ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS: HISTORICAL HORNDOG

 

I can remember when this movie was released years ago in spite of the fact I was only 12 at the time. It was one of those movies that so many people talked about and discussions of awards for the movie ran rampant. Of course this was at a time when awards shows weren’t as plentiful as old pennies and actually meant more than they do these days. I never saw the film at the time and always seemed to miss it when it aired on regular TV, now called antenna TV. So I was interested to see what it was like finally.

The movie tells the story of King Henry the VIII (Richard Burton) and his passion for a young woman in his court, Anne Boleyn (Genevieve Bujold).  At the time he is married to Catherine of Aragorn (Irene Pappas) who has proven to be useless to the king since she hasn’t provided him with a male heir to succeed him on the throne when he passes. With little patience and a lustful eye for any woman who catches his eye, Henry takes notice of Anne, the sister of Mary who he is having an affair with.

Just returned from France she is engaged to the son of the Earl of Northumberland. But the King will not be refused and has his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Woolsey (Anthony Quayle) to break up the engagement. When Anne learns she goes into a fury and spurns the advances of Henry. Undeterred he forces her to accompany him to the royal court. From there a back and forth battle of wills transpires between the two.

Henry wants her to be his mistress and bear him the child he needs. She refuses to give birth to an illegitimate child. The one thing standing in his way is his wife, Catherine. But even more problematic for the King is the Pope who refuses to give them a divorce. The end result of this religious battle was the break with Rome and the boosting of the Church of England separate from the Catholic church of Rome.

While that historical incident might be enough to garner a movie this one is more focused on Anne and Henry. As she gains more favor with the King he does more of her bidding, including the removal of Woolsey and later the execution of Thomas More. What she doesn’t realize is that in so doing she opens the door for Thomas Cromwell to take his place, a man who will lead to her downfall.

Divorce decreed and Anne and Henry married it falls in disfavor from his subjects. Anne bears her first child for Henry and it’s a girl. A second child is stillborn and Henry’s infatuation with Anne dissolves, a new woman catching his eye and the hopes of bearing him the son he desires. But what to do of Anne?

While I was glad to finally get to see this film I was torn between enjoying it and dealing with the slow pacing of the film. This is one of those movies that actors no doubt would love as it gives them plenty of dialogue to toss back and forth and to play with. But it becomes a bit tedious at times. Not only that with so many names in common it can be confusing as well. Still all in all it was interesting to watch.

Burton is at his blustering best here with a booming voice and stage presence that commands attention. Bujold, who had only been in films for 6 years and had yet to have a lead role to compare to this one, is fantastic in the role of Anne, moving from joyous young girl to vengeful woman to obvious martyr in the one film. The supporting actors around both do a great job of filling out the story and helping propel it forward.

I wanted to like the movie more but honestly I can’t find myself wanting to revisit it again and again like I have many other movies. Then again in recently watching A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (which tells much of the same story from the point of view of Thomas More) I found that it too was slow moving and heavy handed on the dialogue end. Still both are worth watching for the historical aspects (which like most films tend to play loose with facts) and for the performance values of the actors involved.

Twilight Time continues to show how much respect they have for releases like this one, offering it in hi definition blu-ray format. Extras are limited here with just an isolated music track and the original theatrical trailer. As with all Twilight Time releases it is limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested pick one up as soon as possible.
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