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IMDbPro

A Man for All Seasons

  • 19661966
  • GG
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
35K
YOUR RATING
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Official Trailer
Play trailer3:21
4 Videos
71 Photos
BiographyDramaHistory
The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.The story of Sir Thomas More, who stood up to King Henry VIII when the King rejected the Roman Catholic Church to obtain a divorce and remarry.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
35K
YOUR RATING
    • Fred Zinnemann
    • Robert Bolt(from the play by)
  • Stars
    • Paul Scofield
    • Wendy Hiller
    • Robert Shaw
    • Fred Zinnemann
    • Robert Bolt(from the play by)
  • Stars
    • Paul Scofield
    • Wendy Hiller
    • Robert Shaw
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 211User reviews
    • 82Critic reviews
    • 72Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 6 Oscars

    Videos4

    A Man for All Seasons
    Trailer 3:21
    Watch A Man for All Seasons
    A Man for All Seasons
    Trailer 1:21
    Watch A Man for All Seasons
    A Man For All Seasons
    Trailer 3:21
    Watch A Man For All Seasons
    A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (New and Exclusive Masters of Cinema) Trailer
    Trailer 1:19
    Watch A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (New and Exclusive Masters of Cinema) Trailer

    Photos71

    Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Wendy Hiller in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Nigel Davenport in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Susannah York in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Susannah York in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Philip Brack in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Robert Shaw, Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, and Susannah York in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield and Nigel Davenport in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
    Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, and Susannah York in A Man for All Seasons (1966)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Paul Scofield
    Paul Scofield
    • Sir Thomas More
    Wendy Hiller
    Wendy Hiller
    • Alice More
    Robert Shaw
    Robert Shaw
    • King Henry VIII
    Leo McKern
    Leo McKern
    • Thomas Cromwell
    Orson Welles
    Orson Welles
    • Cardinal Wolsey
    Susannah York
    Susannah York
    • Margaret More
    Nigel Davenport
    Nigel Davenport
    • Duke of Norfolk
    John Hurt
    John Hurt
    • Richard Rich
    Corin Redgrave
    Corin Redgrave
    • William Roper
    Colin Blakely
    Colin Blakely
    • Matthew
    Cyril Luckham
    Cyril Luckham
    • Archbishop Cranmer
    Jack Gwillim
    Jack Gwillim
    • Chief Justice
    Thomas Heathcote
    Thomas Heathcote
    • Boatman
    Yootha Joyce
    Yootha Joyce
    • Averil Machin
    Anthony Nicholls
    Anthony Nicholls
    • King's Representative
    John Nettleton
    John Nettleton
    • Jailer
    Eira Heath
    • Matthew's Wife
    Molly Urquhart
    • Maid
      • Fred Zinnemann
      • Robert Bolt(from the play by) (screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Producer and director Fred Zinnemann, as quoted in his autobiography, calls this the easiest movie he ever made, thanks to the extraordinary caliber of the crew, and the actors and actresses, and the way they worked together.
    • Goofs
      Lord Chancellor Wolsey did not die in office; he was removed from the office of Lord Chancellor by Henry (because of his displeasure at Wolsey's failure to secure a divorce from Catherine), and died more than a year after Sir Thomas More became Lord Chancellor. Wolsey did, however, remain Archbishop of York.
    • Quotes

      William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

      Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

      William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

      Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

    • Connections
      Featured in Precious Images (1986)

    User reviews211

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    What Profit In Selling One's Soul?
    Fred Zinnemann's one of our great forgotten directors, amazing considering that he was nominated for eight directing Oscars in four decades, winning two. Today's critics and auteurs don't champion him; you won't read much about him in "Entertainment Weekly." For Zinnemann, the script was the thing, what he worked from, and his greatest genius may have been in choosing the right scripts and knowing how to do them justice.

    "From Here To Eternity" may well be Zinnemann at his highest tide, though IMDb voters seem to prefer "High Noon." Then there's "A Man For All Seasons," the film of the year in 1966, though its hard to imagine a film that represents the ethos of the 1960s less. "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. Perhaps out of pique, Wolsey makes sure More inherits his office of Counselor of the Realm, where More's sterling convictions are really put to the test.

    More is a marvel of subtleties, tensile steel covered in a velvet glove, a mild-mannered lion trying at every turn to do well even though his political savvy knows how dangerous that can be. As a lawyer, More knows the angles, yet he is no sharpie. He respects the law too much for that. Rather, he sees in law the only hope for man's goodness in a fallen world. "I'd give the Devil benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake," he explains.

    Paul Scofield plays More in such a way as to make us not only admire him but identify with him, and come to value both his humanness and his spirituality. 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. He demands More not oppose his marriage to Anne Boleyn, then decides he must have either More's outright assent or else his head. There's no bargaining with such a man. Perhaps More was better off standing on his principals as he did than climbing into bed with homicidal Henry. Just ask Anne.

    Zinnemann presents some interesting visual images in "A Man For All Seasons," letting the period detail inform the story without overwhelming it. Several times, such as during the opening credits, inside More's cell at the Tower of London, and during More's trial, the camera shoots through narrow openings surrounded by high stone walls, a reminder not only of More's own trapped situation but the human condition. Aspirations of divinity may be unfashionable, even dangerous to one's health, but they present mankind with its one hope for overcoming its base nature, the dead-end character of temporality. "A Man For All Seasons" is a rallying cry for just such an approach to life, and remains undeniably effective in its artful, artless way.
    helpful•76
    10
    • slokes
    • Apr 3, 2005

    FAQ2

    • Is 'A Man for All Seasons' historically accurate?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 16, 1966 (United States)
      • United Kingdom
      • English
      • Latin
      • Spanish
      • French
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Studley Priory, Horton Hill, Horton-cum-Studley, Oxfordshire, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Highland Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 2 hours

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