A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS. (1966) PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY FRED ZINNEMAN. BASED ON ROBERT BOLT'S 1960 PLAY OF THE SAME NAME. SCREENPLAY BY ROBERT BOLT.
STARRING PAUL SCOFIELD, WENDY HILLER, ORSON WELLES, ROBERT SHAW, LEO MCKERN, JOHN HURT, SUSANNAH YORK, CORIN REDGRAVE, VANESSA REDGRAVE AND YOOTHA JOYCE.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
Cardinal Wolsey to Sir Thomas More: 'The King wants a son. What are you going to do about it?'
Sir Thomas More to Cardinal Wolsey: 'I'm very sure the King needs no advice from me on what to do about it...!'
I remember watching this film in school as part of History class and absolutely loving it. Mind you, back then we enthused over anything that got us out of regular lessons for a bit. You could have stuck us in front of the test card and we've have ooohed and aaahed as if we were watching the greatest piece of cinema ever committed to celluloid, haha.
That's not to take away from this magnificent biographical-historical epic, by the way. It truly is a marvellous piece of work. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (all the good ones) in its day and- get this- even the Vatican has listed it as amongst the greatest movies of all time. This happened in 1995, on the one hundredth anniversary of cinema, so there you go. It surely doesn't get more prestigious than that.
Paul Scofield plays Sir Thomas More, the titular 'man for all seasons,' by which it's meant that he was as steadfast a man of conscience under all circumstances and at all times. He never wavered, in other words. He lived in England way back in the sixteenth century during the reign of Henry the Eighth, he of the legendary six wives.Thomas was Henry's Chancellor of England, in point of fact, a very high-up and prestigious job, though he was also a lawyer by virtue of profession, like his dad before him.
Remember good old Henry the Eighth, who needed a son and heir but whose wives couldn't supply him with one so he kept chopping (ahem!) and changing until he found a wife who could supply one? That's our Henry, haha. THE SIMPSONS parody this regal wife-swopping brilliantly in one of their occasional historical episodes.
Homer Simpson to Lisa, his female child: 'So either grow a penis or get lost...!'
Cue little Lisa straining and struggling frantically to grow the necessary appendage for fear of being 'canonised' or shot out of a cannon but to no avail. Well, you either got one or you don't...! The CARRY ON team did a similarly excellent parody in the film CARRY ON HENRY which ended with the immortal words:
'Carry on, Executioner, carry on...!'
'Carry on, Executioner, carry on...!'
Anyway, in the film, Henry wants to divorce Catherine of Aragon, his current squeeze who apparently is 'as barren as a brick.' He wants to marry Anne Boleyn and plant his seed in her womanly dirt, so to speak, as a clear-cut male heir for England will prevent a load of messy dynastic wars like the Wars of The Roses. Great film, that. Kathleen Turner even did gymnastics in it and tried to turn on Danny de Vito by rubbing her foot against his crotch...!
The thing that causes all the trouble for poor Thomas is that he refuses to go along with Henry's making himself the Head of the Church of England so that he can get himself a nice handy divorce. Thomas is horrified at the outrage done to the Church inherent in Henry's arrogant act.
Henry seems genuinely to like Thomas More and he gives him a million chances to sign the Oath saying he'll go along with this, but Thomas is either too principled a man of conscience or an infuriatingly stubborn jackass. He won't sign the Oath, so Henry locks him up in the Tower of London. If you remember your school History, you'll know the rest.
Henry is wonderfully played by a man whom you might be more used to seeing being eaten by a Great White Shark in JAWS, namely Robert Shaw who turned in a marvellous performance as the
salty sea-dog, playing alongside Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss.
My kids and I laughed ourselves silly at the bit in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS where Henry's toadies had to pretend to enjoy getting muddy just because Henry, a damned changeable cuss, decreed that it was funny.
Wendy Hiller, who starred alongside Anthony Hopkins and the recently-deceased John Hurt in THE ELEPHANT MAN, another film that could well qualify for the title of Best British Film Ever Made, is excellent here as Thomas's long-suffering wife. She and their lovely daughter Meg both want their stubborn husband and father to sign the stupid Oath and just come home to them.
Thomas, however, fearful that he'll forfeit his immortal soul if he gives in, holds out against all persuasion. It must be both edifying and frustrating to be married to a man of such stern principles...!
Thomas, however, fearful that he'll forfeit his immortal soul if he gives in, holds out against all persuasion. It must be both edifying and frustrating to be married to a man of such stern principles...!
Speaking of John Hurt, he appears here in one of his early roles as a nasty, materialistic little turncoat known as Richard Rich, or Richie Rich as I call him. He's
totally rocking the Beatles look with his droopy moustache and bad
haircut.
Orson CITIZEN KANE Welles is here too as the massively fat and blinged-up Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas's predecessor. Hey, Cardinal! P. Diddy called, he wants his chain of office back, haha.
Orson CITIZEN KANE Welles is here too as the massively fat and blinged-up Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas's predecessor. Hey, Cardinal! P. Diddy called, he wants his chain of office back, haha.
Fine actresses Vanessa Redgrave and Yootha GEORGE AND MILDRED Joyce each have small parts, and Leo RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY McKern plays the odious Thomas Cromwell, who seems to have it in for Thomas More from the get-go. The acting throughout the film is faultless and the period costumes and interiors and beautiful gardens are simply dazzling to behold.
Some of the quieter sitting-down scenes, in fact, look like they could be actual paintings from the brushes of the old Dutch Masters, they're so utterly flawless. I could certainly see them hanging in a gallery somewhere.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS certainly deserves all the accolades it's garnered to itself over the years. The good news is that it's now out on Blu-Ray for the first time in the UK in a special Dual Format Edition as part of The Masters Of Cinema Series, in conjunction with the good people at Eureka Entertainment. There are some great extra features included in there too, amongst them archival imagery and a nifty booklet featuring a new essay on the film by James Oliver.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
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Excellent film.
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