A Man for All Seasons

Plot synopsis:
The film covers the years 1529 to 1533, during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles), the Lord Chancellor of England, summons Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) to Hampton Court, one of the principal royal palaces in the vicinity of London, for a private, late-night meeting. As both men know, King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) wishes to divorce his wife Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave). Saying that England needs a male heir to prevent another period of dynastic wars like the Wars of the Roses and that Henry's present queen cannot provide one, Wolsey chastises More for being the only member of the Privy Council to oppose Wolsey's policies to obtain a divorce from the Vatican. More states that he can never go along with Wolsey's suggestion that they apply "pressure" on Church property and revenue in England to force the issue. Unknown to More, the conversation is overheard by Wolsey's aide, Thomas Cromwell.
Returning to his home at Chelsea at dawn, More finds Richard Rich (John Hurt), a young acquaintance, waiting by the dock for his return, lobbying for a position at Court. More recommends against that, citing many corruptions, and instead recommends Rich find a job as a teacher. Rich declines More's advice, saying that has little prestige.
More enters his house to find his daughter Meg (Susannah York) chatting with a brilliant young lawyer named William Roper (Corin Redgrave), who announces his desire to marry her. The devoutly Catholic More states that he cannot give his blessing as long as Roper remains a Lutheran.
Some time later, Wolsey dies of a heart attack. King Henry appoints More as Lord Chancellor of England to succeed Wolsey.
The King makes an "impromptu" visit to the More estate to inquire about his divorce. More remains unmoved as Henry alternates between threats, tantrums, and promises of unbounded Royal favour. After the King leaves, Cromwell promises Rich a position at Court in return for damaging information about More.
Roper, learning of More's quarrel with the King, reveals that his religious opinions have altered considerably: He declares that by attacking the Church, the King has become "the Devil's minister." More admonishes him to be more guarded as Rich arrives, pleading again for a position at Court. When More again refuses, Rich denounces More's steward as a spy for Thomas Cromwell (Leo McKern). An unmoved More responds, "Of course, that's one of my servants."
Humiliated, Rich joins Cromwell in attempting to bring down More. Meanwhile, the King has Parliament declare him "Supreme Head of the Church of England." He demands that both the bishops and Parliament renounce all allegiance to the Pope. More quietly resigns as Lord Chancellor rather than accept the new order. As he does so, his close friend, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport), attempts to draw his opinions out as part of a friendly chat with no witnesses present. More, however, knows that the time for speaking openly of such matters is over.
Cromwell, in a meeting with Norfolk, implies that More's troubles would be over were he to attend the King's wedding to Anne Boleyn. When More declines the invitation, he is summoned again to Hampton Court, now occupied by Cromwell. More is interrogated, but refuses to answer. Infuriated, Cromwell declares that the King views him as a traitor, but allows him to return home.
Upon returning home, Meg informs her father that a new oath is being circulated and that all must take it or face charges of high treason. Initially, More says he would be willing to take the oath, provided it refers only to the King's marriage to Boleyn. Upon learning that it names the King as Supreme Head of the Church, More refuses to take it and is subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London.
More remains steadfast in his refusal to take the Oath and refuses to explain his objections, knowing that he cannot be convicted if he hasn't explicitly denied the King's supremacy. A request for new books to read backfires, resulting in confiscation of the books he has, and Rich removes them from More's cell.
More is finally brought to trial, but refuses to speak about the marriage or why he will not take the Oath, and cites his silence in defense. Rich then testifies that when he came to take away More's books, More told him he would not take the Oath because the King could not be Head of the Church, thus committing treason by contradicting the Act of Supremacy. More is convicted of treason on the perjured testimony of Rich, who has been made Attorney General for Wales as a reward.
More says goodbye to his wife Alice (Wendy Hiller), Meg and Roper, urging them not to try and defend him. With nothing left to lose, More denounces the King's actions as illegal. As grounds, he cites the Biblical basis for the authority of the Papacy over Christendom. He further declares that the Church's immunity to State interference is guaranteed both in Magna Carta and in the King's own Coronation Oath. As the audience screams in protest, More is condemned to death by beheading. Before his execution on Tower Hill, More pardons the executioner, and says, "I die His Majesty's good servant, but God's first."

Tags: comedy, intrigue

Review:
Sir Thomas More (poignantly portrayed by Paul Scofield) struggles to be true to both his faith and his monarch (the lusty and hearty King Henry VIII superbly played by Robert Shaw).
One wonders at the degree of corruption in More's time that he should have been so highly regarded for his honesty -- and how he might have been regarded today.What Robert Bolt and Fred Zinnemann had wrought is absolutely brought to glorious life by the incomparable characterization of Sir Thomas More by the chronically underrated Paul Scofield.
