Customer Reviews

Six Wives of Henry VIII

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this DVD with some misgivings - based on a review I read on Amazon which stated it was very poor in technical quality.

Having the viewed all the discs, I disagree. While it is true there are not additional features on the set (like interviews, directors comments, etc) I found the picture quality and sound to be good. There were no times when I had to raise the sound to hear. In other words, it is like watching the tapes - except on 3 discs which take much less space.

The performances need no comment. This series has stood for years as superb and transfering it to DVD hasn't changed that

This review refers to DVD Complete Set(BBC/BFS Video) of "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"(3 discs).....

This classic BBC television series from 1970 is an outstanding production of 6 plays, all by different authors, depiciting the relationship Henry VIII had with each of his 6 wives.It's an entertaining and enlighting look at the monarch, played exquisitely from his youth to his sickly old age by Keith Michell.The six very different women, most of whom meet with a tragic ending are also portrayed brillantly by the actresses and will draw you into their joys and fears at being the Queen of England.

Catherine of Aragon(Annette Crosbie), Ann Boleyn(Dorothy Tutin), Jane Seymour(Anne Stallybrass), Anne of Cleves(Elvi Hale),Catherine Howard(Anglea Pleasence) and Catherine Parr(Rosalie Crutchley),were all picked to serve a purpose for the Royal Court. Some served useful in forming political alliances, and some in gaining favors for social climbers in the court. But to Henry....They were there to provide him with sons..heirs to the throne..and God help them if they didn't.

The production is wonderful. The costumes, make up, each play beautifully written, and the majestic performances will have you enthralled with each story and hanging on every word.The authentic look at this Royal soap opera is one any student of European history, or anyone who loves stories about Kings and Queens would be thrilled with.It is a five star performance.

The DVD did not get the kingly treatment it deserved.Although there is nothing about it that will interfere with your enjoyment of this treasure, it is very dated. The costumes and magnificent jewelry need to be brightned up, the outdoor scenes are a bit grainy, and the sound(although clear and distinguishable) is a very low recording.The price is a little high considering what this could look and sound like on DVD with a restoration.So 4 stars for the package.

It is absolutly worth the view and worth owning though.Unless a new edition comes along(this edition was released July, 2000), I would suggest to check with the sellers here, the prices seem much more reasonable.(I got a great deal at about half the price).

You may lose your head over this one.....enjoy...Laurie

The Six Wives of Henry VIII consists of three dvds in a boxed set. There are six 'plays', each running about 90 minutes and written by different authors. They include some of the most fascinating and controversial figures in English history. The tale of each wife is necessarily abbreviated but the most important points are covered. Katharine of Aragon's story includes a lengthy account of her first years in England. Anne Boleyn is introduced in Katharine's story, but her play begins after the birth of Elizabeth and mainly concerns her arrest and execution. The stories of Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves are done sympathetically, lending dignity to two queens who are often dismissed as boring cyphers. Catherine Howard's play adds pathos to a silly young girl's fatal brush with power. And Katharine Parr's play reveals how close she also came to losing her head. Throughout it all, Keith Michell portrays the definitive Henry VIII, conflicted, dynamic, and determined to always have his own way. The supporting actors are also very good, bringing Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Cromwell, Princess Mary and others to life.

But I give the dvd set three stars because of its poor technical quality. The picture is often faded and the sound is inconsistent, veering from too quiet to too loud within the same scene. The dvds are also difficult to navigate. For example, there is no scene index so you cannot skip from scene to scene. If you stop watching and then start up again, you are forced to fast forward through everything you watched before. Since the scene index feature is one of the main reasons people watch dvds instead of videotapes, its absence means these dvds are no better than VHS tapes - and far more expensive.

However, the opportunity to view this miniseries again is a reason to celebrate in itself. It's simply a shame the BBC did not put nearly as much effort into The Six Wives of Henry VIII as they did Elizabeth R. Beautifully transferred with lots of special features, the Elizabeth R dvds are a genuine treat for the Tudor enthusiast. The Six Wives is a necessary purchase for the compelling stories and thorough recreation of Tudor history, but watching it is a needlessly frustrating experience. I wish the BBC had put more care into this transfer.

