Keith Michell, Donald Pleasence, Charlotte Rampling
4/5An excellent (if overlooked) film, and one of the best for Tudor costumes.
Essentially a remake of the 1971 mini-series,
'The Six Wives of Henry VIII', this film once again features the very talented Keith Michell in the title role (with Bernard Hepton also re-visiting his role as Archbishop Cranmer).
But if the earlier series focused primarily on the King's wives,
'Henry VIII and His Six Wives' (as the title suggests) switches the emphasis to Henry himself. In addition, this more focused and chronological view largely corrects the irregular time line of the series, making things somewhat easier to follow (although due to the time restraints of a feature film many events are only mentioned in passing or left out altogether).
One can't help but notice that the film tends to focus on Henry's younger, more comely wives (Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Katherine Howard) while largely ignoring the older Catherine of Aragorn, Catherine Parr and Anna of Cleeves...despite the fact that his longest marriages were to the aforementioned Catherines (Aragon and Parr).
As far as characterization goes, the film doesn't stray too far from the accepted views of Henry's wives (However Anne Boleyn is shown with the famous quasi-6th finger and wen --a sebaceous cyst-- on her neck...though neither were documented during her lifetime).
The portrayal of Anne of Cleeves is more realistic, in that she spoke little to no English, had very little understanding of her situation, and was fairly unimportant to Henry (both personally and politically). Consequently she only appears in two scenes.
As for the remaining wives, the only real issues are those of omission. Many significant events are left out or glossed over...Katherine Howard's adulteries, for example, are never shown, nor is Catherine Parr's near arrest for religious extremism.
Still, in combination with the 1971 mini-series,
'Henry VIII and His Six Wives' may present the most balanced picture of the famous (or infamous) King's bizarre marital career.
DVD Worthy? Unfortunately, at the moment the only Region 1 version can be found on
'History At the Movies'. Not surprisingly the transfer isn't great, and both the sound and picture quality are very poor. So if any one knows of a better version please let me know...in the meanwhile the above DVD is a very good buy all things considered.
Extras: N/A
Costumes: Really lovely Tudor Costumes...at least what you can see of them. The gowns and hoods on the ladies are amazing; very accurate with a close attention to detail (Anne Boleyn is introduced in a beautifully fitted red gown). Henry himself wears a couple of amazing doublets and coats.
I absolutely adore Jane's elaborate cream and brown gown with its matching Gable hood. Again, if anyone can get a hold of a decent transfer this film is a wonderful resource for Tudor clothing.
