Historian, author weighs in on English period films
Author and historian Alison Weir knows people have an interest the accuracy of movies and miniseries about Henry VIII and Elizabeth I because she continually is asked what she thinks.
So, Weir gave her take on a variety of films from that period of English history.
"The Other Boleyn Girl"
(starring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, 2008): "It's better with the costumes (than other films) but they still don't know how to put those Tudor hoods on the women. And I saw this with "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," too: They don't understand dyes. You wouldn't have had sea greens and electric blues. You had vegetable dyes, the colors were more muted. The richest colors you would have had were crimson and purple."
"The Tudors"
(Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 2007):
"The acting is excellent and I enjoyed it as drama but I was horrified as a historian what they did with it. When you think of the budgets and the things they did get right, why couldn't they have gotten the rest of it right? Why did they have that gloriously fit actor not even look like Henry with a wig and a beard? Or age him? He looks 22 throughout."
"Elizabeth" and "Elizabeth: The Golden Years"
(Cate Blanchett, 1998, 2007): "She's a very good actress but I felt she was sold short because the films were so bad historically. Laughable, in fact. I get in lots of arguments with people who loved the films. There was no menace, just a lot of plots. The real plot against Elizabeth was Mary, Queen of Scots and she's nowhere to be found. There's so many things wrong with it, not the least of which was why was it filmed in a Norman cathedral?"
"Henry VIII"
(Ray Winstone, 2003): "I went on the set of that and they did the same thing the first 'Elizabeth' film did: They set it in a Roman-esque palace that was 300 or 400 years out of date. It looked like a palace for Robin Hood."
"The Prince and the Pauper"
(2000): "It's an obscure film, but Alan Bates played a nice cameo as an aging Henry VIII and it was absolutely wonderful. His portrayal was fabulous."
"Blackadder II"
(Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth, 1986): "That's wonderful, too."
"Lady Jane"
(Helena Bonham Carter, 1986): "Very romanticized but it's far more believable -- apart from this love story that goes on -- than what they're making now. It's a well-made film and they got the politics fairly right. It's is a good film, it's not a happy film."
"Mary, Queen of Scots"
(Vanesssa Redgrave, 1971): "Vanessa Redgrave played that role well, but there was a lot wrong with it historically. But it's a very well-made film. The filmmakers had her and Elizabeth meet, which they never did."
"The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex"
(Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, 1939). "They did a fair job, but it's almost a caricature. She did a later one, too ('The Virgin Queen,' 1955). That's done with some daring-do and some integrity."
"Nine Days a Queen"
(Nova Pilbeam, 1936): "For its time, it's not too bad."
"Mary of Scotland"
(Katharine Hepburn, 1936): "Forget it. Every time the Earl of Bothwell appears, that's her third husband, he has an army of bagpipers marching behind him. You always know when he is coming. It's hilarious. I burst out laughing every time."
"The Private Life of Henry VIII"
(1933, Charles Laughton): "It is a caricature. It's indelibly imprinted on people's minds. Everybody thinks of Henry as chucking chicken bones over his shoulder and that he is a dangerous buffoon. Unfortunately, that opinion still overlays most people's perceptions. It was incredibly influential, that film."
Weir
