The Queen's Sister
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Movie Reviews of The Queen's Sister
Movie Review: Five Stars for the Featurette! One for this Appalling Turkey!
Summary: 2 Stars
Has the BBC taken leave of its senses?
It must have, since it has subordinated an excellent full-length film, "Royal Scandal," narrated by Ian Richardson, and featuring such notable actors as Michael Kitchen, to a ghastly pseudo-biopic about Princess Margaret. "Royal Scandal" tells the true and tragic story of Princess Caroline of Brunswick, who had the misfortune to be married to the dissolute Prince Regent, who became George IV, and petitioned to divorce his wife. Thus the woman who would be Queen of England was forced to listen in person to her reputation being ruined in the House of Lords. Her husband was not even present. The film is fascinating, amusing, beautifully acted (with such a cast!) and lovely to look at. The writers, who have used the actual words from the correspondence and court transcripts have created a cinematic gem, which surely deserved to be featured as first-run on a DVD; however, the Beeb marketing geniuses doubtless thought it was not important enough to peddle to their former colonists.
Instead, they have given us a trashy film based upon the exploitative tabloid headlines of a later age than the 1950s. The story begins with a fast reference to the romance between Princess Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend, without dwelling upon the pressures that were put upon her and how she was forced to renounce him publicly (She was very young.). The director also had the bad judgment to have the actress read the princess's words, rather than letting Margaret's tragic voice, broadcast worldwide in 1955, speak for itself. The movie then jumps to her life in the 'fast lane' and her pursuit of Anthony Armstrong-Jones and subsequent unhappy marriage. Next we see a Margaret growing older and more dissipated as she turns to one disastrous affair after another. Ironically, as she ages, the makeup makes her look more like the actual older Princess Margaret. When we first meet her, however, she bears a strong resemblance to Mrs. Simpson! (One only has to look at the early photographs and the portraits by Cecil Beaton to see how truely lovely Princess Margaret was in her youth!)
Since the writing is so superficial and motiveless, the actors, who are more than competent, have a thankless uphill task to perform. Not even Toby Stephens as Anthony Armstrong-Jones can save this train wreck!
Buy this DVD for "Royal Scandal" and give the scandalous feature a miss!
Movie Review: Margaret Was NOT "B-List" But This Movie 2 Stars
This movie is strictly a tabloid-level, cardboard portrayal full of innacuracies of a complex character and while it can boast a good performance by Lucy Cohu, I was disappointed throughout. Number 1: Margaret was a fashion icon in the 50's and 60's -- never a hair out of place, always elegant and sophisticated -- and the costumes in this flick are so cheap and sloppy Lucy looks like a shopgirl from the suburbs. Number 2: Margaret was known for her heavy drinking but she was not, from everything I have read, a sloppy drunk who passed out at parties. Number 3: Antony Armstrong-Jones was a much more complicated figure than the spoiled oaf as he is written; (Toby Stephens is adorable in this though!)Tony loved the limelight as much as Margaret but felt constrained by the royal lifestyle that made him famous. And to her credit, Margaret supported her husband's attempts to have his own career outside of the royal system. Number 4: Margaret never would have kissed a woman in public. I know this movie says some of this stuff is based on fact and some isn't but this seemed like a bloated attempt to shock.Furthermore, there are silly additions to this movie that make it seem cartoonish which was dumb and unnecessary. We know that the Brits are cynical about the Monarchy now, but do they have to underline it with nonsense like flashing to the Frenchman after we see Margaret lighting a cigarette the first time and his response that she caused babies to smoke? I thought it was stupid. Smoking was something everyone did back then and I hardly think Margaret had a big impact on it. Women simply smoked in public more even though they were puffing in private.
Lucy Cohu does her best do wade through this mess and manages at times to portray Margaret as a real woman with mixed results. I got the feeling she was told to play a spoiled promiscuous harpy and that's all we get to see. Yes, Margaret's appeal was that she was sophisticated and elegant but also earthy and rebellious, but this movie focuses only on the shocking side of things. There is more to the story in other words.
Movie Review: Utterly appalling!
Summary: 1 Stars
If I were able to do so, I would not award this DVD any stars at all. Whether or not Princess Margaret was a spoilt termagant with an overly inflated view of her own importance, only her contemporaries would know for a fact but, she's depicted as an absolute harpy in this DVD, a bossy, arrogant woman with a voracious sexual appetite who made the lives of those around her, miserable. Even if all of this is pure fiction, which I seriously doubt, the costuming for this movie was appalling! Margaret was a frumpy, dowdy dresser but her clothes were made by top dressmakers and these costumes were so badly made, ill fitting and puckered at the seams, so that at times, the sheer awfulness of her clothes distracted me from the story...but perhaps that was a blessing!Movie Review: Unwatchable
Summary: 1 Stars
Thank goodness I got this as a gift and didn't waste any of my own money. I got about 20 minutes into it before I turned it off. Sorry to cast aspersions, but Princess Margaret was a beautiful woman when she was young, and Lucy Cohu is not... IMHO...easy on the eyes. She portrayed Margaret as shrill and sleazy with no redeeming qualities. I know Margaret was no saint, but it was so over the top. It almost changed my high opinion of Toby Stephens (who played Antony Armstrong-Jones), who was so good in the BBC version of "Jane Eyre" for being involved in this train wreck. This just does not seem worthy of the BBC. Do yourself a favor, buy "Jane Eyre" instead.Movie Review: So bad.........
Summary: 1 Stars
Full-frontal nudity, awful dialogue, just so terrible words won't come to adequately describe the "awfulness" of this mess and then it just......ends.........no "ending"...it just ......ends, but sadly not soon enough.