I have an important confession about this movie...I don't care one bit about the British royal family or any other royal family. Part of this might be because I am an American...but I also don't care a bit about the Kardashians or Kennedys or any other 'special family'.
So you would be very fair in wondering "Why would this jerk bother to review a film about the royal family if he doesn't care about them?". Well, it's because this made for TV movie is chock full of classic film stars.... Olivia de Havilland, Stewart Granger, Ray Milland and Dana Wynter. And, that is THE reason I watched this on YouTube...I just wanted to see as many of these actors' films as I can, as I've seen nearly all of several of these stars' movies.
When the story begins, you can tell that it's meant to be a fairytale and special sort of thing. You just have to hear the over-the-top music to understand what I am saying. This sort of magical fairy tale thing is great if you love schmaltzy romance movies...but horrible if you want any real insight into these real life people. In the story, they simply are highly fictionalized and idealized. We now have the advantage of hindsight to know that this love story was, in effect, a farce. This was no great love affair and the press and royal family created this image.
So, apart from the godawful music, is this a well made film? And, more importantly, is it worth seeing? Well, the acting IS good...and with such illustrious stars as supporting actors, it cannot help but be. And, so, technically it's not a bad looking film. Plus, they managed to make Catherine Oxenberg look a LOT like Diana Spencer. The same cannot be said about Christopher Baines who is just looks little like the large-eared Charles (he actually looks a bit more like Charles' brother, the recently disgraced Prince Andrew).
The problem with the film is the script...and most of this is because now we know that the marriage was a highly dysfuctional and loveless one. As a result, try as the writers could to make it all seem marvelous and inspiring, we now know it was a farce...which essentially ruins the movie today. Back in 1982, I and others would have rated this film much higher...but time has not been good to the memory of Chuck and Di.
Overall, a film which did NOT age well and isn't worth your time unless you could use a good laugh or enjoy watching a tragedy unfold. Mostly, it's only for the morbidly curious.
