Customer Reviews

Henry VIII and His Six Wives [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is one of the poorest transfers to digital media I've ever watched. No title menu (in fact, the DVD seems to pick up several seconds [or minutes?] into the opening scene). Not sure if a letterbox version is available somewhere but mine was full-screen.

The original film appears to be badly damaged and it doesn't look like any attempt was made at digital restoration. Poor image and sound to boot. I hope this doesn't mean that no better copy exists and that we won't get the opportunity to see a cleaner version someday. If you're a Region 1 viewer, though, this may be your only option (as of Dec. 2007 at any rate).

So that I don't sound like a complete whiner, the production values, admittedly a tad dated, are much higher than those of the BBC version, and Keith Michell IMHO still offers up the best portrayal of Henry VIII bar none. He is just magnificent. Maybe a little too old to play Henry in his early 20s but from around the time Anne Boleyn comes on the scene the physical transformation is astounding. Michell's greatness shines through even the damaged original and poor DVD transfer. He truly owns this role.

Unfortunately there has yet to be a decent Region 1 transfer of this excellent film...But if you really want to own a copy I would give this version a miss in favour of History at the Movies.

The transfer is the same (as is the price), but at least you get the benefit of 12 other films, including 'Fire Over England' (1937) with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

I received my DVD of "Henry the Eighth and His Six Wives" today and played it. Based on my experience of watching old films on TV in my youth, much of what was said in the prior reviews is true: There was no attempt to digitally restore the movie to what it had been back in 1972. The sound quality as well as the brightness and color tone fluctuated somewhat at various points in the story, and the film itself showed clear signs of wear and tear. Fortunately, there was not enough of these flaws to render the movie unwatchable.

Keith Michell was just as superb in this film as he was in the TV mini-series. Frances Cuka made a wonderful Catherine of Aragon, and I think the age difference between her and Michell was intentional (Catherine was six years older than Henry and quite plain-looking). I was disappointed with Charlotte Rampling's portrayal of Anne Boleyn. Maybe I expected too much, but even when she had Anne shouting and flinging Henry's minature across the room in a rage, she came off as too low-key, showing almost none of the intensity that Dorothy Tutin's Anne Boleyn had. Jane Asher was a convincing Jane Seymour, though in real life Henry's third queen died from child-bed fever and a possible post-natal hemorrhage instead of complications from a Caesarean section. I don't know if Anne of Cleves was really as ugly as they showed her in the movie or if she did have brown hair that she hid under a blonde wig, but the lady who portrayed her did a fine comedic job, as did Michell himself as the revulsed Henry. The best acting, next to Michell's, was that of Lynne Fredericks as the sixteen-year-old Katherine Howard; King Henry's child-wife was actually shown as the girlish, vivacious charmer that she was in real life, and her calmness as she went to her death on the scaffold was also accurate. The actress doing Catherine Parr did admirable work in showing her as a well-educated, mature companion for Henry in his final years, though the script writer goofed by having him refer to her as "Mistress Parr" when she was actually "Lady Latimer". It was a delight to see Bernard Hepton reprise his Thomas Cranmer role from the "Six Wives" mini-series. A surprise was Brian Blessed as Henry's life-long friend Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk and future grandfather of Lady Jane Grey. Donald Pleasence's portrayal of Thomas Cromwell left me a little confused; he made him oily and scheming enough, but it seemed he also infused Cromwell with a generous helping of Richard III and a somewhat comedic one at that.

The production values gave this movie a genuine Renaissance look and feel, all the way down to the rushes on the floors and the filthy, unhealthy streets of Tudor London. The blend of 16th century tunes and original music composed by David Munro added to the time and place of the story. Still, I couldn't help but notice how some of the costumes and lines of dialogue mirrored those in "Six Wives", an obvious nod to the show.

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.

When I first watched Henry VIII and His Six Wives back in 1972 I was impressed with the film and was delighted to find it available here. It followed an excellent 6 part historical BBC drama called The Six Wives of Henry VIII. In both cases Henry was played by Keith Michell. The film was made as a result of the success of the BBC work.

All these years later the film is technically a big disappointment. High standards of acting and production are ruined by the (to 2011 eyes at any rate)grainy image and washed out colours. The sound is flat and dull lacking brilliance and clarity.

The actors' performances are first class, most of them going on to fine careers on both film and stage and becoming recognised stars of both British and American entertainment.

The sumptuous production design suffers most in this film. Everything looking porridge coloured and under saturated. The sound appears to be strained through several layers of cheesecloth.

Still having said all that it is worth having as a record of some fine performances from young future stars.

It's true that the video quality of this film isn't good, but let's be thankful that we have it at all. This is, flatly, the definitive portrayal of Henry VIII. Although there have been excellent portrayals by other, better-known actors, I strongly doubt that anyone will ever surpass Keith Mitchell in this role. He captures every nuance of feeling from the king's sorrow at the loss of his first son to his rage and near-madness later in life, to his pitiful love for his teenage queen, Catherine Howard. I thought Henry's growing suspicions of Anne Boleyn as he turned against her were especially well done. I might add that throughout most of the film, Mitchell was working under heavy makeup. Although he was in his early 40s when he made this 1972 film, I saw him, from the front row, on stage in 1971 and I can testify that he looked much younger than 40. His early scenes with Catherine of Aragon show how the man really looked. His aging in the film works brilliantly; it's completely believable.

But enough of Mitchell: the rest of the film equals his excellent performance. I thought all of the wives were very well done, although Charlotte Rampling might have been a bit more Charlotte than Anne. Nevertheless, her portrayal conveyed very well the tensions in that marriage. I liked Donald Pleasance's choices for Cromwell. He used a hint of a working-class accent, setting Cromwell apart from the rest of the noble court, and comes across as unpleasantly underhanded and scheming. And of course, those of us who remember the two BBC series of Mitchell's Henry and Glenda Jackson's Elizabeth will always see Cranmer as Bernard Hepton.

Of course much of the events of Henry's life are telescoped into brief scenes, necessarily, in the film. You do have to know the history of Thomas More to glean what happens--it's very quick in the film. Ditto the Pilgrimage of Grace, the near-rebellion that Henry crushed. However, the film glosses these episodes over in preference to its title subject: the marriages. Because of that, viewers without much historical knowledge should be able to follow it very well.

The settings, costumes and especially the magnificent music absolutely convey the reality of the times. Really, this film does a better job of taking us back to the 15th century than most others in this genre that I've seen. It's quite different from the Six Wives BBC series, although of course Mitchell starred in both (and I think is even better in the film than the TV series.)

Let's hope that someday someone will digitally remaster this wonderful film. It deserves far more recognition than it gets. I'm so happy to find it!

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.

terrible sound and image, a waste of money, very important part of World History, but look somewhere else and other movies about the same topic, but this one is not good

Henry VIII and His Six WivesI remember this excellent series from it's first appearance on UK television. Thinking that I might order this dvd I noticed immediately that on the front cover artwork "Keith" is misspelt!!!! This, I think, would give a strong indication as to the general quality of the product, not least the transfer to dvd. Having worked in the industry and having bought many dvds on-line I would advise any buyer to be very cautious about the source of the dvd and to do some serious research to find out whether or not the seller, or the transfer company he represents, has access to early generation copies of the film. Do not always be seduced by low prices.

I was just so happy to finally find this video after looking for it for a really long time It's not as good as the series, but if you are a big fan of the original BBC series you'll like it.