Victoria & Albert

Victoria & Albert
by John Erman

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DVD details

Actor: Diana Rigg, James Callis, Jonathan Firth, Patrick Malahide, Victoria Hamilton
Director: John Erman
Brand: A&E
Producer: Adam Kempton
Producer: David Cunliffe
Producer: Delia Fine
Producer: Doug Schwalbe
Producer: James Straven
Producer: John Goldsmith
Writer: John Goldsmith
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Published)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 200 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-10-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video

DVD Reviews of Victoria & Albert

DVD Review: Very Pleased
Summary: 5 Stars

I ordered this item for a Christmas gift. It came very fast, packaged well, and in new condition. This movie is a quality movie and one that I recommend for the discriminating viewer.

DVD Review: Most Amusing
Summary: 5 Stars

I liked it! I saw it on A&E and decided to buy it. It is a double disc set and watching it is a pleasure. It is not overly deep into the history as such but mainly tells of the deep and profound love between Victoria and Albert. A good watch. Period movie lovers should be pleased.Check it out.

DVD Review: It had it's moments ... but
Summary: 2 Stars

The real life of V and A was interesting and complex enough that there was NO need to pretty it up, or remove so much reality for the sake of the screen play.
As many others have noted, the historical inaccuracies are glaring -- to add to those already mentioned --

Victoria was wearing mourning for her dead uncle (the late King) at her first meetings with her council and parliament.

Neither her relationship nor Albert's relationship with their children was accurate, he was much more loving, she was much more remote.

Alice was nearly 19 (and looked a bit older than that) when Albert died -- the actress playing her looked about 14.

Victoria too could have stood a bit more 'padding' in her costumes by 1861. Having given birth to 9 children by then, she was far from svelte!

Victoria blamed Bertie for his father's death. She could barely stand to be in the same room with him for many months afterwards. The touching scene with the two of them and Alice is balderdash.

Recognizing the limited timeframe, they certainly could have deleted some of the more extraneous scenes and found room for anecdotes that DID enhance the actual story being told -- Vicky's marriage, and the time Albert spent with her preparing for it -- the actual death of her mother [we saw the last visit, but never her reaction] -- The Lady Flora scandal early in her reign.

Historical issues aside ... it was ok. Reasonably well acted by most, attractive costumes, good production values. As someone who is very familiar with the era and the personalities being portrayed, I did find much of the heavy, plodding 'exposition-dialogue' to be pretty tedius. "As you know Victoria, when your cousin Charlotte, son of George IV died in childbirth and King William and Queen Adelaide also had no surviving children, there was no heir to the throne, so, having been widowed myself after the birth of your half sister Feodora and half-brother Carl, I married your father in order to produce an heir." [Ok... so that's an exageration, but some of it comes darn close...]

Really disappointing ...

DVD Review: Fairy tale Love Story you want to believe.
Summary: 5 Stars

Might not be historically accurate, but worth while watching. Brilliant performance on both Victoria Hamilton and Jonathan Firth.

DVD Review: Again, sheer disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars

When will producers of great stories on DVD realize that many people in the world do not enjoy perfect hearing? This includes some young people, as well as many senior citizens whose bodies have grown old, their hearing ability or their ability to understand what is being said has diminished, but their interest in good, solid, well-acted drama and comedy has NOT diminished; rather, it has increased since they were youngsters. Therefore, these folks need help in their understanding and/or hearing what is being said, in order to fully enjoy the tale. This translates into a need for sub-titles, or as some call it, "captions for the hard-of-hearing." Lack of same denies pleasure to those who seek it, as well as knowledge and information. As we grow older, I find that we become more interested in history, which only a few selected movies open up to us. One might argue, "but there are books on the subject!" which doesn't hold water for obvious reasons. The positive reviews I've read have whetted my appetite for "Victoria and Albert" as well as some other movies of interest, but disappointment comes again.

Interestingly, A&E's "Emma" (fiction) and "Jane Eyre" (fiction), which I have and love, both offer sub-titles, but the important historical stories do not. That doesn't make sense, in my book. A & E and BBC both create marvelous productions, and I could weep when I discover that I, and millions more like me, are denied enjoyment of them for lack of sub-titles. The powers-that-be in both of those institutions, whoever the folks are who make the decisions, need to perhaps seek the advice of the elderly members of their families and get their viewpoints, in order to understand.

I don't know if anyone who sees this "review" has any "pull" with the powers-that-be, but if so, please get the word out. And can we have some comments from others who will voice their opinions about the lack of sub-titles?

By the way, I visited a young friend (abt 45-ish) one day who has normal hearing, and she put on a DVD. I asked her to activate the sub-titles, which she did, and at the end of the movie, she said, "Well!! I got parts of the dialogue that I had missed before without the sub-titles!!"

Description of Victoria & Albert

Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 10/30/2001 Run time: 200 minutes Rating: Nr

Recasting history as a particularly lavish soap opera, Victoria and Albert sets the story of the relationship between the queen and her consort against a background of family strife and political wrangling. Sticklers for accuracy might be disappointed, but the strong cast and lavish production values make for an entertaining film.

Victoria is barely 18 when her uncle King William IV dies. She is introduced by the family adviser to a young German prince called Albert, and in spite of their initial indifference to one another and a great deal of political opposition, they fall in love. Marriage brings its own problems, however, and as Victoria, grows from an inexperienced young woman into a shrewd and powerful monarch Albert struggles to find a role for himself in both the family and the nation.

The relationship between Victoria and Albert was a remarkable one and this film, while occasionally erring on the side of sentiment, brings that relationship to life. The young leads are charming, but it is the supporting cast of British acting stalwarts--including Nigel Hawthorne, David Suchet, and Diana Rigg--who make Victoria and Albert truly worth watching. --Simon Leake

Drama DVDs

Genres > Art House & International > By Country > British Cinema
General
By Theme > Period Piece
Drama > General
By Theme > Biography
Television
Television > General
Miniseries
Drama
Television

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