscript form, before finally being edited in 1734–1736. Therefore, there is no clear "date of publication" of the chronicle, and its date of composition can only be given approximately, as "ca. 1570", or "before 1572". It is Tschudi's account of the legend, however, which became the major model for later writers, even prior to its edition in print in the 1730s,[9]

Popular veneration

The Hohle Gasse between Immensee and Küssnacht, with a second Tellskapelle (built in 1638).
A widespread veneration of Tell, including sight-seeing excursions to the scenes of his deeds, can be ascertained for the early 16th century. Heinrich Brennwald in the early 16th century mentions the chapel (Tellskapelle) on the site of Tell's leap from his captors' boat. Tschudi mentions a "holy cottage" (heilig hüslin) built on the site of Gessler's assassination. Peter Hagendorf, a soldier in the Thirty Years' War, mentions a visit to 'the chapel where William Tell escaped' in his diary.[10]

The first recorded Tell play (Tellspiel), known as the Urner Tellspiel ("Tell Play of Uri"),[11] was probably performed in the winter of either 1512 or 1513 in Altdorf.[7]

The church of Bürglen had a bell dedicated to Tell from 1581, and a nearby chapel has a fresco dated to 1582 showing Tell's death in the Schächenbach.[12]

The Three Tells
The Three Tells (die Drei Tellen, also die Drei Telle) were symbolic figures of the Swiss Peasant War of 1653. They expressed the hope of the subject population to repeat the success story of the rebellion against Habsburg in the early 14th century.

By the 18th century, the Drei Tellen had become associated with a sleeping hero legend. They were said to be asleep in a cave at the Rigi. The return of Tell in times of need was already foretold in the Tellenlied of 1653 and symbolically fulfilled in the impersonation of the Three Tells by costumed individuals, in one instance culminating in an actual assassination executed by these impersonators in historical costume.

Tell during the 16th century had become closely associated and eventually merged with the Rütlischwur legend, and the "Three Tells" represented the three conspirators or Eidgenossen Walter Fürst, Arnold von Melchtal and Werner Stauffacher.

In 1653, three men dressed in historical costume representing the Three Tells appeared in Schüpfheim. Other impersonations of the Three Tells also appeared in the Freie Ämter and in the Emmental.

The first impersonators of the Three Tells were Hans Zemp, Kaspar Unternährer of Schüpfheim and Ueli Dahinden of Hasle. They appeared at a number of important peasant conferences during the war, symbolizing the continuity of the present rebellion with the resistance movement against the Habsburg overlords at the origin of the Swiss Confederacy. Unternährer and Dahinden fled to the Entlebuch alps before the arrival of the troops of general Sebastian Peregrin Zwyers; Zemp escaped to the Alsace. After the suppression of the rebellion, the peasants voted for a tyrannicide, directly inspired by the Tell legend, attempting to kill the Lucerne Schultheiss Ulrich Dulliker.[13]

Dahinden and Unternährer returned in their roles of Tells, joined by Hans Stadelmann replacing Zemp. In an ambush, they managed to injure Dulliker and killed a member of the Lucerne parliament, Caspar Studer. The assassination attempt — an exceptional act in the culture of the Old Swiss Confederacy — was widely recognized and welcomed among the peasant population, but its impact was not sufficient to rekindle the rebellion.[13]

Even though it did not have any direct political effect, its symbolic value was considerable, placing the Lucerne authorities in the role of the tyrant (Habsburg and Gessler) and the peasant population in that of the freedom fighters (Tell). The Three Tells after the deed went to mass, still wearing their costumes, without being molested. Dahinden and Unternährer were eventually killed in October 1653 by Lucerne troops under Colonel Alphons von Sonnenberg. In July 1654, Zemp betrayed his successor Stadelmann in exchange for pardon and Stadelmann was executed on 15 July 1654.[13]

The Three Tells appear in a 1672 comedy by Johann Caspar Weissenbach. The "sleeping hero" version of the Three Tells legend was published in Deutsche Sagen by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 (no. 298).[14] It is also the subject of Felicia Hemans's poem The Cavern of the Three Tells of 1824.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
'The Cavern of the Three Tells', a poem by Felicia Hemans
Modern reception

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An allegorical Tell defeating the chimera of the French Revolution (1798).

