The Tudors - The Complete First Season
by Alison Maclean, Brian Kirk, Charles McDougall, Ciaran Donnelly, Steve Shill
List Price:
Our Price: $19.24
You Save: $20.74 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $8.77 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Anthony Brophy, Henry Cavill, James Frain, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Sarah BolgerDirector: Alison Maclean, Brian Kirk, Charles McDougall, Ciaran Donnelly, Steve Shill
Brand: Paramount
Producer: Charles McDougall
Producer: Benjamin Silverman
Writer: Michael Hirst
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 556 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-01
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Showtime Ent.
DVD Reviews of The Tudors - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: Utterly appalling
Summary: 1 Stars
Why can't one give a zero star review? Nothing, nothing, nothing deserves even one star - ah! perhaps Jeremy Northam as Sir Thomas More, who manages a shred of dignity.
Speaking of shreds, this shreds history into an unrecognizable mess of bodice shredding escapades. I am only watching this travesty as one would an accident in progress; morbid fascination trumps good sense and judgement all too often. My specialization is this period of history (over thirty five years of studying every primary and secondary source in existence), and I have yet to see an entirely accurate fictional representation - which I accept with serenity. Theatrical license is perfectly acceptable, but this is pure fantasy; I am pressed to find even one per cent accuracy. Earlier versions of Tudor sagas, such as 'Anne of the Thousand Days', Keith Michell's Henry VIII and Glenda Jackson's Elizabeth I, 'Mary, Queen of Scots', or 'A Man for All Seasons' (brilliant) capture the spirit of the personages and era, notwithstanding certain problems. A sixteenth century rock star brat pack? Replete with American idioms, furniture destroying rages and gangster behaviour?
Why, when the historical figures were far more nuanced and compelling? When events were, for the time, earth shattering? The writers here settled for titillation and romance novel cardboard cutouts, not complex, contradictory, fascinating individuals who changed the known world.
What lazy and sloppy writing!
I despair. I know this is a minority opinion, but the series had a soporific effect on me. The dialogue is not intriguing, nor evocative of the period: Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons in the miniseries 'Elizabeth' spoke dialogue suggestive of Shakespeare's era; a sophisticated, scintillating treat for the ears and intellect. Historical inaccuracies can be overlooked with a sharp script and superb delivery. Here, the dialogue is modern: Henry VII described as a "businessman"? Charles Brandon casually remarking he can easily obtain a divorce? Why the modern, almost American, English? Challenge me, please, force me to think, make me savour the words, transport me to the era I love. And why so many scenes of thrashing limbs, naked bodies, and suggestions of sexual practices I cannot name here? Gratuitous, fanciful and unneccesary.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is hopelessly miscast, and plays Henry VIII as an unpleasant, sullen, brooding brat/"lad" given to tantrums and meaningless sex; too young and without a whisper of charm. A flat, one note performance lacking in dignity. The real Henry was a fascinating, complex man: sunny one minute, stormy the next (unpredictable and hence, far more dangerous), a cultured and musically gifted man, intellectual and intelligent, emotionally expressive, a force of natural charisma; large boned, over six feet tall with thinning red-blonde hair. And rather prudish and discreet - flirtatious, chivalrous, unrealistically romantic - with only two known mistresses, taken late in his first marriage. He actually loathed risqué jokes, and furiously dismissed those who dared tell one in his presence. As his claim to the throne was tenuous, Henry VIII's behaviour was invariably dignified and commanding.
Perhaps my greatest disappointment is how this series all too deliberately resembles "The Sopranos" (which I loved), but without depth and intelligence: unfortunately, this formula does not fit the sixteenth century.
Anne Boleyn/Natalie Dormer? No physical resemblance (Anne Boleyn's dark eyes, high cheekbones, long neck and narrow but strong jawline), of course, but also lacking in fire, temper, culture, elegance, artistic abilities and keen intelligence; Dormer is round faced and vacuous. Katherine of Aragon/Maria Kennedy is presented as too old next to Rhys-Meyers, and again, as the dark haired Spaniard. Costume? Anachronistic (baroque/Italianate, sometimes Germanic, not at all English, with many elements much later than this era). Not a gabled hood or French hood to be found, but many ruffs; completely inaccurate. In the Chateau Vert scene, of which we have costume descriptions, women wear almost nothing: ruffs with Victorian corsets? And why is everyone beautiful in our modern sense? Perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect features, perfect makeup, perfect model thin bodies, perfect teeth. Historical personages should be rough around the physical edges.
Lest we forget historical inaccuracies bordering on the bizarre: the Mary/Margaret amalgamation (she married and killed the King of Portugal? In what universe? Drunk, a screaming banshee, a vulgar, common fishwife?). Henry VIII's uncle murdered? Thomas Tallis in court during the 1520s, and gay? Buckingham's absurdly raucous, undignified, execution? Wolsey, a suicide? Henry Fitzroy, dead as a child? Why would they do this, particularly as some might actually construe this as reasonably true? I will not delineate any more historical errors - the list is far too long for this venue. Change all the names, and I would not recognize a single historical personage.
"Your Majesty"? Not a term in use then; Henry VIII would have been addressed as "Your Grace." I also noted a radiator in a bedchamber, an asphalt driveway, and a modern tape measure, and a nineteenth century carriage.
Very, very, very curious: the brief glimpses offered of Whitehall, Hampton Court Palace and Greenwich are painstakingly accurate, presented as they appeared in the early sixteenth century. As is Anne Boleyn's signature. Mystifying. Perhaps that also warrants the single star I am forced to give.
Description of The Tudors - The Complete First Season
The Tudors presents the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII?s nearly 40 year, omnipotent reign (1509-1547). In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn, the series delves in to Henry?s most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Camelot: The Complete First SeasonAnchor; Release date: 2011-09-13; DVD
Best price: $16.71
Price in other shops:
Spartacus: Blood and Sand - The Complete First SeasonAnchor; Release date: 2010-09-21; DVD
Best price: $19.53
Price in other shops:
Elizabeth (Spotlight Series)BLANCHETT,CATE; Release date: 2007-09-18; DVD
Best price: $6.48
Price in other shops:
National Geographic - The Madness of Henry the VIIIWarner Brothers; Release date: 2006-08-15; DVD
Best price: $13.23
Price in other shops:
The Other Boleyn GirlSony; Release date: 2008-06-10; DVD
Best price: $4.67
Price in other shops:
The Borgias: The First SeasonParamount; Release date: 2011-12-27; DVD
Best price: $21.49
Price in other shops:
Rome: The Complete First SeasonRome; Release date: 2012-01-17; DVD
Best price: $22.43
Price in other shops:
The Tudors - The Complete Second SeasonParamount; Release date: 2009-01-06; DVD
Best price: $20.24
Price in other shops:
The Tudors: The Final SeasonParamount; Release date: 2010-10-12; DVD
Best price: $27.75
Price in other shops:
The Tudors: The Complete Third SeasonParamount; Release date: 2009-12-15; DVD
Best price: $23.75
Price in other shops: