A Man for All Seasons

This is a GREAT historical movie!!

A man for all Seasons is a thoughtful movie backed with cast of great acting. The writing is such that there is no real battle for the high ground. Sir Thomas is alone in holding moral standing. His opposition is not going to announce that they are without ideals, but their performances tells you all you need to know about motives and self-image.As such I was first taken by the performances of the villains. Orson Wells as the dying, world wise and world weary Cardinal Wolsey instantly establishes himself as a man who has compromised everything and is too tired to fake otherwise. Camera angles and lighting contribute in making him appear as reptilian and dangerous. This camera angle for his death scene is perhaps too over done, but is the only such failure, if failure it be.Leo McKern as Cromwell, an over reaching, overly confident "administrator" is clearly Moore's inferior in everything except his willingness to do what it takes to gain personal power or preference. McKern handles the exercise of bureaucratic power as naturally as he will later mock that power as Rumpole of the Bailey.Perhaps the weakest performance is that of Robert Shaw as King Henry VIII. Between the writing and the directing, the King is played as a distracted artist, what we would now call a victim of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, rather than an otherwise respected King with a very real awareness of the violence his country had suffered during the War of the Roses. Hence is was for him a matter of national priority to insure his dynastic line.Against these forces we have a loyal Lady Alice Moore ably played by Wendy Hiller, a no-nonsense, love her man even as you challenge him wife. A young Susannah York plays the well-educated and clever daughter, Margret.There are a few others, but the point is that the movie is Thomas Moore versus all comers.Paul Scofield at once looks the part and plays his man. The movie pivots around this portrayal and Scofield delivers. Moore is a lawyer. His defense is a lawyer's defense. He will make no public statement, not even to his wife on the subject of his king's decision to become head of the Church of England and Henry's decision to divorce his wife in favor of Ann Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave, only just barely present but played as a sensual if somewhat surprised mistress turned Queen).It is the fate of Sir Thomas to be depend on a technicality of the law, before a court that has been engineered to ignore it. There is no surprise ending. You see the ending before you see the movie. Your motive for seeing the movie is not to learn what is going to happen, but to judge for yourself the integrity of the man versus the cruelty of the system. This brings us to the most deliberate weakness of the movie. Why does the King choose to continue his vendetta against this man? If you listen carefully to the features added to the movie, you will have an idea. If you only watch the movie the need to go after Sir Thomas even after years (over 10) have passed in never discussed.Pay attention to the directing and camera work. Every return to Moore's estate is a return to the light. Every arrival or departure from London is in the dark. King Henry is afforded light, but he is not portrayed as a force or a player. Things are done in his name, but he is seen as too light to carry any serious contribution to the movie. Cromwell, Wolsey, the Knighted Sir Richard Rich are creatures of the dark. The Duke of Norfolk, being a man who comprehends little and represents less , moves between light and dark while carrying his own personal confusions.Granting the several weaknesses of A Man for all Season -most are deliberate, being tied to the purposes of the author and the time limits of the media - this is a 5 star performance. I say performance rather than movie because it is the acting, along with costuming and sets and camera work that make this a 5 star thinking person's movie.

One for all people to watch and learn from.

An absolute classic.

Here we have the movie version of the play, "A Man for All Seasons." It is worth purchasing and watching with "few" distractions. You want to catch the dialogue and the expressions. The plot is based on the true story of Saint Thomas More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England, who refused to sign a letter asking the Pope to annul King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and resigned rather than take an Oath of Supremacy declaring the King the Supreme Head of the Church of England. More is portrayed as a man of principle, motivated by his devout Roman Catholic faith.The story begins with the then Cardinal Wolsey calling Thomas from his home to the King's palace one evening. He was once more appealing to him for his support in obtaining a divorce from the Pope so that the King could marry Anne Boleyn. Simply put, Sir Thomas, knowing that Church teaching would not support this and the Pope would not grant it, puts his faith on the line and responds, "No, Your Grace, I'm not going to help you."Wolsey bitterly suggests that if only More could see "facts flat on" without his "horrible moral squint", he "might have made a statesman." More responds, "I think that when statesmen forsake their own private consciences for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos."It's not difficult to glean from this and recognize the age in which we are living. We live in a similar political climate. As our spiritual leader, Pope Benedict XVI dealt with this issue in 2008, while addressing the United States Bishops. He said that without God or religion having practical relevance for everyday life and our lives as Christians in particular, different influential persons or segments of our society can respond that, "There are no absolute truths!" Something supported by our faith or the Natural Law can be refuted as being "Our truth, not theirs." Individuals can protest, "This may be true for you, but it is not for me." This comes frequently with tremendous pressure to conform to public opinion. With this mindset, and in the hands of our politicians and civic leaders, "forsaking their own private consciences for the sake of their public duties," our pluralistic society (respected by the Pope) embarks to journey along the way and in the direction that Saint Thomas More claimed they would be, "leading their country by a short route to chaos." We see this unfold with a tremendous buildup that keeps us immersed as the resultant outcome of the plot unfurls, which is great even if we know the story.I suppose we can ignore the message being taught here and, like Pilate, and infer, "What is truth?" I prefer to think that most will benefit from the opposite response, seeing that: this movie has much to teach us. It can show us where our political climate can lead us, the consequences, and what we need to do to avoid these.Should you want more of More et al after this, there is also the book  The Life of Thomas More . You might also enjoy the movie  Romero , a man made from a mold similar to Sir Thomas More's.Although I watch this on DVD, I recently saw that I still have my old VHS format too. That’s how long I’ve been watching this.

Not only is this a wonderful production, with superb acting, screenplay, cinematography, and soundtrack; but it is riveting to watch and to realise this is a famous and fascinating part of English history. Absolutely unforgettable.

It’s a wonderful film with fine actors and if you like your Tudor history then it’s worth watching

I ONLY REQUIRE THE "BLUE-RAY"Z A THERE FOR I'M RETURNING THIS ITEM AND HOPE THAT I WILL RECEIVE THE BLUE-RAY ITEM ONLY

I am obsessed with Robert Bolt. An amazing playwright and screenwriter, and you can't fault any of these performances.

Liked very much