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The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Complete Set

The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Complete Set

List Price: $79.98
Your Price: $71.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Accurate is entertaining...
Review: Unlike the recent "Elizabeth" starring the superlative Cate Blanchette, this series (and the later Elizabeth R) is accurate as well as entertaining. Keith Michel is unrivalled as Henry, portraying the king with both his horrible and sympathetic qualities.. the wives are all three dimensional characters that can be related to... Having read numerous Tudor biographies and historical fiction, this series continues to excel. A must for newbies and hard-core Tudorites...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Lots of things missing, Picture poor, Get it on VHS
Review: POOR POOR DVD!!!!!!
RELASE a Special edition..
I love the seris, I remeber seeing theam on as a kid...
They are very informitive and is the TRUTH about Henry VIII
No wonder it is VBERY LONG!!! each episode (6) is 90 min
Cathern of Aragon- Very good,,it makes my historical mind run wild, showing you what happend all the way back from Prince Arthurs' death..

Anne Borlen (probly mispelt)-Very good even people who dont have any intrest in this area of history still like it,, But more of dull studio set,,, If you look carefully on several secens e.d. The area wear court was held if you look at a moveing scene you can just barly (but tell) its the set used for the room wear Anne gave birth to Princess Elizabeth (side note: I did this by turning up the color on my TV very high, this may not work on several TV's)

Jane Seyamour- I havent had the real time to sit down and watch the whole thing but Ive seen the importnat scens you will get confused at the very begining witch is Jane remeiseing before she dies at the beginning,, but has the birth of their son Edaward.

Anne of Clevs- The boringest of theam all!!!! Alough this is a no action seris,,, This isnt the most enteraning and most of the movie takes place at Whispheir (mostlikely misspelt but was wear Henry's children lived in their childhood).

Cathern Howard- Very very good,, Great Acting, once again even people who arent intrested like this to, Probly the best instead of Cathern of Aragon

Cathern Parr- Mostly the death of Henry VIII and the wise and noble Cathern plays a stunning role to.
All in ALL its something for anyone who is intrested in British history, very infornitly now only if they made more on other monarchhs like Charles I..

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Henry VIII back from the dead
Review: This VHS set of 6 episodes 90 min each covers all of his 6 wives, witch in 1 part I was dissapoted is out of all of the episodes it really covers his wives only (witch it is suppost to) but it whoud be better if they coved also more of England history at that time to. Kenith Michale (most likely miss spelt) brings Henry VIII back to life as he becomes a careing yound boy king and then becomes a king that whoud do anything to get what he wants.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Please - Do Not Order this Item
Review: Do Not Order This Item! All of Amazon's stock is corrupt. Each 3 DVD set has only 2 DVDs with 1 of the DVDs being a duplicate of one of the others. In two shipments from Amazon the same mistake has happened twice. Yesterday we received an e-mail from an employee who is no longer with them today - admitting that indeed their entire shipment of this set was bad - as we pointed out to them over 5 weeks ago. "Hey - we ain't made no money yet - but give us a chance to screw up your order too - twice!!!"

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Poor quality ruins the "Six Wives of Henry VIII".
Review: The Six Wifes of Henry VIII, while showing some substantial acting capabilities, must be view in poor video and audio quality. It is as if the DVD was made from a poor VHS. Technical difficulties arise if you wish to start or stop the DVD from any particular point. This is simply not possible. Even finding a particular Queen/wife is difficult. The technical production of this series of DVD's is poor at best. Knowing the the lack of video/audio quality in this production, I would not have spent the monies in this direction although I did enjoy seeing this series once again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: no chapters
Review: this is a big letdown. there are no chapters, so if you stop the disc you must start at the beginning each time to watch it again. the quality is far less than that of other dvds. to me it looks like watching a vhs. the series is excellent but does not warrant watching more than once because of the technical shortcomings.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent acting, reasonably accurate....
Review: I first watched THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII 30 years ago when it was first broadcast on American television. Television was a new phenomena then--most homes having acquired a tv set within the previous 10 years. Televised drama was excellent during the early 1970s--it was not uncommon to see a full-length Broadway Stage Play via a variety of wonderful "playhouses" sponsored by the major networks. These days, one is only likely to see this quality of entertainment on PBS. WIVES is the typical Masterpiece Theater series PBS does so well.