Official seal of the "smaller council" (kleiner Rath) of the Helvetic Republic.

Detail from the Statue of William Tell and his son in Altdorf (Richard Kissling, 1895).
Throughout the long nineteenth century, and into the World War II period, Tell was perceived as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny both in Switzerland and in Europe.

Antoine-Marin Lemierre wrote a play inspired by Tell in 1766 and revived it in 1786. The success of this work established the association of Tell as a fighter against tyranny with the history of the French Revolution. The French revolutionary fascination with Tell was reflected in Switzerland with the establishment of the Helvetic Republic. Tell became, as it were, the mascot of the short-lived republic, his figure being featured on its official seal. The French Navy also had a Tonnant-class ship of the line named Guillaume Tell, which was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1800.

Benito Juarez, President of Mexico and national hero, chose the alias "Guillermo Tell" (the Spanish version of William Tell) when he joined the Freemasons;[15] he picked this name because he liked and admired the story and character of Tell whom he considered a symbol of freedom and resistance.[16]

Tschudi's Chronicon Helveticum continued to be taken at face value as a historiographical source well into the 19th century, so that Tschudi's version of the legend is not only used as a model in Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell (1804) but is also reported in historiographical works of the time, including Johannes von Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation (German: Geschichte Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, 1780).[9]

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of the Tell saga during his travels through Switzerland between 1775 and 1795. He obtained a copy of Tschudi's chronicles and considered writing a play about Tell, but ultimately gave the idea to his friend Friedrich von Schiller, who in 1803–04 wrote the play Wilhelm Tell, first performed on 17 March 1804, in Weimar. Schiller's Tell is heavily inspired by the political events of the late 18th century, the French and American revolutions, in particular. Schiller's play was performed at Interlaken (the Tellspiele) in the summers of 1912 to 1914, 1931 to 1939 and every year since 1947. In 2004 it was first performed in Altdorf itself.

Gioachino Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his 1829 opera William Tell.[17] The William Tell Overture is one of his best-known and most frequently imitated pieces of music; in the 20th century, the finale of the overture became the theme for the radio, television, and motion picture incarnations of The Lone Ranger, a fictional American frontier hero.

Around 1836 the first William Tell patterned playing cards were produced in Pest, Hungary. They were inspired by Schiller's play and made during tense relations with the ruling Habsburgs. The cards became popular throughout the Austrian Empire during the Revolution of 1848. Characters and scenes from the opera William Tell are recognisable on the court cards and Aces of William Tell cards, playing cards that were designed in Hungary around 1835. These cards are still the most common German-suited playing cards in that part of the world today. Characters from the play portrayed on the Obers and Unters include: Hermann Geszler, Walter Fürst, Rudolf Harras and William Tell.[18]

In 1858, the Swiss Colonization Society, a group of Swiss and German immigrants to the United States, founded its first (and only) planned city on the banks of the Ohio River in Perry County, Indiana. The town was originally dubbed Helvetia, but was quickly changed to Tell City to honor the legendary Swiss hero. The city became known for its manufacturing, especially of fine wood furniture. William Tell and symbols of an apple with an arrow through it are prominent in the town, which includes a bronze statue of Tell and his son, based on the one in Altdorf, Switzerland. The statue was erected on a fountain in front of city hall in 1974. Tell City High School uses these symbols in its crest or logo, and the sports teams are called "The Marksmen." The William Tell Overture is often played by the school's pep band at high school games. Each August since 1958, Tell City's centennial year, the town has held "Schweizer Fest," a community festival of entertainment, stage productions, historical presentations, carnival rides, beer garden, sporting events and class reunions, to honor its Swiss-German heritage. Many of the activities occur on the grounds of City Hall and Main Street, at the feet of the Tell statue.

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Tell. Lamenting the negative reaction to his action, Booth wrote in his journal on 21 April 1865 "with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."[19] (He himself was shot to death, without standing trial, days later.)

