Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen
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DVD details
Brand: A and E Home VideoNarrator: David Starkey
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 200 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-05-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- One of the most important rulers in history, Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time when England was under threat of annexation from abroad and collapse from within. When she died after a reign of 45 years, she left behind a nation protected by the greatest navy on earth and in the midst of a cultural explosion she made possible.Hosted by the world-renowned historian David Starkey (author of Eli
DVD Reviews of Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen
DVD Review: very well-dressed and never uncertain
Summary: 3 Stars
Brit telly-don David Starkey has the bit firmly between his teeth. There is no ambiguity here, no sense of the great debates that have raged over all aspects of Elizabeth's life. Starkey -- he used to be a real academic -- gives his opinions as unquestioned facts: Elizabeth was sexually abused; Elizabeth decided to remain a virgin while still in her teens and after reading patristic celebrations of celibacy; Elizabeth didn't sleep with Robin Dudley but she truly loved the Frog.
OK, I know that nuance isn't Channel 4's thing, but this is shockingly homogenized, rather like ice cream -- soft and sweet. Would I have been less offended by an actual television presenter with these opinions? Yes. Starkey's academic past gives him an authority that -- at least in this case -- is too easy to accept.
Those of us who have watched Starkey for years, whether in BBC doc.os or at conferences, will remember a slightly scruffy chap with elbow patches and rumpled hair. No more: he is transformed by a splendid suiting, heavy make-up, and sterling-silvered smoothness into someone with whom none would dare demure. And -- don't get me wrong -- he does get off some great lines. My favorite is his statement that Pope "signed a fatwah" on Elizabeth. The shock value actually works there. On the other hand, saying that Elizabeth loathed war because she couldn't lead her own armies and had to trust them to men to lead them is willfully simplistic.
There are many reasons why Elizabeth dreaded war, and that's hardly the most significant.
There are other academics on the stage from time to time, but they appear uncredited and they all agree with Starkey.
The background music is effective and the production values are quite high. "Biography" fans will see none of those tatty Halloween costumes and bad wigs here; it's not Merchant Ivory time, but things look pretty good -- both pretty and good.
Thucydides claims that historians give us unvarnished truth; he would be very proud of his great-great-grandson David. (Unless, of course, Thucydides had become a Papist. . . )
Description of Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen
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