Boleynfan said:Hmmm, I'm not sure about Henry, but my favorite Anne acting-wise is Natalie Dormer and my favorite Anne physical appearance-wise is, don't hate me for saying this!, Natalie Portman. My least favorite Anne? I'd have to agree with you, Tina: Henny Porten.

Hey, I don't hate you!

I think Dormer may not be the physical image of Anne, but there was something about her I liked a lot, and it likely had to do with her performance.

I wasn't sure what to think of Natalie Portman — and no, I didn't have problems putting her Princess Amadala aside LOL (I didn't even like Star Wars chapters 1-3 but that's another story LOL). But there were moments, physically, when she struck me as how I thought Anne might have looked.

Dorothy Tutin may have been the embodiment of Anne physically and with her acting, emotionally.  She was my “first Anne.” I still remember crying during the trial scene, crying so hard in fact that my grandmother nearly made me turn off the TV. Then I told her what was going on…and do you know I got her hooked on the show too! LOL (She HATED Henry LOL).

Glad someone else knows Henny Porten. I “lucked” up on the movie a year or so ago because I'm a silent movie fan, but wasn't expecting anything that dull. Somebody over on YouTube has made a video of stills from it and if you've never seen this Anne Boleyn before, it's worth a quick look. I'm sure she was a good actress in other things, but Anne Boleyn she ain't! LOL

TeamAnne said:

I confess, I have a lot of Anne watching to do yet but my favorite is Natalie Dormer.  I do like Natalie Portman's look as Anne as it was more plain and that is how I see those days.  The costume designer for The Tudors even said she tried to modern the show up a bit so that leads to fancier clothes and more makeup which in turn makes Natalie Dormer even more stunning than she already is.  However, hands down performance goes to Dormer of the two.  She was amazing and in my opinion the perfect Anne!  For all the other Anne movies I watch they have a LOT to live up to in my mind; which is sadly one of the reasons I keep putting off watching them (besides my husband saying Hell no, so I have to wait until he isn't around lol).

TeamAnne — I'm not sure how many Anne movies/TV shows I've seen total. In the last year or two, I've run across some I never even knew existed (Barbara Kellerman…Henny Porten…Charlotte Rampling??) — and then there are the ones that stay in mind for better or worst. I think you definitely got one of the best in Ms. Dormer, and I wasn't even sure I'd like her Anne at first . But I know how you feel about the others having a lot to live up to! Here's hoping you'll have a chance to catch up to them soon cause I'd love to hear what you think about the other Annes. Merle Oberon you can knock out in about 5 minutes; she's a blip in a movie which focuses more on Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard! Vanessa Redgrave didn't have a line in 'A Man For All Seasons'.  (Can you watch some of the movies or shows on your computer or laptop via Netflix or YouTube so that hubby won't have to 'suffer'? LOL). Anyway, good luck on the Anne watching!

By the way, are Dormer and Portman the only ones you've seen?

TeamAnne said:

Boleynfan, I don't like Portman's performance for that reason exactly.  She is a fine actress but I don't like the Anne the author and therefore movie protrayed so in turn I don't like Portman's performance.

TinaII2None, yeah I go upstairs sometimes to watch whatever I want but he gets all lonely and complains, haha.  He is in the military so travels a lot and therefore I do a lot of my watching then.    I have seen one other Anne and I can't remember it but it wasn't anything special.  It was a movie on TV I know that much and it was a while ago.  I will probably re-watch it not knowingly in my quest to see all things Anne. 

I only saw 'The Other Boleyn Girl' once and that was enough! Whatever I thought about Portman's performance went out the window about the time I was screaming at my TV (and throwing soft objects) regarding the last 5 minutes or so of the movie prior to the end credits (won't put a spoiler in case some of you still haven't seen it and would like to). My baby sister — who is also a Tudor fan — later told me that her husband was wondering why SHE was screaming at her TV after she saw it! LOL But from little I remember, I'd have to agree with you all about Ms. Portman's turn as Anne. She got a bit of a short-shrift because she was playing the adaptation of an Anne created by a woman who obviously only sees Anne as a backstabbing, deceitful, lying monster.

TeamAnne — thank your hubby for his service (my brother-in-law is on leave right now from Kuwait ).

I wish you could remember which Anne you saw that wasn't special LOL (Sort of my feeling toward Henny Porten's Anne). I love trying to keep track of all of them, mainly because this is the first time I've really had a chance to hear opinions about favorites and least favorites (my whole reason for starting the thread). Hearing someone else discuss a performance I've never seen might encourage me to check it out, if only out of curiosity, but I know what you mean about “all things Anne.” She is as fascinating as her daughter, that's for sure.  

Boleynfan said:

TeamAnne, I see what you mean. I think Portman is a great actress and played the part well but the part that she plays reeeaaally gets under my skin because it portrays Anne in a bad way.

I have decided that I am going to go on Amazon and buy the movies/shows that everyone thinks are best. If you could pick your top favorite films about Anne, Henry, and the Tudors, which ones would everybody pick?

1) Anne of a Thousand Days (they always sell it in a set with Mary Queen of Scots unless you can find the VHS — I don't remember the DVD having any behind the scenes or special features anyway. Oh and MQS has Glenda Jackson in it as Elizabeth; she has a meeting with Mary and — I guess you would call it, gets told off by Mary Stuart in a scene similar to Anne Boleyn's meeting with Henry VIII. One of those “my heirs will rule England because you wouldn't give your heart to a man so you could have heirs Elizabeth…” kind of scenes that had me gagging).

2) Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Years (with Cate Blanchett) — historically inaccurate in places but her performance is SO good.

3) The Six Wives of Henry VIII — the BBC series with Keith Michell as Henry; the six episodes feature one of the wives. BUT if you have Netflix, you can get them free and on demand.

4) Elizabeth R — BBC series sequel with Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth — this one's also on Netflix so you can get it free and on demand. Jackson is one of the best Elizabeths ever.

5) The Sea Hawk — 1940 with Errol Flynn as the fictional Captain Geoffrey Thorpe and Flora Robson as Elizabeth. Ms. Robson isn't in the entire movie, but her scenes are always quite good and “Elizabeth-like.”

Anyway, those are some of mine off the top of my head. Hope that helps.

Iguazu said:

Me too!!!! I thought Portman's Anne looked permanently under pressure, never superior and debonair, whereas the real Anne at some point in her life had everything quite under control. Besides, Portman's picture of misery at her execution was an insult to the historical character.

So the character Portman played was not  Anne Boleyn at all, but some fictional character from a novel. Natalie Portman is probably  the Anne Boleyn I like least after Henny Porten.

My Anne Boleyn ranking (only the major ones) would be:

1. Natalie Dormer

2. Dorothy Tutin

3. Charlotte Rampling (very sexy I thought, and I love Rampling as an actress)

4. Genevieve Bujold

5. Helena Bonham Carter

6. Jodhi May (had the right looks for the part I thought, but no personality)

7. Natalie Portman

8. Henny Porten

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I had forgotten Charlotte Rampling, but actually, I didn't even realize she had played Anne until about a year ago. She's a very good actress — you're right about that, and what's funny is that I have seen her play sexy before…'Hammer Over the Anvil' with a young and still relatively unknown Russell Crowe. Threw me a bit as I'd never seen her in that sort of role before.

I forget about Helena Bonham Carter! I only saw that miniseries once…which is probably why I'm still not sure what I thought of Ray Winstone's Henry.