Elizabethan age on screen

As a kid, I was something of an oddball. I started reading Shakespeare at an early age and I developed a keen interest in British history. When I was still in grade school I recall watching "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", a BBC production that aired in the USA over CBS as a summer series. I had already been exposed to the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn thanks to the Academy Award nominated movie "Anne of a Thousand Days" but this drama provided a whole lot more. Each week was devoted to one of Henry's wives and I reveled in the acting -- Keith Michell who won a richly deserved Emmy Award, the late Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn, Annette Crosbie as Catherine of Aragon, Angela Pleasance as Catherine Howard and Rosalie Crutchley as Catherine Parr.

Then the next year, PBS broadcast "Elizabeth R" with Glenda Jackson in the lead role. Jackson also portrayed Elizabeth opposite Vanessa Redgrave in "Mary, Queen of Scots" on the big screen. In many ways, it seemed to be the role she was born to play and until Cate Blanchett came along some 25 years later with the feature fillm, Jackson seemed to embody the Virgin Queen for that generation. (I acknowledge the peerless Judi Dench did win an Oscar for playing Elizabeth but that was more a consolation prize for not winning for her regal work as Queen Victoria in "Mrs. Brown".)

In recent years, there's been renewed interest in this period and these characters, perhaps stirred on by the aforementioned 1998 Cate Blanchett vehicle. British television (and PBS in America) have broadcast several dramatizations including a superb production of "Henry VIII" led by Ray Winstone in the title role, and a very good dramatization of the life of "The Virgin Queen" headlined by Anne-Marie Duff. Both lead actors delivered strong and memorable work and both were ably supported by an array of British actors: Winstone had Joss Ackland, Mark Strong, Charles Dance, David Suchet, Helena Bonham Carter (who years ago played Lady Jane Grey), Emily Blunt (who will soon be seen in "The Young Victoria") and Sean Bean while Duff's entourage included Kevin McKidd, Ian Hart, Tara Fitzgerald, Ben Daniels and Tom Hardy.

Not to be outdone, American television -- speifically HBO and Showtime -- have also tackled the period. HBO presented "Elizabeth I" with the divine Helen Mirren (who earned a richly deserved Emmy Award) supported by Jeremy Irons (also an Emmy winner), Hugh Dancy and Toby Jones. Showtime took a more soap opera approach with "The Tudors" which was created by Michael Hirst (who wrote the Blanchett film Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age). Jonathan Rhys Meyers cuts an intriguing figure as Henry and Natalie Dormer put an intriguing spin on Anne Boleyn. But the show plays fast and loose with actual history so I have a hard time taking it all seriously, despite the presence of such actors as Jeremy Northam (as Thomas More), Sam Neill (as Cardinal Wolsey), Peter O'Toole (as Pope Paul III), Maria Doyle Kennedy (as Catherine of Aragon) and Henry Cavill (as Charles Brandon).

A further spin on the tale of Henry VIII and his second wife can be found in the two very different adaptations of Philippa Gregory's novel The Other Boleyn Girl. The BBC version from 2003, written and directed by Philippa Lowthorpe casts Natascha McElhone in the role of Mary Boleyn and Jodhi May as her sister Anne. Jared Harris plays Henry VIII. I'll confess Harris isn't one of my favorite actors -- which stems from a very difficult interview I had with him years ago. It's colored my approach to him and his work (including his recurring role on the third season of "Mad Men"). But the two women as the Boleyn sisters do a fine job, ably abetted by Stephen Mackintosh as their brother George. This is a more feminist take on Gregory's fiction which also has several historical inaccuracies. It's an intriguing if not wholly satisfying adaptation.

The TV version is only slightly better than the feature version released in 2008 which starred Natalie Portman as Anne, Scarlett Johansson as Mary and Eric Bana as Henry, with Jim Sturgess as brother George. Truthfully, I rather enjoyed this version to the BBC adaptation, partly because there's a sense that the filmmakers (writer Peter Morgan and director Justin Chadwick) recognize that they aren't making anything more than a standard-issue period romance. The focus is on the love matches between the king and the Boleyn girls. And as in Gregory's novel, the titular character switches between Mary and Anne. It's a feat not unlike walking a high wire, but the whole production has that feel of a good, bad movie. The supporting cast, including the peerless Kristin Scott Thomas, David Morrissey and Mark Rylance add greatly to the proceedings.

As you can see, over the summer I have been enjoying some "history".