WIVES is extremely well acted. Major talents of the British stage participated in these dramas. Of the actors playing major roles, probably only Annette Crosbie (Catherine of Aragon-Wife #1) will be recognized by contemporary audiences. I kept thinking as I watched her she could have passed for Sissy Spacek's sister when she was younger. Fans of British comedy will recognize Crosbie as the long-suffering wife from "One Foot in the Grave" while fans of 'Mystery' and P.D. James will recogize her as the female sleuth and partner of Cordelia Grey in the series "Unsuitable Job for a Woman."

Many other actors who made minor appearances in this series will be recognized by PBS/BBC fans. Marion Mathie (Mrs. Rumpole or "She who must be obeyed") plays the Duke of Norfolk's wife. The older saleswoman with the multihued hair and "pussy" from "Are you being served" plays Anna von Cleves (wife #4) German attendent. There are many other familiar faces including the actor who plays Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and it's fun to see who you can identify.

The plays themselves--there are six of them, each written by a different playwright--are well dramatized and relatively accurate. Having read Alison Weir's book on the same subject (the six wives), I know Anne Boylyn (wife #2) was badly treated, and I am not sure Jane Seymour (wife #3) was quite as innocent as this BBC play made her. She may have been haunted by the ghost of Anne--or not. The wives are played with sympathy.

No matter what your religious background, you will probably find yourself sympathizing with the Catholics--until Catherine Howard and her relatives appear (wife #5). I think an understanding of the background of of the religious wars enhances the viewing of these plays, but it is not necessary, and in my own case was the beginning of a life long interest in the subject.

I see another reviewer says his DVD transfer was less than satisfactory. Perhaps it's the original films that are at fault--not the transfer. I actually thought the DVD versions were excellent. TV used regular stages to dramatize plays in the "olden" days and interior and exterior shots (those taken outside) were not "edited" for background noises in the same way they are today. Seeing these plays is like watching a live play on your local cable tv. My DVD versions of WIVES look as good as they did when I first saw them 30 years ago.

If you're interested in well-acted and well written drama, and/or the history of the period, you will get your money's worth. The package seems pricey, but in my neck-of-the-woods, you can't buy theater tickets for excellent dramas with a professional cast at $10 a pop.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Excellent Series - Very Bad DVD transfer
Review: What a pity that BFS did not give this series the transfer it deserves. Superb series, but I'm sorry, I found it virtually unwatchable. Picture not much better than MPEG. The bit rate meter on my DVD player hovered around the 3 mark. Some of the other reviewers are bring too generous. I sent my copy back for a refund. Here's hoping they'll do it properly one day.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: history comes alive
Review: In 1971, at the age of 12, I watched a six part series on PBS entitled "The Six Wives of Henry VIII." From that moment on, I was fascinated by British history, and the Tudor time period specifically. For anyone who has an interest, I highly recommend this series. Look past the limited sets and glamor we see on today's television and absorb the history.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Bad video transfer robbed this masterpiece of it's 5th star!
Review: Romance, intrigue, murder and just a bit of humor make "The 6 wives of Henry XIII" a classic that you'll enjoy for MANY years to come. . . IF you're a fan of Brittish T.V. or a history buff, that is!

It's difficult to describe the pomp and circumstance of such a grand series to anyone that's not "lived" it for themselves. Brit T.V. has held America firmly in it's grasp since the first showing of Masterpiece Theater and "The Pallisers" about 320 years ago. . . Okay, it wasn't QUITE that long ago, but it seems like it sometimes. If the series was available to you the first time around, watching it again on DVD will leave you wondering how you got on without it in your collection for so long.

I feel compelled to agree with a previous reviewer that said less about the series and more about it's transfer to DVD. Though I don't feel the port was so bad as to call it on par with VHS, I DO feel that it has dropped to say, a poor BETA copy. Still, with as much as you will gain from simply having the series in your collection, the minor picture imperfections and rare audio distortion are a small price to pay.

I strongly recommend this series, along with "The Pallisers" (sets 1-3) and "I, Claudius"!


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