European History and American Movies

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Braveheart, Cate Blanchett, Charlemagne, Elizabeth Woodville, Emperor Franz Joseph, Helen Mirren, Holy Roman Emperor, Iron Man, James Mason, King Baldwin IV, King Edward IV, King Richard I of England, Kings and Queens of England, Queen Victoria, Ray Winstone, Robert Downey Jr, the White Queen, Young Victoria

This post will be a slight change of pace for me. This post will be directed toward my American readers but hopefully my readers from other countries will also appreciate this. Lately I have been watching movies related to the Tudor dynasty, specifically Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. I own and watched the Tudors the Showtime miniseries, the Henry VIII miniseries starring Ray Winstone, the movie Anne of the Thousand Days, and a miniseries on Elizabeth I starring Helen Mirren and the two movies about Elizabeth I starring Cate Blanchett. Also have many more royalty related movies. This did get me thinking about how popular some stories and royal figures are popular here in the US.

Movies such as Braveheart and those based on the character Robin Hood have featured royalty and have done very well. The movie Young Victoria did well here in the United States as did another movie based on Queen Victoria, Her Majesty, Mrs Brown, starring Dame Judi Dench. One of my favorite royalty based movies is Restoration starring Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) and Sam Neill as Charles II. I recently purchased the 1982 TV movie of Ivanhoe also starring Sam Neill and James Mason and featuring Julian Glover as King Richard I of England. Ridley Scott’s movie Kingdom of Heaven is also one that I enjoy which takes place in the Holy Land during the Crusades and features King Baldwin IV of the European Kingdom of Jerusalem and his battle for the land against the famous Muslim leader, Saladin. Even King Richard I shows up at the end on his way for his historic encounter with Saladin.

I think I have established that movies about European history and European Royalty do play well here in the states. When I look through the movies I own and have seen what strikes me is that there are still many stories that I would love to see that have not been filmed yet.

Here are some of my ideas for movies i would love to see made some day:

1. The life of William the Conqueror. I could see this movie done on an epic scale of Braveheart. To keep it simple I would just focus on the conquest of England itself. But there are many themes to that story to make it interesting. The Battle of Hastings would make for an epic filled battle. Also it would be interesting to film how the Norman army mistook the celebrations during the coronation as some type of rebellion began to set fire to the town!

2. The life of Charlemagne. The King of the Franks who also became the first Holy Roman Emperor and created one of the most powerful empires in Europe. There is a goldmine of stories from his life.

3. The start of World War I. I think you could create a great drama of the tensions between all of the royal heads of states after the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand.

4. The life of Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph who saw his wife, son, and great-nephew (the aforementioned Archduke Franz-Ferdinand) all die in his life time amidst tragic circumstances.

5. I would like to see a sequel to Young Victoria and show the circumstances of their relationship and her reaction to the death of her husband, Prince Albert, the Prince Consort.

6. I hope someday they make one more movie with Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth I showing the end of her reign and all the drama that went with it.

Those are just some of the ideas I have floating in my head for feature films…or maybe a miniseries for topics related to royalty. I know that the BBC is producing a miniseries called the White Queen about Elizabeth Woodville the wife of King Edward IV and the tumultuous times of the Wars of the Roses. I am looking forward to seeing that!

Young Victoria vs Victoria & Albert

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A&E, John Conroy, Nigel Hawthorne, Victoria & Albert, Victoria Hamilton, Young Victoria

Today I am going to return to some royal movie reviews. I was in a Queen Victoria mood recently so I watched both procuctions. The movie Young Victoria was a feature film while Victoria and Albert was a A&E mini series. Here is the review I initially wrote for Young Victoria.

This movie is a sumptuous feast for the eyes and it also gives the viewer a
glimpse into the world of nineteenth century Britain and the young queen who  would come to define an era. Emily Blunt’s portrayal of Queen Victoria in her  youth is brilliantly wrought with emotion, strength, weakness and romance and a  gamut of other emotions which the young queen certainly experienced. The movie  captured with accuracy the prison like atmosphere and the tumultuous  relationships that the young Victoria lived through.

I found the pacing of the movie did not drag the story down. While there may be no question of the outcome of Victoria and Albert’s courtship the political and social intrigue and vying for control, power and position that surrounded the circumstances of their relationship does keep the viewer caught up in the drama of their lives with  great interest.

The production values, the acting and the directing are all top notch my only complaints are with the historical inaccuracies. Generally I am not one to complain too much about historical inaccuracies in Hollywood films but a few in particular really change the tone of this film.

