Austin Movie Reviews

This is a somewhat disappointing historical drama, directed by Alexander Korda. While Charles Laughton does, indeed, give an excellent performance as Henry VIII, the film suffers from its screenplay, which chooses to focus on Henry's last five marriages, with emphasis on his fourth and probably least important marriage, that to Anne of Cleves. One has to wonder if her prominence in the film was due to the role being played by Elsa Lancaster, Laughton's wife at the time. The most important marriage, that to Katherine of Aragon, is dismissed as being of no interest. This is an amazing and absurd statement, given the fact that it was this marriage that ultimately set England on the path to Protestantism and the establishment of the Church of England. As a historical drama, the film leaves a lot to be desired, as it suffers from superficial treatment.

The film begins with the execution of Ann Boleyn, played by the lovely Merle Oberon, who, despite star billing, is only in the film for several minutes. The film then goes to the marriage to Jane Seymour, played by an actress with a thirties style hair bob. It is Jane who gives the King his heart's desire, a son and heir, before succumbing to death shortly after childbirth.

The film then segues into the marriage to Anne of Cleves, which role is played with comedic abandon by Ms. Manchester. This is followed by Henry's marriage to Katherine Howard, a young wanton who cuckolds the king with Thomas Culpepper, one of the King's Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. The role of the hapless Thomas Culpepper is played by screen great, Robert Donat. Katherine Howard, as did Anne Boleyn, ends up losing her head on the chopping block for her treasonous transgression. Henry's last wife, Katherine Parr, is merely depicted as a loving and caring woman, watching out for Henry in his dotage.

The video itself is of very poor quality, with a lot of static which renders portions of the film's dialogue inaudible. It is also disconcerting to have many of the female cast wandering about the set with nineteen thirties style hair bobs, as this serves to have a jarring effect. For a better and historically more accurate picture of the wives of King Henry VIII, one would do well to view the BBC production, "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", which is available on DVD and as a set of six video cassettes.

Aside from the difficulty in understanding the Scottish dialogue, and what turns out to be a slightly forgettable, muddled plot, the performances are what carry this movie forward. Jonny Lee Miller, as always, is incredible. Though he's lost some of his thin faced freshness, he still has an appeal that remains universal. He and his co-stars do an admirable job with less than great material, but in the end (and at the end) what good's a movie unless you're kept interested. An unexpected, fairly dumb ending. 2 outta 5.

Being a great fan of the Woman of Substance, I was sorely disappointed in this 3rd entry in a trilogy about the Emma Harte legacy written by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

This is soap opera trash at its worst. The plot devices are weak and quite distasteful: drugs, a prostitute turned shy wife, an over-the-top vindictive cousin/villain. The fight seens are choreographed so badly that I had to laugh. Lindsay Wagner is neither British nor convincing as the Harte CEO, Paula O'Neill, granddaughter of Emma Harte. David Robb as the disappointed husband Shane O'Neill comes across whiney and helpless - a far cry from the supportive, driven and romantic character played by Stephen Collins in Hold the Dream. I cannot figure out why Stephanie Beacham would consent to play such an awful 1-dimensional character as Arabella - the french whore who marries the vindictive cousin at the request of his "loyal" Chinese side-kick. There are a few good moments of activing from Anthony Hopkins as chief of Harte's security. But the plot just doesn't make sense - the robbery at the beginning of the movie is never solved or explained; and why would Paula risk losing the stores by selling her stock knowing that her cousin is out to ruin her?

A Woman of Substance was a magnificent book and its mini-series is very well done. This third entry in the Harte trilogy is rubbish. Don't waste your time.

I can't believe Kultur would have the nerve to release this terrible performance on DVD. They need to call back every copy and burn them. Sutherland is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY past her prime. She sounds heavy and mannered. High notes are forced and effortful. What more her acting is abominable (as always *sigh*). This performance is not something I would watch to remember Sutherland's talent by.

Adriana Lecouvreur is usually portrayed by sopranos (many past their prime) who still have some heft to their voices and can produce a dramatic punch. Joan Sutherland unfortunately has neither. Her technique carries her through the music but she barely explores the dramatic possibilities. Her declamation during "Giusto Cielo" and her entrance in Act One is embarassingly bad and her death scene is reminiscent of Lucia di Lammermoor. The production is a head-scratcher. Why set the opera in the late nineteenth century when Adrienne Lecouvreur was a historical figure of pre-Revolutionary French theater. The reference to Moliere being in the audience during the first act thus makes no sense nor does the presence of an Abbe. The supporting cast is more than adequate (except for John Shaws woofy Michonnet) though they seem to have to watch Bonynge continually. The sets and costumes are quite opulent

One star is too high a rating for this production of Taming of the Shrew. It was so campy and cheap that it was a torture to watch. I wanted to throw something at the screen everytime Grumio mugged directly into the camera lens. The tinny and repetitive synthesized music is also extremely grating on the nerves. The cover literature of this cheaply packaged disc makes a point of stating that "English accents... are absent from this series" in order to achieve "clarity of both language and story." Translate this as: "Dumbed-down for North Americans." I'm insulted! This disc is awful at any price.

This production was a video taped stage production that made an early appearance on the PERFORMING IMAGES laser Disc series. And now it makes a low budget bow on DVD. And if truth be told, the laser disc was better quality. The DVD has video drop-out about once every minute making for sudden jumps in video.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW is as politically incorrect as they come, wherein a man, Petruchio manipulates and disrespects the angry shrew, Kate until her shrewish spirit is broken (funny, she doesnt look shrewish). And when her character is shattered, what is left is a passive woman who believes herself lucky to have a man. This story has inspired the great musical comedy, "Kiss Me, Kate". But, besides that, it remains a low point for female respect.

The production values are very nice for staged Shakespeare and it suggests that the Bard wrote broad comedies worthy of the Marx Brothers. Some of the performers are pretty good, most notably Bruce Davison as the false Tranio. The productions are carried off without heavy english accents making them easier to follow. But, overall, this is only worth a look if you want to see a taped stage production. The Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film makes for much better entertainment.

You can probably save some cash by going with a VHS version.

This dvd is the same as vols.1 and 2 of the 5 disc Chaplin collection,of which never got more than one star rating.Don't bother with this one.

If you already own any of these great films, don't waste your money on this. Purchase the remaining DVD's individually instead. Re-releasing these great films in a box set only proves how gullible and stupid Columbia Tr-Star/Sony percieves us to be, assuming that we will buy anything new, as long as it has a picture of Kermit on it.

Spend your dollars on Storyteller, the two muppet Ed Sullivan discs, and/or the two Christmas releases; and don't waste one cent on this set.

If you don't yet own any of these DVD's, buy this set. If you do, don't give in to the filthy greed of Sony by spending a huge amount of money on a box.