Bringing superb support to the role are Nigel Davenport as More's close friend Norfolk, who is caught between the rock of his respect and concern for More and the hard place of his duty to (and fear of) Henry VIII; Leo McKern as the jovially sinister Thomas Cromwell, whose verbal jousts with More are virtual poetry from Bolt's pen; John Hurt as More's fair-weather friend Richard Rich; Dame Wendy Hiller as More's devoted but frustrated and misunderstanding wife; and the elegant Susannah York as his equally devoted and strong-minded daughter.
Two stand-out performances in relatively small but vital roles: Orson Welles, magnetic as the shrewdly pragmatic Cardinal Wolsey; and Robert Shaw, whose energetic portrayal of a young Henry VIII (before his corpulent days!) dominates the screen the two times he's on it.As with "The Lion in Winter," the remarkable scriptwriting is the driving force behind the story, but Scofield's dignified, restrained, but at the same time quietly forceful delivery are what give the writing its power.
The great quotes of the film ("Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the entire world...but for Wales?" "When you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?" etc.) are conveyed with either enormous gravity or poignancy by nothing more than the tone of Scofield's voice.I think that the dilemma at the heart of the tale and how men of power came to grips with it is artfully summed up in the dying words of Wolsey and, of course, More.
Moro(Paul Scofield, in the title role) was Henry VIII's(Robert Shaw) most able chancellor, he was a man of the Renaissance, lawyer , philosopher, writer(His most famous work was Utopia), and statesman.
The movie benefits from sensible and perceptible musical score by George Delerue.Brilliant direction by Fred Zinnemann who adapted perfectly Robert Bolt's screenplay.The story is remade in 1988, an inferior TV version directed and produced by Charlton Heston with John Gielgud as Cardenal Wolsey, again Vanessa Redgrave and Heston as Thomas Moro..
"A Man For All Seasons" presents us with an unfashionable character who refuses to surrender his conscience to the dictates of king and countrymen, resolute instead in his devotion to God and Roman Catholic Church."When statesmen lead their country without their conscience to guide them, it is short road to chaos," Thomas More tells his nominal boss, Cardinal Wolsey, when the latter unsuccessfully presses him to give his blind assent to King Henry VIII's request for a convenient divorce.
His tired eyes, the way he gently rebuffs would-be bribers around Hampton Court, his genuine professions of loyalty to Henry even as he disagrees with the matter of his divorce, all speak to one of those great gifts of movies, which is the ability to create a character so well-rounded and illuminating in his window on the human condition we find him more haunting company than the real people we meet in life.
It's a gift the movies seldom actually deliver on, so when someone like Scofield makes it happen, it is a object of gratitude as much as admiration.The script, adapted by Robert Bolt from his stage play, is very literate and careful to explain the facts of More's dilemma.
It moves too slowly and opaquely at times to qualify "A Man For All Seasons" as a true classic, that and a supporting cast full of one-note performances, though some are quite good (a few, however, are notably flat.) I especially liked Robert Shaw as a young and thin Henry VIII, full of vigor yet also a childish temperament and inconsistent mind.
What's more (no pun intended), Paul Scofield's performance is also the finest job any actor (of any gender) has ever turned in...at least in a motion picture.I've seen this film perhaps ten times (far fewer than I have seen "Star Wars," for example...or "Casablanca," my personal choice for Second Best), and each time I see it I marvel, not just at Scofield, but at the extraordinary performances of nearly everyone else in the movie--Leo McKern, Wendy Hiller, John Hurt, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Susannah York, and everyone else in the cast--as well as the magnificent dialogue and the sheer beauty of the film.It may be that someday I'll see a better movie (heaven knows I keep looking), but even though some have come close ("Lion in Winter," "Citizen Kane", e.g.), there's still a fair-sized gap between the best of them and the best of all, "A Man for All Seasons.".
The film, "A Man for All Seasons" is about a man who stood up for the traditional beliefs propagated by the church and his refusal to recant, somewhat in the same vein as Martin Luther but in the opposite direction.In the early 1500's, seven hundred years after Charlemagne used military might to secure the supremacy of the Pope in Western Europe, King Henry VIII of England decided to break with religious and political tradition.
The film is directed by the late great Fred Zinnemann, who has helmed such diverse classics as From here to Eternity and Day of the Jackal, brings a sense of immediacy to the screen, and thereby transcends some of the screenplays stage like origins.Paul Scofield plays the title role of Sir Thomas More.
The film's action therefore is confounded to a battle of wits between Sir Thomas Moore and his opponents at the Kings court.That might not sound like much in terms of excitement in the classical sense, but this is offset by the brilliant acting of the entire cast and especially Paul Scofield, who received an Academy Award for his outstanding work, as Sir Thomas Moore and his main nemesis Thomas Cromwell, played by Leo McKern, exchange arguments and counterarguments in a bid for victory, where only one of them may come out the winner.The sumptuous productions values must also be noted as they play a crucial part in the film's overall success.
