ianlouisiana Review of A Man for All Seasons

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Literate,beautifully shot but only Robert Shaw has flesh and blood

[7/10 · 15 October 2006]

Henry VIII has had a lot of bad press in the last 450 - odd years. As with any historical figure he can only be judged by the standards prevalent at the time he flourished,and,as 16th century King - Emperors go,he was a politically sophisticated humanitarian. He was well - educated,multi - lingual,a patron of the arts,a keen sportsman.As a man he could be generous and compassionate,but as a monarch he could be cruel and ruthless.For all his life his main concern was the governance of England and the continuance of the Tudor Line through male heirs.Women could not succeed to the throne. When his wife,after several stillbirths and one female child had failed to provide him with the necessary male heir his preoccupation became an obsession and he became determined to remarry a younger woman who could give him the son he required.He'd already fathered a bastard, the ill - fated Duke of Richmond,but needed a son born in wedlock. Given the idea by Thomas Cromwell that his marriage to his late brother's widow might be declared illegal he set about trying to sound out great thinkers both in England and abroad as to the likelihood of such a declaration being acceptable to both the Church and the State. Perhaps predictably,it was the Church that gainsaid him. The Church would not have its tenets challenged,even by a King. His Chancellor Sir Thomas More,although a devout man,was not against divorce per se,but,as events progressed and it became clear that the Pope would not permit Henry to divorce Catherine of Aragon,Henry's only option was to create a schism from Rome and form what later became known as the Anglican Church.More would not accept his King as head of both State and Church and refused to acknowledge his supremacy. Two stubborn,determined and bloody - minded men,formerly good friends, became implacable opponents.Robert Bolt's "A man for all seasons" concerns itself with their struggle. As filmed by Fred Zinneman it has the benefit of some fine performances by a cast of distinguished British thesps and a ripe slice of ham by Mr Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey,a portrayal that would have wowed them at the Globe Theatre. Mr Paul Schofield(if ever a man was born with an actor's face it was he) has been rightly praised for his performance,but for me Mr Robert Shaw steals the film from under his sensitive aristocratic nose.His Henry is way and above the best I have seen in the cinema.He exudes Life in a film that for all its merits lacks it for most of its length. Yes it's literate,yes it'd beautiful to look at,but only the much - maligned monarch lifts it above the level of a high - class acting exhibition. As Mr Schofield suffers elegantly in monochrome Mr Shaw lives in glorious Technicolour.There is a real person here,not a saint. Henry VIII was a lot of things but he was not a worthy bore.The impression I get from "A man for all seasons" is that Sir Thomas More was.