Thomas More resigns his position as Chancellor and refuses to support this effort to flout the authority of his Catholic faith. He established himself as a director of the realistic perspective. This is so often mentioned in conjunction with Zinnemann because of his staunch adherence to the integrity of a time and place. While watching Man you won't see pompadours or bell-bottoms slipping its way into this 15 th Century story. You won't find a glamorization of the place.
People get dirty, places get old, and people age through hardship.
The second thing for which Zinnemann gained a reputation was telling stories involving personal moral challenges, usually at variance with the world. I'll give you two examples of this, one you're probably familiar with and the other you're probably not. Zinnemann made High Noon at the height of McCarthyism in the fifties and the protagonist attempts to find anyone who will take a stand against tyranny. In the end, his own safety is of minor importance compared to doing his duty. In A Nun's Story , Zinnemann directed Katherine Hepburn in a film about a nun who struggles with her desire to offer humanitarian service that is opposed by her Catholic order.