" The Six Wives of Herny VIII" is a compelling historical drama in which Keith Mitchell, in the title role, recreates the King's life from his athletic youth to his agonizing death, all the while carrying the viewer on an exciting journey of the political and religious intrigues of the day.
Accompanying us on this journey are six actresses and sundry supporting cast members who are all worth their mettle. Annette Crosbie plays Henry's first wife, Catalina D' Aragon, the youngest daughter of Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who becomes a competent regent in her husband's abscence and a devoted wife and mother despite Henry's infidelities. After 20 years of marriage, she is cruelly betrayed by an obscure verse in the Book of Leviticus because of her previous, but allegedly unconsumated marriage to her husband's late brother, Arthur. Her decline in status is tragically reenacted, redeemed by the way she is eulogized by and official at her death.
Dorothy Tutin's Anne Boleyn is a boisterous gossip when she first appears on the scene. Her rise in status begins during the first episode, largely because of her role as Catherine of Aragon's most prominent Lady-in-Waiting. Despite her arrogance, and Henry's desire for her, she fails to give Henry a living son, as did Henry's first wife. Her tale moves in a glittering gallop, and she gives Henry the child who will become the greatest of his successors, Elizabeth. But her tale ends with her discreditation, largely with the help of the unscrupulous, Thomas Cromwell, her arrest at a tournament, her imprisonment, trial, during which she displays extreme gallantry despite the false accusations of adultery and incest leveled against her and her brother, George, and finally, with her execution. My heart went out to Mark Smeaton in this production because as I watched this innocent court musician lay his head on the block, what made an impression was the way his eyes were bruised and blackened by the torture imposed on him by Cromwell.
Anne's replacement is Jane Seymour, whose gentleness and piety are marvelously emphasized by Anne Stallybrass. This Lady-in-Waiting to Henry's first two Queens begins to feel guilt about replacing a woman she believed to have been wrongfully executed as the King's wife. When her episode begins, we see the dying Queen attending her infant son's baptizim, and the principals of the court over which she presided in attendance, including Alison Frazer's sweetly portrayed Mary, the prodigal daughter to whom Jane restores to her husband's good graces after years of exile in the wake of the King's divorce from her mother, Catherine.
While the career of Thomas Cromwell,(played by an appropriately conniving Wolfe Morris, whose resmblance to the real Cromwell is remarkable) may have advanced because of one Anne (Boleyn), another Queen Anne would prove to be his downfall. Seeking to ease his heartbreak over the loss of a wife he truly loved, as well as to strengthen political ties with a Protestant nation, Henry agrees to marry Anna Von Cleves, played by an enchanting and ebullient, Elvi Hale. But he soon realizes that Holbein's portrait of her was more flattering than factual, and the unsophisticated young bride is soon put aside.-The second Foreign-born Princess to be divorced by Henry VIII. In his anger, Henry turns on the very man who helped increase his power over the years, and the end of Henry's fourth marriage finds the unscrupulous lawyer, Cromwell imprisoned and sending the King letters in which he pleads for mercy, something that Anne Boleyn, over whose execution he presided, didn't do even though she had been married to him.
Angela Pleasance is the naive young girl who was Anne Boleyn's cousin and Henry VIII' s fith wife. For a modern viewer, her life invites comparisons to the life of Princess Diana.--A promiscuous blue-eyed blonde(although Catherine was promiscuous before her marriage, and Diana wasn't)railroaded into an unhappy Royal marriage at an early age, who finds comfort in the arms of other men, which eventually cost her her life, and when she went down, she took two guys out with her. In Catherine's case, the two guys were Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham. Like her cousin before her, Catherine Howard was executed for adultery, but unlike Anne, the charges against her were not trumped up. Lady Mary Rochester, who had covered for her during her extramarital flings, is condemned with her.
Last but not least, is the "survivor", Catherine Parr, who was twice wed and twice widowed before marrying the King. While she is a very fine actress, Rosilie Crutchley bears little resemblance to the real Catherine Parr, a redhead like himself, and like his first wife. Her own desire to marry Jane Seymour's brother, the Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour must be put on hold because of the King's desire to marry her. She tends to the ailing King in his last years, and befriends each of his three children, but barely saves herself from a charge of heresy. After Henry's death, she vows to marry Thomas Seymour, but, like his sister, Jane, her own life would terminate in childbirth.
And so, this odyssey involving three Catherines, two Annes, and one Jane comes to an end. While it occassionally goes out of sequence, it is a meticulously created series, with solemly portrayed events in British history.

I now have five DVDs in my collection. This is because I see a movie once, and that's that--upward and onward. I'd rather spend my money on books. The first three I bought are music DVDs. This is only the second dramatic DVD I've ever bought.

Why? Keith Michell's performance as Henry VIII is simply the best I've ever seen, or probably will see, period. Even the almighty Olivier or Anthony Hopkins couldn't kick out a performance of this stature. I was only a kid (single-digit age) when I first saw this series, and it stayed with me ever since. The production can be almost laughably flawed at times--during the first play, "Catherine of Aragon," for example, you can easily see the microphones sticking up during the court scene, and in "Jane Seymour," you can see it's a doll instead of a real baby, but the acting overrides what's not so good. The supporting actors also give admirable performances, with the actress portraying each queen doing a fine job. Anne Stallybrass as Jane Seymour and Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr are particular standouts. Basil Dignam as Bishop Gardiner, Wolfe Morris as Thomas Cromwell, and John Ronane as Thomas Seymour are also wonderful. But Keith Michell is the man. Over all six plays, running a total of nine hours, his performance is flawless. Young, handsome, and idealistic to old, fat, and full of self-pity and ego, he gets it right from facial expressions to dialogue delivery. And he can dance and sing so well, I'm getting ready to order a performance or two of him in some Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Now, to be warned, I only bought the DVD instead of the videotapes simply because I knew I'd be watching them a lot, and didn't want to wear out a tape. They list "scene selection" on the box, but the scenes are actually the choices between plays on each DVD. That's it. No extras, no nothing, so only buy the DVD if you are either going to watch them a lot, or want a DVD because it's easier to store. I spent a lot of time when I first got the DVDs trying to find the scenes for selection, when it finally dawned on me that I could choose a play, and that's it. Oh, well.

