Henry VIII and His Six Wives

If you haven't time to immerse yourself in the mini-series, then this two hour, compact 'preview' will give you a neatly constructed overview of the virile King and his exploits as he seeks to secure his lineage by conceiving a successor to his throne.

Rather than condense aspects of the original mini-series (which essentially set aside one episode per wife, to put it crudely), this film version has been entirely remade. Only Michell reprises his title role, showcasing his intuitive interpretation of the rambunctious, though fragile majesty. Perhaps predictably, Charlotte Rampling's Anne Boleyn has the greatest exposure, though each of the wives acquit themselves well with the often limited dedicated screen time (the lovely Jane Asher playing the ill-fated Jane Seymour stands-out among the rest).

Aussie actor Michell is a more vulnerable King Henry VIII than other memorable incarnations produced by Charles Laughton or Robert Shaw, displaying a deep-seeded personality conflict that while not unique to the character, is played with a more sympathetic tone and gesture. This changes of course as his jealousy and mistrust is fanned by those obsequious to him, courting their own power and favour - the insipid Cromwell played with aplomb by the versatile Donald Pleasance.

Hussein's ultra-light has its dramatic moments, although clearly it proves difficult to compress the details of six marriages and their respective intrigue into a two-hour snapshot. For a preview, it's superb, though it remains inferior to the mini-series time permitting.

The recent BBC series The Tudors certainly had nothing on their productions a generation ago of Henry VIII And His Six Wives and Elizabeth R. Henry VIII certainly had his marital problems, but they weren't just his domestic concerns. Other heads rolled when this guy discarded a wife.

Most account of Henry VIII usually start with him trying to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s so he could begat himself an heir with another. In fact in the first episode which does cover 30+ years of his reign and a bit of Henry VII we meet the young and virile Prince Henry who takes as his bride, Catherine of Aragon intended for his late older brother Prince Arthur. England did in fact come close to having a real King Arthur.

To keep to the format of dealing with his reign wife by wife a lot of history gets crammed into that first episode. Always uppermost in Henry's mind was the previous century and the dynastic struggles with the Houses of Lancaster and York known popularly as the War of the Roses. He wanted and needed a male heir to secure the secession and everything else was subordinated to that.

Subordinate he did because when the Pope under pressure from the occupying Spanish Army in Rome of the Emperor Charles V who happened to be Catherine of Aragon's nephew, Henry just broke from Rome and founded the Anglican Church. No church was going to tell him what to do and mess up the chance of a peaceful succession.

Keith Michell is a wonderful Henry VIII both as a young man and later on as the fat tyrant he's come down in popular culture as. The wives are well suited to their parts with Frances Cuka (Catherine of Aragon), Charlotte Rampling{Anne Boleyn), Jane Asher{Jane Seymour}, Jenny Bos {Anne of Cleves), Lynne Fredericks{Catherine Howard), and Barbara Leigh-Hunt{Catherine Parr}.

Charlotte Rampling is tragic as the young ambitious Anne Boleyn from an even more ambitious family who won the king and then committed the horrible sin of having a girl baby. That baby grew up to be Queen Elizabeth, but her road to the throne was a rocky one also. Anne was essentially framed with an adultery charge in order to get rid of her.

Which leads me to the best of the episodes. Lynne Fredericks as wife five Catherine Howard was a wild child to say the least. No fool like an old fool who really thinks this one wouldn't be straying. With the succession secured by Edward the child of Jane Seymour, Henry just wanted a little frolic. But he was old and fat and Ms. Howard had needs. Which she fulfilled with just about any young male who was around.

Henry VIII's reign was full of ironies and this was one of the biggest ones. He had to frame Boleyn to get rid of her, but Catherine Howard needed no framing. He couldn't execute her fast enough once he found out.

Thomas Cromwell who arranged the Boleyn marriage and later the Anne of Cleves marriage has come down as a sinister and thoroughly unpleasant man. And he's played by a guy and played well by one who's done a lot of sinister and unpleasant people, Donald Pleasance. Look also for a good performance by Bernard Hepton as Thomas Cranmer the first Archbishop of Canterbury under the new Anglican leadership.

I've not seen the new Tudor series, but it will have to go some to beat this excellent mini-series from the BBC.

I saw this movie for the first time very recently, and was quite impressed. Henry the 8th and his six wives has a faultless cast, in particular Keith Mitchell, Jane Asher, Charlotte Rampling, Lynn Fredrick and Donald Plescence. We open on King Henry the 8th's death bed, and wittness him remeniscing about his various marriages, from Katherine of Aragon to Katherine Parr.

Keith Mitchell does a splendid job as the man himself, as he does not portray the king as some brutal tyrant, but as a lonely old man just looking for love and an heir.

Although it is not as good as the B.B.C'S Henry the 8th and his six wives (which also stars Keith Mitchell) it is a wonderful film, well worth a look, not least because it stars Jane Asher Charlotte Rampling and the late Lynn Fredrick as well as the wonderfull Donald Plescence.

This is benchmark-quality drama, a two-hour film retelling of the lives (and deaths) of Henry VII's wives that uses much the same cast and crew as a previous six-hour BBC miniseries.

As a film, it's pretty much unbeatable and sets a standard of high quality that few others can match. Sets, costumes and backdrop are all superb, but of course the real strengths lie in the script and the calibre of acting. Keith Michell stars in a role he was born to play, never less than authentic whether he's playing Henry as an athletic young man or as an obese ancient. He also manages to make the tyrant deeply human, which is another string to his bow.

With the full story of the six wives crammed into a two-hour time slot, the pacing is fast and the script full of drama. Some of the wives fare better than others, but highlights include Charlotte Rampling's witchy Anne Boleyn and Lynne Frederick's captivating innocent, Catherine Howard. Filling the supporting cast with familiar, entertaining figures like Michael Gough, Donald Pleasence and Brian Blessed is another plus.

Most of all, though, I found this retelling succeeded far better in bringing to life the era than others - check out the terrible THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL for a good comparison. We learn much about politics, entertainment and religion of the era, but it's never told in a dry or heavy way. Unbeatable? Yes, I think this is.

This film was a shrunken version of a TV series, that chopped it all to bits. Some of the scenes and characters were left out and other important moments missing. The king's youth, his father, ect missing from the film that was in the TV series. You would have to watch the TV series to get the full version of this production. Apart from this, the costumes are gorgeous and to detail, while the acting is realistic.