Following a national competition, won by Richard Kissling, Altdorf in 1895 erected a monument to its hero. Kissling casts Tell as a peasant and man of the mountains, with strong features and muscular limbs. His powerful hand rests lovingly on the shoulder of little Walter, but the apple is not shown. The depiction is in marked contrast with that used by the Helvetic Republic, where Tell is shown as a landsknecht rather than a peasant, with a sword at his belt and a feathered hat, bending down to pick up his son who is still holding the apple.

Wilhelm Tell by Ferdinand Hodler (1897)
The painting of Tell by Ferdinand Hodler (1897) became iconic. Tell is represented as facing the viewer, with his right hand raised, the left holding the crossbow. The representation was designed as part of a larger scene showing "Gessler's death", one of seven scenes created for the Swiss National Museum competition. Hodler's depiction of Tell was often described as sacral, and compared to classical depictionons of God Father, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, or the Archangel Michael. In Tell's bearded face, Hodler combines self-portrait with allusion the face of Christ.[20]

The first film about Tell was made by French director Charles Pathé in 1900; only a short fragment survives.[citation needed]
A version of the legend was retold in P.G. Wodehouse's William Tell Told Again (1904), written in prose and verse with characteristic Wodehousian flair. The design of the Federal 5 francs coin issued from 1922 features the bust of a generic "mountain shepherd" designed by Paul Burkard, but due to a similarity of the bust with Kissling's statue, in spite of the missing beard, it was immediately widely identified as Tell.

Adolf Hitler was enthusiastic about Schiller's play, quoting it in his Mein Kampf, and approving of a German/Swiss co-production of the play in which Hermann Göring's mistress Emmy Sonnemann appeared as Tell's wife. However, on 3 June 1941, Hitler had the play banned. The reason for the ban is not known, but may have been related to the failed assassination attempt on Hitler in 1938 by young Swiss Maurice Bavaud[21] (executed on 14 May 1941, and later dubbed "a new William Tell" by Rolf Hochhuth), or the subversive nature of the play.[22][23] Hitler is reported to have exclaimed at a banquet in 1942: "Why did Schiller have to immortalize that Swiss sniper!"[22]

Charlie Chaplin parodies William Tell in his famous 1928 silent movie The Circus. Salvador Dalí painted The Old Age of William Tell and William Tell and Gradiva in 1931, and The Enigma of William Tell in 1933. Spanish playwright Alfonso Sastre re-worked the legend in 1955 in his "Guillermo Tell tiene los ojos tristes" (William Tell has sad eyes); it was not performed until the Franco regime in Spain ended.[citation needed]

William Tell depicted on Tell pattern playing cards
In Switzerland, the importance of Tell had declined somewhat by the end of the 19th century, outside of Altdorf and Interlaken which established their tradition of performing Schiller's play in regular intervals in 1899 and 1912, respectively. During the World Wars, Tell was again revived, somewhat artificially, as a national symbol. For example, in 1923 the Swiss Post introduced horns for their coach service based on the overture of Rossini's Tell opera, and in 1931, the image of a crossbow was introduced as a logo indicating Swiss products. The Tell-Museum in Bürglen, Uri, opened in 1966.[24]

After 1968, with ideological shift of academic mainstream from a liberal-radical to a deconstructivist leftist outlook, Swiss historians were looking to dismantle the foundational legends of Swiss statehood as unhistorical national myth. Max Frisch's "William Tell for Schools" (1971) deconstructs the legend by reversing the characters of the protagonists: Gessler is a well-meaning and patient administrator who is faced with the barbarism of a back-corner of the empire, while Tell is an irascible simpleton.[25] Tell still remains a popular figure in Swiss culture. According to a 2004 survey, a majority of Swiss believed that he actually existed.[26]

Schweizer Helden ("Swiss Heroes", English title Unlikely Heroes) is a 2014 film about the performance of a simplified version of Schiller's play by asylum seekers in Switzerland.[27]

The Japanese historical fantasy manga series Wolfsmund, written and illustrated by Mitsuhisa Kuji and published by Enterbrain, is a retelling of the rebellion started by William Tell. The story revolves around the oppression that took place during the Middle Ages in the middle cantons of Switzerland.