After seeing this series for the first time, I became totally obsessed with finding out more about the era, and have since read dozens of books about Henry and his wives and his children. Although each wife's story is condensed to 90 minutes, all six playwrights do a fine job of elaborating the basics. Less dramatic license than I would have thought has been taken in many cases. Glenda Jackson is also marvelous in her six-play series, "Elizabeth R," which I recommend.

But it's Keith Michell all the way here. I can't praise him enough. I'll keep looking for acting this good, but I doubt I'll find anything.

If you can afford this buy it. These videos cover the political intrigue and the six marriages of Henry VIII. They show his feelings and those of his wives. I loaned this set to a young man (age 10) to help him with a school report. The movies really helped bring what he had been reading together. Keith's portrayal of Henry VIII is fabulous. Each video is about a different wife. And each one is written by a different play write.

Yes, see it! I thought it was a great and wonderful docu-drama. It seemed pretty accurate to me, now after reading much about this time. I recommend the writings of Mary Luke about this historical period. Keith Michell was excellent as Henry VIII. The portrayal of the king and his mannerism's, even the smallest gesture, I thought were superb. And yes, I too was quite impressed with all the actresses who portrayed Henry's wives. Really good period music too, I could have enjoyed more of it. High marks too for the actors who depicted Cromwell, Cramner, Gardiner, and Norfolk. Everyone was very good. This is what TV SHOULD be. See it, and read about it, fascinating times.

If you know the history then you will enjoy this interpretation. If not you can take this as your history and learn of the reasoning and lack of behind this great time in history.

Riveting is to say the least as you expect this to be a documentary. Upon viewing you find that it is anything but. As with all BBC productions there is no equivalent. A few liberties were taken with history but you just do not care because you are too busy kibitzing.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII can not be told in less than six programs. Each program or play has an appropriate title that explains the next queen. If the quality of the writing varies that is because they have different writers and it shows. When I first say that the episode "Catherine of Aragon" was written by Rosemary Ann Sission I knew we had a winner as she was also the screen writer for "Strong Poison" in the Lord Peter Wimsey (1987) (TV) series. So you can image how amazed I was to find that the episode "Anne Boleyn" was written even stronger.

The unifying element is Keith Michell who plays a spoiled brat oops I mean Henry VIII. He starts out clean shaven in his pageboy hairstyle and ends up as scruffy as his personality by the last play. It helps to have some background information of the time and place. Yet they fill it in well as they describe the current events and how they were influences by Henry VIII and his Six Wives.

If you know the history then you will enjoy this interpretation. If not you can take this as your history and learn of the reasoning and lack of behind this great time in history.

Riveting is to say the least as you expect this to be a documentary. Upon viewing you find that it is anything but. As with all BBC productions there is no equivalent. A few liberties were taken with history but you just do not care because you are too busy kibitzing.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII can not be told in less than six programs. Each program or play has an appropriate title that explains the next queen. If the quality of the writing varies that is because they have different writers and it shows. When I first say that the episode "Catherine of Aragon" was written by Rosemary Ann Sission I knew we had a winner as she was also the screen writer for "Strong Poison" in the Lord Peter Wimsey (1987) (TV) series. So you can image how amazed I was to find that the episode "Anne Boleyn" was written even stronger.

The unifying element is Keith Michell who plays a spoiled brat oops I mean Henry VIII. He starts out clean shaven in his pageboy hairstyle and ends up as scruffy as his personality by the last play. It helps to have some background information of the time and place. Yet they fill it in well as they describe the current events and how they were influences by Henry VIII and his Six Wives.

Stylish BBC production that is like "Dynasty" for the 16th century: Backstabbing, social climbing, love and lust, the works. There are times that you cannot help but feel a bit sorry for poor old Henry VIII. He is so obsessed with having a son, that he doesn't see the people that are part of his court are using him for their own ends. You also feel sorry for the 6 wives. Each learn the price to be Queen of England, and each wife pays in their own way (divorce or death is the only way), and each marriage changes the course of English history (religion, especially, plays a big part.). Keith Mitchell does a wonderful job as Henry VIII, from young to old. Worth owning.