Year of Release: 1933Country of Origin: UK
Director: Alexander Korda
Cast: Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon, Elsa Lanchester
Plot outline: Tells how the famed English monarch came to marry five more times after his divorce from his first wife (IMDb).
The Private Life of Henry VIII is a wickedly funny historical satire offering a portrait of one of England's most controversial historical figures. The movie slips into standard drama mode every now and then, but the vast majority of the time it has a sparkle of subversive cheekiness. It's incredibly lacking in terms of historical accuracy, but the sheer level of fun to be had here more than makes up for it. The movie skips the King's first marriage to Catherine of Aragon, actually opening at the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn. The tone of the movie is set quite swiftly as we see Anne pondering whether her hair will look good when her head is chopped off. There's an amusing exchange between a Frenchman and an Englishman on which country is better at performing elegant executions, and more amusing conversations between peasants about the execution. "Oh, that's a lovely new dress she has," a woman says. "I haven't gotten a new dress in a year." "Well, you'll get a new dress," her husband replies, "At your execution." :-) The highlight of the movie is undoubtedly the performance of the magnificent Charles Laughton in the title role. Laughton portrays the king as a jovial monster, thoroughly self-serving and selfish at every turn. As the tone of the movie is one of satire, Laughton's performance is primarily geared towards generating laughs rather than inspiring fear, but he does a magnificent job. It's a real marvel to see Laughton sitting at the dining hall chomping on mutton and guzzling wine, throwing bones and goblets behind him as he proceeds with messy glee. My favourite scene comes on the wedding night of Laughton's marriage to Anne of Cleaves, in which the King comes to the horrifying realization that his wife doesn't know what is supposed to happen on a wedding night. A bit of delicately hilarious conversation leads to what must surely be the most mutually satisfying divorce agreement of all time. The movie is only 94 minutes long and attempts to cover a lot of ground, breezing through the life of Henry VIII with energetic efficiency. It's a fun lark that I quite enjoyed. (CD)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
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