In the 2019 Spanish comedy film The Little Switzerland, a Spanish town (Tellería) discovers the tomb of Tell's son and tries to become a Swiss canton (Tellstadt), affecting a Swiss identity.[28]

Historicity debate

A 1782 depiction of Tell in the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zürich.
The historicity of William Tell has been subject to debate. François Guillimann, a statesman of Fribourg and later historian and advisor of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolf II, wrote to Melchior Goldast in 1607: "I followed popular belief by reporting certain details in my Swiss antiquities [published in 1598], but when I examine them closely the whole story seems to me to be pure fable."

In 1760, Simeon Uriel Freudenberger from Luzern anonymously published a tract arguing that the legend of Tell in all likelihood was based on the Danish saga of Palnatoki. A French translation of his book by Gottlieb Emanuel von Haller (Guillaume Tell, Fable danoise), published under Haller's name to protect Freudenberger, was burnt in Altdorf.[29]

The skeptical view of Tell's existence remained very unpopular, especially after the adoption of Tell as depicted in Schiller's 1804 play as national hero in the nascent Swiss patriotism of the Restoration and Regeneration period of the Swiss Confederation. In the 1840s, Joseph Eutych Kopp (1793–1866) published skeptical reviews of the folkloristic aspects of the foundational legends of the Old Confederacy, causing "polemical debates" both within and outside of academia.[30] De Capitani (2013) cites the controversy surrounding Kopp in the 1840s as the turning point after which doubts in Tell's historicity "could no longer be ignored".[31]

From the second half of the 19th century, it has been largely undisputed among historians that there is no contemporary (14th-century) evidence for Tell as a historical individual, let alone for the apple-shot story. Debate in the late 19th to 20th centuries mostly surrounded the extent of the "historical nucleus" in the chronistic traditions surrounding the early Confederacy.

The desire to defend the historicity of the Befreiungstradition ("liberation tradition") of Swiss history had a political component, as since the 17th century its celebration had become mostly confined to the Catholic cantons, so that the declaration of parts of the tradition as ahistorical was seen as an attack by the urban Protestant cantons on the rural Catholic cantons. The decision, taken in 1891, to make 1 August the Swiss National Day is to be seen in this context, an ostentative move away from the traditional Befreiungstradition and the celebration of the deed of Tell to the purely documentary evidence of the Federal Charter of 1291. In this context, Wilhelm Oechsli was commissioned by the federal government with publishing a "scientific account" of the foundational period of the Confederacy in order to defend the choice of 1291 over 1307 (the traditional date of Tell's deed and the Rütlischwur) as the foundational date of the Swiss state.[32] The canton of Uri, in defiant reaction to this decision taken at the federal level, erected the Tell Monument in Altdorf in 1895, with the date 1307 inscribed prominently on the base of the statue.

Later proposals for the identification of Tell as a historical individual, such as a 1986 publication deriving the name Tell from the placename Tellikon (modern Dällikon in the Canton of Zürich), are outside of the historiographical mainstream.[33]

Comparative mythology
Main article: Shooting an apple off one's child's head
The Tell legend has been compared to a number of other myths or legends, specifically in Norse mythology, involving a magical marksman coming to the aid of a suppressed people under the sway of a tyrant. The story of a great outlaw successfully shooting an apple from his child's head is an archetype present in the story of Egil in the Thidreks saga (associated with the god Ullr in Eddaic tradition) as well as in the stories of Adam Bell from England, Palnatoki from Denmark, and a story from Holstein.

Such parallels were pointed out as early as 1760 by Gottlieb Emanuel von Haller and the pastor Simeon Uriel Freudenberger in a book titled "William Tell, a Danish Fable" (German: Der Wilhelm Tell, ein dänisches Mährgen).[34] This book offended Swiss citizens, and a copy of it was burnt publicly at the Altdorf square. Von Haller underwent a trial, but the authorities spared his life, as he made abject apologies.[35]

Rochholz (1877) connects the similarity of the Tell legend to the stories of Egil and Palnatoki with the legends of a migration from Sweden to Switzerland during the Middle Ages. He also adduces parallels in folktales among the Finns and the Lapps (Sami). From pre-Christian Norse mythology, Rochholz compares Ullr, who bears the epithet of Boga-As ("bow-god"), Heimdall and also Odin himself, who according to the Gesta Danorum (Book 1, chapter 8.16) assisted Haddingus by shooting ten bolts from a crossbow in one shot, killing as many foes. Rochholz further compares Indo-European and oriental traditions and concludes (pp. 35–41) that the legend of the master marksman shooting an apple (or similar small target) was known outside the Germanic sphere (Germany, Scandinavia, England) and the adjacent regions (Finland and the Baltic) in India, Arabia, Persia and the Balkans (Serbia).

