Customer Reviews

The Wives of Henry VIII

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For those who enjoyed the documentary that aired in July 2003 on PBS and couldn't find the DVD to buy, this is it! This is the entire program with David Starkey as the narrator. A very good account with live actors intermixed with historical locations and portraits. My only criticism is that the costumes (particularly the headpieces) tend to be a lot more lavish than what they would have been and equal time should have been spent on the last four wives. The time is allocated more on the number of years they played a role in Henry's life, so the first DVD is comprised of Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, the second with Jane/Anne/Katherine/Catherine. All in all, Henry VIII fans will not be disappointed.

This mini series was amazing. I saw it when it first aired on PBS, and I was blown away by it, and the DVD is a must have. Everything in it was well done; the costumes were historically accurate, the actors chosen for the roles were perfect for the parts, and it was well narrated and the stories told were historically accurate as well. I'm a history major, so I'm a huge history addict (The highlight of my year is going to renaissance faires) and this particular time period is my most favorite, so I was thrilled when I saw that it was on DVD. I just wish there was more on about Mary Tudor I in the series, since she is one of my favorite historical figures, but other than that, this series is fantastic. It's a real treat for any history buff out there.

This PBS mini series, narrated by David Starkey, describes in great detail the six wives of King Henry the 8th and their respective lives and fates. PBS has always been the first and foremost in high quality mini series regarding history. After all, it has seens such great mini series as The Civil War and Jazz. The costumes, authentic to the Tudor Era, and the acting is very well done and the insight into what really happened is exciting and engaging. King Henry the 8th did not intend to marry six wives throughout his entire life. He wanted a son or many sons to be his heirs and future kings of England. He felt he was assaulted with enormous bad luck because his wives proved to be unsuitable and he never fathered a male heir who lived to be king.

The series is divided into parts, each tape has the story of his sequence of wives in chronological order. He first married the Spanish-born royal, Katherine of Aragon, daughter of the famous Queen Isabella of Spain. Katherine miscarried all her boys and the only health living daughter she mothered was Mary, the future Queen Mary aka Bloody Mary who in her overzealous Catholic passions, ordered the burning of Protestants in England. Henry the 8th divorced Katherine, formed his own Church, and married Anne Boylen. Anne Boylen, his most famous wife, did not provide him with any male heirs either. Her supposed promiscuity was used to scar her name and as grounds for adultery for which she was beheaded. Next came Jane Seymour. She proved to be his best wife. She gave birth to Edward, but she died while giving birth. Edward lived only until his teens and never ruled England as an adult for he was a sickly boy. Jane Seymour's death brought on the need for a new wife. Henry married Anne of Cleves, a German princess. Here's something silly. Henry the 8th, who was no Adonis himself- he was short and fat, believed Anne of Cleves was ugly and unattractive and soon divorced her. He married the teenage Katherine Howard, who was too young and impetuous to handle the status of queen. She cheated on Henry the 8th with her former lover. She was beheaded and next came Katherine Paar. Although she was a gentle and seemingly fitting queen, she attempted to reform the Church in England to the newly established Protestant/Lutheran religion. Katherine Paar married her first love, Thomas Seymour, after Henry's death. Their story marks the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's story, for when she was still a princess, she was living with Katherine Paar and Thomas Seymour. But that's another story. Here's the thing about Henry the 8th. He did'nt get a male son to be king, but he got the best thing England ever saw as far as monarchy- Queen Elizabeth I.

David Starkey's documentary miniseries "The Wives of Henry VIII" first aired on PBS in 2003 to wide popular and critical acclaim. When the film was released in late September of 2004, I bought the DVD set, (2 discs), and have enjoyed watching them immensely, as have my friends and family. There are four episodes which focus on the lives of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne Of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr, all wives to the same man, (one at a time, of course), Henry VIII, King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Head of the Church of England, (as of 1544).

The episodes are remarkably detailed given the time constraints. The monarch's personal and political reasons for selecting and/or rejecting, (or beheading), his spouses are depicted to some extent. An example is Henry's relationship with Anne Boleyn. The focus here is on the role their marriage played in Henry's divorce from Queen Katherine of Aragon, and the split with the Catholic Church, which sets the stage for the English Reformation, and years of war between Catholics and Protestants. There are obvious simplifications, but this is an excellent overview. It is truly remarkable to see how one man's decisions about his personal life effected the course of British history and that of all Europe. What one should remember here, is that when reading history, or as in this instance, when viewing it, that it is subjective and open to interpretation. There are learned historians who will forever argue, for example, about whether Richard III was a hero or villain.