In this film the man is Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) a well-liked and well-respected lawyer and the king is Henry VIII (Robert Shaw).
When I walked out of the theater I felt a change in my consciousness; Paul Scofield's performance was so brilliant he appeared to transcend acting, i.e., watching him play Saint Thomas More (or, Sir Thomas,if you prefer)was somehow like seeing More himself and his whole world get get caught up in a time-warp and play out their fates on the screen four centuries after their time on the planet.Wordsworth said that all of literature tries to answer the same question: "How should a man live?" When I left that theater in Australia almost four decades ago, that movie, 'A Man for All Seasons,' made such an impression on my thinking I learned how to TRY to live, and I've tried to carry on as such ever since: as close to the values espoused by Thomas More as possible..
The very concept of a person standing up for, much less dying for, their strongly held convictions seems like ancient history to us, more than forty years removed from when Paul Scofield played Sir Thomas More with such perfection.
Grounded in historical fact, this movie vividly tells the story of More's stand against the king's betrayal of the law of God. When the Catholic King Henry VIII sought to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, so he could instead marry Anne Boleyn, his will was opposed by the Roman papacy as being repugnant to the clear teachings of scripture.
In order to legitimise his claim to this new title, however, Henry needed the support of his members of state, not the least of which was Thomas More.In a brilliant performance, Paul Scofield depicts Thomas in his steadfast assertion of integrity and conscience toward the law of God. His chief accusers are repeatedly confounded at Thomas' evasion of their clever snares and manipulations, designed at first to gain More's cooperation but later to get him to incriminate himself.Films such as this are rare today; 'A Man for All Seasons' turns not on action sequences, battles past or present or on a love affair.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS has Sir Thomas More (PAUL SCOFIELD) pitted against Henry VIII (ROBERT SHAW) as he struggles with his conscience and religious convictions rather than give in to those who want him to support the King's desire to annul his barren marriage and wed another.He's up against all sorts of devious schemers, two of the most infamous extremely well played by LEO McKERN and JOHN HURT.
Paul Scofield is Sir Thomas More, "A Man for All Seasons," in a 1966 film directed by Fred Zinnemann and also starring Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Wendy Hiller, and Susanna York.
We seem to love these characters in films and books - More, Atticus Finch, Terry Malloy, and yet in the world outside of film, there are fewer and fewer exhibitions of such character.The rest of the cast is uniformly great, including Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey; Leo McKern, so beloved as Rumpole of the Bailey, is here the horrid Thomas Cromwell, who will stop at nothing to make More bend his way; John Hurt as the slimy Richard Rich; Wendy Hiller as More's suffering wife; and Susannah York as his beloved daughter Margaret.It's sometimes forgotten that Henry VIII was once a young, athletic, and very attractive man - I was reminded of it just last summer when I saw an absolute hunk play the young Henry.
When King Henry VIII's (Shaw) wife is unable to bear him the son he needs to guarantee a successor to the throne, he forges a battle of wits and principle with his friend and confidant, Sir Thomas Moore (Scofield) to agree to a divorce so that he may marry Anne Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave in a minor bit part).
Nigel Davenport, Wendy Hiller, Susannah York, Corin Redgrave, Yootha Joyce and Colin Blakely co-star in solid, notable performances, and Orson Welles has a brief cameo as Cardinal Wolsey nearing the end of his pious reign.I've read that Charlton Heston lobbied vigorously to play the lead here, and eventually did so some twenty years later in a TV version which I've also seen - it doesn't compare, nor does Heston despite his stature and ability (he might have made a better fist of King Henry VIII, but Shaw has that more than covered here).
Adapted from Robert Bolt's prize-winning play, "A Man for All Seasons" is the historical chronicle of an announced martyrdom: Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England in the 16th century, the man who stood up against the cancellation of King Henry VIII's first marriage, and refused to take the oath that recognized him the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
It features magnificent performances from Paul Scofield, embodying the moral strength of Thomas More with a subtle, quiet yet undeniable aura, and Robert Shaw literally inflamed the screen with the living paradox of Henry VIII's intimidating charisma and threatening joviality.But beyond all these cinematic qualities, it's for its inspirational lesson of integrity that I will never admire it enough.
The award winning film of Robert Bolt's play about the conflict between a petulant King Henry VIII and his principled Lord Chancellor Thomas Moore shows, with powerful simplicity, how even in 16th century England a man of honor had no place in the netherworld of politics.
With vivid color, sweeping scenes, well-constructed sets, elegant costumes and a score that befits the era, this film is certainly an excellent example of a period film.Paul Scofield is perfect as Sir Thomas; a thoughtful man of conviction who, as a former lawyer, can rationalize his way out of verbal traps with pristine dialogue.