The Danish legend of Palnatoki, first attested in the twelfth-century Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus,[36] is the earliest known parallel to the Tell legend. As with William Tell, Palnatoki is forced by the ruler (in this case King Harald Bluetooth) to shoot an apple off his son's head as proof of his marksmanship.[37] A striking similarity between William Tell and Palnatoki is that both heroes take more than one arrow out of their quiver. When asked why he pulled several arrows out of his quiver, Palnatoki, too, replies that if he had struck his son with the first arrow, he would have shot King Harald with the remaining two arrows.[36] According to Saxo, Palnatoki later joins Harald's son Swein Forkbeard in a rebellion and kills Harald with an arrow.[38]

See also
Arnold Winkelried, Swiss cultural hero
Stauffacherin, Swiss cultural hero
Tell City, Indiana
Non-Swiss figures:

Punker of Rohrbach
Robin Hood
Toni Bajada
William Wallace, (historical) medieval Scottish hero
General:

Historiography of Switzerland
Notes and references
The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Volume 2A: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. United States: Pearson Education, Inc. 2006. p. 671. ISBN 0-321-33394-2.
Bergier, p 63.
Rochus von Liliencron, Historische Volkslieder der Deutschen, vol. 2 (1866), no. 147, cited by Rochholz (1877), p. 187; c.f. Bergier, p. 70–71.
Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "Tschudi" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 349–350. ...Tschudi's historical credit is thus hopelessly ruined...
Hohle Gasse in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig und Wien, Fourth edition, 1885–1892, entry on "Tell, Wilhelm," pp. 576–77 in volume 15. In German.
Bergier, p. 76.
Bergier, p. 77.
Bergier, p. 16.
Helfferich, Tryntje, The Thirty Years' War: A Documentary History (Cambridge, 2009), p. 279.
Head, p. 528.
Kaiser, P.: Liberation myths in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 20 May 2002. URL last accessed 6 November 2006.
Drei Tellen in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
"von - Text im Projekt Gutenberg". SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany.[better source needed]
Vázquez Semadeni, María Eugenia (2006). Written at Puebla. Covarrubias González, Israel (ed.). "Juárez y la masonería". Metapolítica (in Spanish). 46 (10). Mexico: Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla: 55–62. ISSN 1405-4558.
Vázquez Mantecón, María del Carmen (2006). "Juárez ¿Masón practicante?". Muerte y vida eterna de Benito Juárez: El deceso, sus rituales y su memoria (PDF) (in Spanish). Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas. pp. 33–38. ISBN 970-32-4290-1. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
"William Tell: Fact Or Legend?". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
Pattern Sheet 90 - Tell pattern Type I at i-p-c-s.org. Retrieved 29 Nov 2019.
Murley, John Albert; Sutton, Sean D. (2006). Perspectives on Politics in Shakespeare. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739116845.
Stückelberger, J. (1996). Hodlers Weg zum Nationalmaler am Beispiel seines "Wilhelm Tell". In: Zeitschrift für schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte 53/4 (1996), doi:10.5169/seals-169495.
dpa: Hitler verbot Schillers "Tell", news agency announcement of a speech by Rolf Hochhuth, May 11, 2004. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
Ruppelt, G.: Hitler gegen Tell Archived 2007-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, Hannover, 2004. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
Sapan, A.: Wilhelm Tell (Friedrich von Schiller) Archived 2010-04-20 at the Wayback Machine. In German. URL last accessed 11 February 2008.
de Capitani (2013)
Adolf Muschg, Apfelschuß war nicht verlangt, Spiegel 9 August 1971.
"According to a 2004 survey of 620 participants performed by the LINK-Institut of Lucerne for Coopzeitung. 58% of those asked held that Tell was historical, compared to 29% who held that Tell was unhistorical". Archived from the original on 2012-07-13. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
"Schweizer Helden (Unlikely Heroes)". IMDb. Retrieved December 3, 2015.. Winner of Prix du Public UBS at Locarno International Film Festival 2014. "Past winners of Prix du Public UBS". Festival del Film Locarno official website. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