Dr Starkey, a notable British academic, history teacher, writer, and broadcaster, introduces the series and narrates throughout this almost 3 and one-half hour historical production, directed by Stephen Clarke and Mary Cranitch. The commentary is intertwined with dramatic presentations, (wonderfully well acted and directed), actual historic locations and painted portraits of the protagonists. The costumes are lavish and appropriate to the period. I recommend David Starkey's book "Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII" as a companion to this film. Also, his book "Elizabeth," is one of my favorite and most accessible biographies of Queen Elizabeth I.

The DVD provides clear imagery, a strong picture, and stereo sound. Extras include text biographies and a family tree.
JANA

This is really an excellent mini-series. It is very well made, as historically correct as it can be and the costuming is excellent.

It does a superior job of portraying the drama of the court of Henry the VIII in an compelling fashion without focusing on the gratuitous or sensational facets that so many historical docu-dramas focus on.

The reign of Henry the VIII undoubtebly changed the course of British history. I would recommend this as an essential piece to learn more about this turbulent period. This mini-series gives you an excellent perspective as to how Henry's decisions in his "personal life" affected his country, and even Europe, as a whole.

...but I feel duped. I really don't see the beauty and drama everyone's talking about. Instead I see a bunch of actors standing--literally standing, frozen in tableaux--and looking straight into the camera, smiling or frowning or whatever, while Starkey works himself into a lather in his narration. The whole thing has a rushed and oversimplified feel to it (example: Anne Boleyn insisted that Henry VIII divorce his wife and marry her....HELLO, a little more complicated than that). What's really baffling is that Starkey, of all the people on the face of the earth, should know better than to present this as a simple little fairy tale. Even the details people rave about--the costumes, the hairstyles--are distracting. Jane Seymour wears a fantastic contraption on her head unlike any I've ever seen in portraits of this period, and is decked out like the Queen of Sheba while she's still only a lady-in-waiting. And hair-down-over-the shoulders is not a Tudor period hairstyle. There were lice at court. Only the queen wore her hair loose on formal state occasions. The women playing Anne Boleyn and especially Catherine Howard (who Starkey makes a point of telling us was a "teenage queen"--Johnny Cash, anyone?) look too old for their roles. It sounds petty, but it's touches like these that are supposed to really bring a series like this to life. Unfortunately they can also damage it as well. The worst part has got to be Starkey's delivery--he's really over the top. If you've ever seen Jack Horkheimer talk about astronomy, you have some idea of how worked up this guy gets.

"The Wives of Henry VIII" is a historical miniseries produced in 2002 that has aired several times on PBS stations as "The Six Wives of Henry VIII". A companion book to the series by Tudor historian David Starkey has yet another title: "Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII". David Starkey narrates the series, regaling us with the backgrounds and personalities of the 6 women who married King Henry VIII and their experiences as his wife, as they navigated the monumental political power struggles and dangerous court intrigues of Tudor England: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr -"queen, lover, mother, outcast, victim, and survivor" respectively.

Happily, the personalities and ambitions of these women are preserved in their correspondence and other documents, so their characters are not opaque. We can hear their own words and visit the places that their dramas played out. The wives' stories are told in David Starkey's narration as we watch dramatizations of the events. The dramatization serves as more of a punctuation to Starkey's compelling tale than as a source of information, which is unusual. Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn are treated in more depth than the other wives. "The Wives of Henry VIII" succeeds in bringing these women and their time alive in the viewer's mind, reminding us that history is anything but dry. It's the greatest of all dramas, and the wife of King Henry VIII was a perilous role to play indeed.

Great,easy to follow history of Henry's ill-fated wives. I watched a different one every night and by the time I got to the third wife, even my husband was asking "Are we going to watch another wife movie tonight?" I just hope he wasn't trying to get any ideas...just kidding. I've read quite a bit on this subject and was pleasantly surprised to find that this DVD contains many little known facts about each wife that I had not previously known. I enjoyed watching all of them.

This DVD is an excellent addition to both the book of the same title and also the book and DVD "Elizabeth", also by David Starkey.
Any person interested in this period of English history will enjoy this DVD. David Starkey is an excellent narrator and historian and obviously has an affinity for the period. The only criticism that I have is that maybe the DVD skips or makes light of some issues, however, the book puts that right and actually makes the DVD more enjoyable.

This DVD is fantastic. I am a history buff - especially of Tudor and Stuart British history. The DVD is historically accurate and contains a ton of information. But it keeps the attention of viewer and even non-history-lovers enjoyed watching it.