In this version, the viewer is treated to a hosts of exceptional actors and actresses, among which are Leo McKern, Robert Shaw as King Henry VIII, Orson Welles, Susannah York, Nigel Davenport and John Hurt, who is superb as Richard Rich.
The casting of Robert Shaw as Henry VIII, the brief appearance of Orson Welles as Wolseley, Nigel Davenport as Norfolk, the incomparable Leo McKern as Cromwell as well as Susan George and Corin Redgrave as her husband is absolutely superb, you can't ever actually imagine anyone playing these parts better, I suppose this is a measure of the films greatness, it cannot be improved upon at all.To sum up, if you haven't seen this film then WATCH IT!.
Having married his dead brother's wife, in order to keep the country together, he is saying that the union was created in sin, and thus not true in the eyes of God. Being that the Pope himself was asked to allow that first marriage to occur, there was little chance he'd reverse his own decision by granting the divorce.In comes Sir Thomas More, a lawyer and old trusted friend to the King.
From its extraordinary acting to the crisp, engaging dialogue to the gorgeous cinematography and stirring period-faithful score, this movie brings the inner life of man into focus more sharply than any movie I have ever seen.And just as the movie centers on the exposition of More's religous virtue in a sea of Machiavellian context, we also get to view the other characters in different states of moral growth and awareness...Cromwell - the embodiment of the Machiavellian state and it's advancement of the pragmatic aesthetic over the spiritual one.Wolsey - symbolic of the decay of a clergy so long enterwined with governmental/state intrigue that it has moved diametrically away from God.Henry VIII - the youthful lusty, ambitious hope of an England recently emerging from the dynastic Tudor-York wars, who cannot reconcile his appetites with his soverignity.Norfolk - a noble straddling the vicious intersection of duty to king and title with admiration and understanding for his friend who stands directly against that duty.Roper - a snapshot of impetuous youth filled with the brimstone of moral righteousness, but absent the moderate intellect for correct behavior.Rich - the most interesting fully rendered character, after More, who is almost diametrically the opposite of those qualities found in Roper; in that he DOES poseess the intellect and introspection for a moral life but is too charmed by secular trappings to save himself from eternal ruin.
So far (this list is far from complete) he appears in: "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (Charles Laughton - and his Oscar.); "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" (Both television series and film starring Keith Mitchell".); "A Man For All Seasons" (Robert Shaw as the monarch.);"Anne of a Thousand Days (Richard Burton as the monarch.); "The Prince and the Pauper" (1936 version with Montague Love as the monarch.); "Crossed Swords" (The latest of the remakes of "The Prince and the Pauper" with Charleton Heston as the monarch.); "Young Bess" (Actually Jean Simmons as Elizabeth is star, but daddy is played by Laughton again.)His was a very involved and complex reign, with the development of the navy (Henry's hobby) and the English Reformation (Henry's sexual desires and his anger) at the center of much historic churning.
To see this film is to see some of the greatest actors of the 20th century on screen: Scofield, Welles, Shaw, Hiller, Hurt, Davenport, etc.While well made with authentic details as to costumes, customs and manner of living (as in housing and dining)in late medieval England, the film however, errs on the historical moral stand of Thomas More himself.
Directed by one of the all-time great film directors Fred Zinnemann & with a really brilliant screenplay written by Robert Bolt, "A Man For All Seasons" is just about as perfect a movie as is possible to make.
Paul Scofield gives a towering acting performance as Sir Thomas More with Robert Shaw (also extremely good) as Henry V111.
Plot has Scofield as Sir Thomas More, the man who refused to cede to the mighty machinations of King Henry VIII (Shaw).It's very much an actors movie, beautifully literate and costumed and photographed up to the nines.
Making 16th century England come to life, A Man for All Seasons was worthy of ever award the Academy awarded the 1966 film.A Man for All Seasons tells the story of King Henry VIII's (Robert Shaw) desire to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
Thus, "A Man For All Seasons" is really the story of Sir Thomas More's struggle to remain a loyal subject of King Henry VIII (played by Robert Shaw) without compromising his Catholic ideals.
"A Man for All Seasons" directed by Fred Zinnemann, 1966 is a splendid Oscar winning film about Sir Thomas More's refusal to help King Henry VIII break with the Catholic Church and form The Church of England.
This film version of Robert Bolt's stage play brings Paul Scofield to the screen to recreate the role of Sir Thomas More, and his downfall during the reign of Henry VIII (played with a certain amount of humour by Robert Shaw).
Enjoyed this great presentation of Sr. Thomas More played by Paul Scofield who opposed King Henry VIII marriage without a divorce being granted by the Roman Catholic church.
The film is about a man named Sir Thomas More who died because he believed in his principles on how to live a Catholic life, and unfortunately those principles clashed with the ideas of England's ruling figure, King Henry VIII.