Jiménez, Jesús (26 April 2019). "'La pequeña Suiza', Berlanga inspira una comedia sobre los nacionalismos". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 February 2022.
Troxler, J. et al.: Guillaume Tell, pp. 43–46; Ketty & Alexandre, Chapelle-sur-Moudon, 1985, ISBN 2-88114-001-7. See also "Le pamphlet de von Haller Archived 2009-03-14 at the Wayback Machine" (in French).
Heidi Bossard-Borner: Joseph Eutych Kopp in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2008.
De Capitani (2013): "From this time [late 18th century] the debates surrounding Tell took place on two separate levels: The historicity question was left to experts, who increasingly doubted the existence of Tell as historical figure, because it could not be reconciled with the documentary tradition regarding the origin of the Confederacy. This circumstance could no longer be ignored, at the latest, with the post-1845 publications by Joseph Eutych Kopp, who in contrast to [Johannes von] Müller relied on documentary evidence and consequently rejected the folkloristic elements of the liberation tradition such as Tell or the Rütli oath." "Von nun an liefen die Diskussionen um T. auf zwei Ebenen: Die Frage nach der Historizität blieb den Fachleuten vorbehalten, die immer mehr an der hist. Figur T. zweifelten, weil sie nicht mit der urkundl. Überlieferung zur Entstehung der Eidgenossenschaft in Einklang gebracht werden konnte. Spätestens mit den Arbeiten Joseph Eutych Kopps nach 1845, der sich im Gegensatz zu von Müller auf urkundl. Überlieferungen stützte und entsprechend die volkstüml. Elemente der Befreiungstradition wie T. oder den Rütlischwur verwarf, liess sich dieser Sachverhalt nicht mehr ausblenden."
Wilhelm Oechsli, Die Anfänge der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. Zürich, 1891.
Arnold Claudio Schärer, Und es gab Tell doch (1986). Schärer cites the historical record of one Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon and argues that Gorkeit is equivalent to Armbruster ("crossbow maker"). Historians were not convinced, but the theory was welcomed in part of the nationalistic right in Switzerland, being referenced by Rudolf Keller, at the time president of the Swiss Democrats, on 1 August 2004 in a speech in Basel. Keller, R.: Speech held on August 1, 2004 Archived June 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
Bergier, p. 80f.
Wernick, Robert. "In Search of William Tell". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2017-12-06.
Bergier, p. 82.
see e.g. Keightley, Thomas. Tales and Popular Fictions: Their Resemblance and Transmission from Country to Country. London: Whittaker, 1834, p. 293.
Zeeberg, Peter (2000). Saxos Danmarkshistorie. Denmark: Gads Forlag. p. 909. ISBN 978-87-12-04745-2.
Bibliography
Bergier, Jean-François. Wilhelm Tell: Realität und Mythos. München: Paul List Verlag, 1990.
de Capitani, François: Tell, Wilhelm in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, 2013.
Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1887). "Tell" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XXII (9th ed.). pp. 155–156.
Coolidge, William Augustus Brevoort (1911). "Tell, William" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). pp. 574–576.
Everdell, William R. "William Tell: The Failure of Kings in Switzerland," in The End of Kings: A History of Republics and Republicans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN 0-226-22482-1
Fiske, John. Myths and Myth-Makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology, 1877. Ch. 1: (On-line) Quotes Saxo Grammaticus, the ballad of William of Cloudeslee, and instances other independent occurrences.
Head, Randolph C. "William Tell and His Comrades: Association and Fraternity in the Propaganda of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Switzerland." in The Journal of Modern History 67.3 (1995): 527–557.
Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023). "The Origins of Democracy in Switzerland," Swiss American Historical Society Review, Vol. 59: No. 1. Page 95-97. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss1/4
Rochholz, Ernst Ludwig, Tell und Gessler in Sage und Geschichte. Nach urkundlichen Quellen, Heilbronn, 1877 (online copy).
Salis, J.-R. v.: Ursprung, Gestalt, und Wirkung des schweizerischen Mythos von Tell, Bern, 1973.
External links