The  first one is prince Albert’s love for Victoria. The film makes it seem like
Albert was a love-sick puppy pinning away for Victoria until she came to her
senses and agrees to marry him. In reality Victoria fell very hard in love with
Albert after she had about 3 years on the throne enjoying her single status. But  Albert was a bit ambivalent about coming to England and marrying Victoria. His love for her was something that developed more after their marriage than before.  Also, Albert was not hurt in the real life assassination attempt on Victoria and  having him injured as depicted in the movie seemed a bit too manipulative. With  Albert being the love struck puppy the entire nature of the relationship changes  as does the tone of the film. It does give the movie a feel of a romance novel aimed at a certain demographic. I don’t think that was necessary because the truth of the story has enough drama and romance to make it satisfying.

I also didn’t care for how the relationship between Victoria and her first prime  minister, Lord Melbourne, was depicted. In this movie he seems like a
manipulative smarmy character. In reality he was much older than depicted in   this movie and although there was mutual love and respect between the two, and  Victoria may well have had a crush on him, Lord Melbourne actually played more  of a fatherly and mentor role with her. I much prefer the relationship as  depicted in the A&E mini-series Victoria & Albert by Victoria Hamilton  and Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Victoria & Albert

I actually like the A&E mini seires much better. In particular is the scene where Victoria finally is able to confront John Conroy her mother’s comptroller and advisor. I think the scene as depicted in Victoria & Albert is quite dramatic and significant while the movie Young Victoria depicts this incident rather anti-climatically and hardly filled with any tension.

The A&E mini seires has a more historically accurate portrayal of Albert. In that series he is not  alove sick puppy but a strong willed man with ideas of his own and who agrees to marry Victoria more out of a sense of duty and what is expected of him rather than love. Love is something that developes over time.

The strained relationship between Albert and Baroness Lehzen is abscent from Young Victoria but dramatically played out in the mini series. Baron Stockmar and his role in the lives of both Victoria and Albert stands out in the mini series and is underplayed in the movie Young Victoria.

All in all both versions have their positive aspects but I greatly prefer the miniseries over the film. If you have seen both films I would love your thoughts!

Movies & Royalty

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Buckingham Palace, Emily Blunt, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, Sir Nigel Hawthorn, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Victoria Hamilton, Young Victoria

I love movies! I have over 700 Dvds in my collection. I also have a blog dedicated to my love of Science Fiction and Fantasy Films. http://foleyfunfilmfacts.wordpress.com/. I also enjoy movies based on the lives or royalty. For now, every Wednesday, I will devote this day to reviewing the movies I have about Royalty.

Generally I am not bothered by historical inaccuracies in these types of movies because I view them as fiction even when based on real events. There are exceptions to that. We will see that in my review below, of the movie The Young Victoria which came out in 2010. This movie is a sumptuous feast for the eyes and it also gives the viewer a glimpse into the world of nineteenth century Britain and the young queen who would come to define an era. Emily Blunt’s portrayal of Queen Victoria in her youth is brilliantly wrought with emotion, strength, weakness and romance and a gamut of other emotions which the young queen certainly experienced. The movie captured with accuracy the prison like atmosphere and the tumultuous relationships that the young Victoria lived through. I found the pacing of the movie did not drag the story down.

While there may be no question of the outcome of Victoria and Albert’s courtship the political and social intrigue and vying for control, power and position that surrounded the circumstances of their relationship does keep the viewer caught up in the drama of their lives with great interest. The production values, the acting and the directing are all top notch my only complaints are with the historical inaccuracies. Generally I am not one to complain too much about historical inaccuracies in Hollywood films but a few in particular really change the tone of this film. The first one is prince Albert’s love for Victoria. The film makes it seem like Albert was a love-sick puppy pinning away for Victoria until she came to her senses and agrees to marry him. In reality Victoria fell very hard in love with Albert after she had about 3 years on the throne enjoying her single status. But Albert was a bit ambivalent about coming to England and marrying Victoria. His love for her was something that developed more after their marriage than before. Also, Albert was not hurt in the real life assassination attempt on Victoria and having him injured as depicted in the movie seemed a bit too manipulative. With Albert being the love struck puppy the entire nature of the relationship changes as does the tone of the film. It does give the movie a feel of a romance novel aimed at a certain demographic. I don’t think that was necessary because the truth of the story has enough drama and romance to make it satisfying.

I also didn’t care for how the relationship between Victoria and her first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, was depicted. In this movie he seems like a manipulative smarmy character. In reality he was much older than depicted in this movie and although there was mutual love and respect between the two, and Victoria may well have had a crush on him, Lord Melbourne actually played more of a fatherly and mentor role with her. I much prefer the relationship as depicted in the A&E mini-series Victoria & Albert by Victoria Hamilton and Sir Nigel Hawthorne. Victoria & Albert But all in all the movie was very well made and acted despite the historical inaccuracies and it is well worth viewing or owning on DVD.