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Purely Joyful Movie!

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

So far removed are we from the Sixteenth Century that it's virtually impossible to comprehend the devotion to one's religion shown by Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) in "A Man For All Seasons". I had a cursory insight into the events surrounding More's stoic judgment and eventual demise way back in my high school days some half century ago, but to see the machinations that led to his execution is something else again. More made the decision, some would call it a mistake, to forego 'minimizing the inconvenience of things', and instead remained resolute in opposing the marriage of King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) to Anne Boleyn (Vaness Redgrave) upon securing a divorce from Lady Catherine. I wouldn't know what parts of this story might be called into question for historical accuracy, but as an overview of the circumstances surrounding Henry VIII, More, and functionaries like Cromwell (Leo McKern) and the Duke of Norfolk (Nigel Davenport) all seem to bear credibility. As a period drama and cinematic achievement, there aren't many finer films, and the only exception I would take with the production is something the movie actually earned an Oscar for, that of Best Costume Design for a Color Movie. Yes, it did have that, but if you take a discerning look at the clothing of players like King Henry III and the guests at his wedding celebration, all of it looked like it was brand new and made specifically for the picture and not part of a Sixteenth Century, every day wardrobe. A minor niggle, but it just struck me as odd.

A Man for all Seasons is a 1966 film directed by Fred Zinneman. It tells the story of the final years of Sir Thomas More. Like Elizabeth, the film was praised and won an impressive six Oscars. It was an adaptation of a play written by Robert Bolt and this is important to note, unlike certain adaptations that would come years later. A Man for all Seasons sticks much, much, closer to the actual history. In fact, only very minor details were changed as opposed to the almost fantasy-like take on Queen Elizabeth. While both are great films, A Man for all Seasons has a little more of my respect because of this. Now to the movie's story.The film centers on Sir Thomas More, played excellently by Paul Scofield, who refuses to submit in the face of ever increasing pressure. More is portrayed as a man who adhered to his religion no matter the consequence. Interestingly enough, the DVD I purchased had the tagline "His silence was more powerful than words". At first, I had not a clue what that meant. After watching the film, I see now that the meaning behind it is really rather tragic. In the face of threats and endless persecution from his peers and King Henry VIII himself, More refused to crucify himself by openly declaring his reasoning. It was a clever way of going about it, but also sad in that a man had to resort to such tactics in the first place.Of course , in the end it is not enough to save the main character from the king's wrath. Unfortunately, he goes the way of the martyr. In so doing, however, he became an impeccable symbol of virtue and strength. By refusing to allow politics to mold his beliefs, Sir Thomas More became a testament to integrity. The movie's theme is wrapped up cleverly inn its very title. Sir Thomas More truly was a Man for all Seasons.

Sir Thomas More was Lord Chancellor of England in the early 1500s. He opposed King Henry VIII's decision to break off from the Catholic Church and divorce his wife. This story gets dramatized in "A Man for All Seasons", showing the moral dilemma that More faced. Paul Scofield plays More as a man who simply did what he thought was right in the face of insurmountable odds.To my knowledge, this was the second time that Fred Zinnemann had directed a movie about a person who is forced to follow his conscience in a desperate situation (the other was "High Noon"). Both are examples of some of the best that cinema has to offer. It's a shame that Zinnemann isn't a more well known director; he also gave us "From Here to Eternity" and "Julia". Even if you don't know much about England's history, this is still a fascinating story. Along with Scofield, we get outstanding performances from Robert Shaw as Henry, Leo McKern (the cult leader in "Help!") as Cromwell, and Susannah York as More's wife Margaret.And yes, I think that John Hurt's character looks like Ringo Starr.

I think that one of the things that makes A Man for All Seasons work as well as it does is that you don't necessarily have to agree with Thomas More's decision in the 16th century to not take the oath (in other words acknowledge) that Henry the VIIIth was the new King of the Church of England. I think the goal of Robert Bolt as the writer and director Fred Zinnemann and Paul Scofield who played More in the film just have to make the audience believe that he *felt* that way, and sincerely. Certainly there's no fault in that arena. I wish actually that the film were longer (I've seen that the play was actually longer/even more "Brecthian" so to speak) to give a few more moments or scenes to characters who have practically walk-ons, but as it stands it's a very good film - maybe just shy of being a great one.When I say "crumpety" in my summary-line, what I mean to say is that this is very much a British film in capital letters. This is big British actors performing material/history where people speak about the most British ways - but actually it is more than that. In short, Thomas More was part of the King's council - he actually took over for a couple of years as the Chancellor (in history anyway, the film makes it seem shorter), but disapproved of More's intentions to divorce his wife to marry Anne Bolelyn. More than that, he held his tongue - the 16th century version of pleading the 5th today - and that in a way made it even more of a grievous offense, and not too soon after he resigned his chancellorship he was held on treason to the crown and later executed (until near the end he tried to not swear or not swear an oath either way).The film has dramatic impact just based on the ideal of what a man has to do in being principled; one may look at More early on - maybe for a large portion of the film - and see him as stubborn, even arrogant, and Scofield doesn't sugar-coat any of that in his performance. He makes More into one of those pricklish men on screen who you either like or you don't, and in a way if you don't like him he's still compelling to watch. And again you may not agree with him about his stead-fast connection to the Pope and the Roman Catholic order - that may be an argument to have outside of this film - but of course context is everything, and at this point in history it was controversial to break away and start a whole new 'reformation' (what we know as Protestantism today, indeed the 'Protest' in the word comes from Henry the 8th himself).The other thing that makes the movie work is the acting, and Scofield, I found, was even more involving and interesting the further his plight got worse. In the scenes early on it seems almost one note, almost like in any other movie he might be a supporting character, which may be part of the point (the 'supporting' player gets his day, it's not really the King's movie after all). But when his situation grows more dire, it's fascinating to see Scofield navigate More's point of view and how he has to keep it together, even (especially) in the face of his family being all 'WTF' on him. Orson Welles also pops up early on as the Cardinal Wolsey, who has a really excellent, practically show-stopping scene with Scofield. And then there's Robert Shaw, who makes a helluva entrance, has another holy-good-god-and-heaven type of scene with Scofield (in short, he looks like he's having the time of his life playing Henry VIII). Oh, and John Hurt is Rich, who is... basically, ultimately, the part of a traitor, but an interesting and curious one to watch - probably one of the more complex characters in the film morally speaking, at least from where he starts to where he ends up.If there were any qualms I had with the film it was that some of these supporting players, perhaps by design of the story and More's significance to it, were all too brief (especially Welles, I can't stress enough how he does so much in a performance just sitting down for 5 minutes), and that, here and there, the characters, like the prosecutor, are sort of one-dimensional, or not as fleshed out as others in the film, and it becomes a little repetitive with the message. But overall, A Man for All Seasons is a joy to watch, sometimes intense despite the veneer of the regal processions and decorum, and Zinnemann finds another character in More - like Cooper in High Noon - who's main struggle is sticking to his guns in the face of conformity.