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William Tell is a lie; Coopzeitung 28/2004, interview with historian Roger Sablonier, Zurich, translated
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The Adventures of William Tell
Series titles over William Tell's son and the famous apple scene
Also known as William Tell
Starring
Conrad Phillips
Jennifer Jayne
Richard Rogers
Willoughby Goddard
Theme music composer
Melody: Gioachino Rossini
Lyrics: Harold Purcell
Opening theme William Tell Overture, sung by David Whitfield
Composers
Albert Elms
Sydney John Kay
Original language English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 39
Production
Executive producer Ralph Smart
Producer Leslie Arliss
Running time 25 minutes
Production company ITC for ATV
Original release
Network ITV
Release 15 September 1958 –
15 June 1959
The Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment. In the United States, the episodes aired on the syndicated NTA Film Network in 1958–1959.[1]

William Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland in the early 14th century, said to have encouraged the Old Swiss Confederacy population to revolt against the regime of Albert I of Germany (reigned 1298–1308). This legend is recorded in the White Book of Sarnen (1474).

Cast
Main
Conrad Phillips as William Tell
Jennifer Jayne as Hedda Tell (wife)
Richard Rogers as Walter Tell (son)
Willoughby Goddard as Landburgher Gessler
Nigel Green as The Bear
Jack Lambert as Judge Furst (Hedda's father)
Peter Hammond as Hofmanstahl
Supporting
Derek Bond
James Booth
Wilfrid Brambell
Alfred Burke
Michael Caine
John Carson
Kenneth Cope
Adrienne Corri
John Howard Davies
Roger Delgado
Frazer Hines
Sid James
Edward Judd
Delphi Lawrence
Christopher Lee
Ronald Leigh-Hunt
John Le Mesurier
Charles Lloyd-Pack
William Lucas
Ferdy Mayne
Warren Mitchell
Lee Montague
Derren Nesbitt
Glyn Owen
Donald Pleasence
Edwin Richfield
Michael Ripper
Bruce Seton
Robert Shaw
Melissa Stribling
Frank Thornton
Patrick Troughton
Richard Vernon
Deborah Watling
Jack Watling
Mary Webster
Production
The series was produced by Ralph Smart, who wrote a number of stories for the series and also created and produced Danger Man.[2][3] The show was made at the National Studios in Elstree.[4]

The outdoor scenes were filmed around the mountains and lakes of Snowdonia in Wales. The film base and make-up were at a small farm in Cwm-y-glo in Snowdonia. This is beside Llyn Padarn, a lake which can be seen in many shots (as can cars on the A4086 road on the opposite side of the lake!). The crew used to walk up the mountain from their base, as there was no vehicle access, and brought work for at least three yearly shoots to a tiny corner of North Wales before tourism took off.

An accident early occurred to the star, Conrad Phillips, during filming in Snowdonia. He was asked to keep stepping back until he stepped off a twelve-foot drop, injuring his knee – which eventually led to his retirement from acting. Phillips had to wear support bandages during filming but sometimes forgot, causing him to struggle with some action scenes.[5]

Daily rushes were viewed at the only cinema in the area, at Llanberis, which was taken over from 8.00 until noon every morning. The film was taken to Soho in London for developing and the rushes returned to Llanberis by 8.30 next morning.

Although all three series had location scenes, the third was more studio based and location scenes were mostly taken from unused and reused stock shots from the first and second series. A smaller crew went to Wales for this series and more money was saved by shooting without synchronised sound. In the days of enforced demarcation, this saved several technicians' wages.

Though in some ways the same as The Adventures of Robin Hood, a brave bowman fighting against a tyrant, William Tell was an even harder show with crossbow bolts killing people and Tell fighting hand-to-hand, which often resulted in the death of the bad guy. Unlike the courtly Sheriff of Nottingham, Gessler was a pig of a man, unshaven, often eating or drinking without manners and throwing his metaphorical as well as literal weight around. Nevertheless, the interaction between the hero and the Sheriff and Land burger respectively, was a strong point in both series, bringing out the quality diction and crispness of both Alan Wheatley's and Willoughby Goddard's acting. In contrast, the absence of a regular enemy in the TV series Sir Francis Drake weakened that series. The Adventures of William Tell series was repeated well into the 1960s. In June 2020 the series began a rerun on the British Talking Pictures TV channel.

Music
The series featured a long-remembered theme song, with music based on the William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini. For the show, the song lyrics were by Harold Purcell and were sung by David Whitfield.[6]

Because this portion of Rossini's overture was the theme of The Lone Ranger in the United States, a different portion of the overture, with lyrics added, became the theme song there, titled: The Freedom Song – "Marching Behind William Tell" by Geoffrey Parsons. This is on The Network DVD episode Castle of Fear.

Incidental music was by Albert Elms and Sydney John Kay.[2]

Lyrics
1. Come away, come away with William Tell,
Come away to the land he loved so well;
What a day, what a day when the apple fell,
For Tell and Switzerland

2. Come away with Tell to the mountainside
Look down to the pass where the tyrants ride.
Fit a bolt to your bow and down they go,
For Tell and Switzerland

3. We are simple peasant folk
We will not bear a foreign yoke
Our freedom song will echo on
To fight for what is right.

4. Hurry on, hurry on, there's a dungeon cell;
Hurry on, hurry on, there's a noose as well;
But we'll escape from the jaws of hell
For Tell and Switzerland.

5. We lived our lives, we loved our friends,
We never wanted more.
We had the skill to plough and till,
But not the art of war,
But now the tyrant from the plains
Steals up to take our lands,
Instead of spade we wield the blade
Our life is in our hands.

6. Follow on, follow on, at the leader's heel
With a thrust of a pike and a clash of steel
Follow on with the fight till the tyrants reel
For Tell and Switzerland.

7. Give 'em one for the day they burned the grain,
Give 'em two for the night that Fritz was slain,
Give 'em three, give 'em four and hooray for more,
For Tell and Switzerland.

8. The shepherd's crook, the reaping hook
Has taken on a warlike look.
With blades we've beaten from the plough
We'll reap a harvest now.

9. Come away, come away with William Tell,
Come away to the land he loved so well
Fit a bolt to your bow, and away we go
For Te-e-e-ell, and Switzerland.

Verses 1, 2, 4 with the opening titles, 6, 7, 8, 9 with the closing credits.[7]

Episodes
Airdate is for ATV Midlands.[8] ITV regions varied date and order.[9]

No. Title Directed by Written by Original release date
1 "The Emperor's Hat" Ralph Smart Rene Wilde and Leslie Arliss 15 September 1958
The Swiss are subject to heavy taxes and cruel laws by the conquering Austrians and have to show respect to the Emperor's hat placed in each village. William Tell refuses and is arrested and hearing of his prowess with the crossbow Landburgher Gessler forces Tell to shoot at an apple on his son's head. Adapted from the original play by Friedrich von Schiller. Stars Derren Nesbitt and Norman Mitchell.
2 "The Hostages" Ralph Smart Doreen Montgomery story by Ralph Smart 22 September 1958
Gessler orders William Tell's arrest, after he steals a cache of arms, and takes six innocent men hostage who will be executed if Tell does not surrender. Stars James Booth and Roy Purcell.
3 "Secret Death" Peter Maxwell Doreen Montgomery story by Ralph Smart 29 September 1958
When his wife Hedda is captured by Gessler, Tell offers himself in exchange. Stars Sid James, Howard Lang and Peter Welch.
4 "The Gauntlet of St. Gerhardt" Peter Maxwell Doreen Montgomery story by Ralph Smart 6 October 1958
The Gauntlet of St. Gerhardt is a religious relic that the Swiss rally round and carry into battle. Gessler plans to steal the relic by killing the abbot that guards it. Stars Derren Nesbitt, Edward Judd and Ian Wallace.
5 "The Prisoner" Peter Maxwell John Kruse 13 October 1958
The Austrians bui

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