The Private Life of Henry VIII

The Private Life of Henry VIII
Directed by	Alexander Korda
Written by	Lajos Bíró Arthur Wimperis
Produced by	Alexander Korda Ludvico Toeplitz
Starring	Charles Laughton Robert Donat Merle Oberon Elsa Lanchester
Cinematography	Georges Périnal
Edited by	Stephen Harrison
Music by	Kurt Schröder
Production company	London Film Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	17 August 1933 (1933-08-17)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£65,000
Box office	£750,000

The Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 British historical comedy film directed by Hungarian Director-Producer Alexander Korda and starring Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon and Elsa Lanchester. The film focuses on the reign of Henry VIII, King of England, and his various marriages. It was written by Lajos Bíró and Arthur Wimperis for London Film Productions. The film was a major international success, establishing Korda as a leading filmmaker and Laughton as a box office star.

Plot

The film takes place 20 years into King Henry's rule. In May 1536, immediately following the execution of his second wife, Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon), King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) marries Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie), who dies in childbirth eighteen months later. He then weds a German princess, Anne of Cleves (played by Laughton's real-life wife Elsa Lanchester). This marriage ends in divorce when Anne deliberately makes herself unattractive so she can be free to marry her sweetheart. (In an imaginative and high-spirited scene, Anne "wins her freedom" from Henry in a game of cards on their wedding night). After this divorce, Henry marries the beautiful and ambitious Lady Katherine Howard (Binnie Barnes). She has rejected love all her life in favour of ambition, but after her marriage, she falls in love with Henry's handsome courtier Thomas Culpeper (Robert Donat). Their liaison is discovered by Henry's advisers and the couple are executed. The weak and ageing Henry consoles himself with a final marriage to Catherine Parr (Everley Gregg), who survives her husband.

Cast

• Charles Laughton as Henry VIII
• Merle Oberon as Anne Boleyn
• Wendy Barrie as Jane Seymour
• Elsa Lanchester as Anne of Cleves
• Binnie Barnes as Catherine Howard
• Robert Donat as Thomas Culpeper
• Franklin Dyall as Thomas Cromwell
• Miles Mander as Wriothesley
• Laurence Hanray as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
• William Austin as The Duke of Cleves
• John Loder as Thomas Peynell
• Everley Gregg as Catherine Parr
• Lady Tree as The King's Nurse
• John Turnbull as Hans Holbein
• Frederick Culley as Duke of Norfolk
• William Heughan as Kingston
• Judy Kelly as Lady Rochford
• Hay Petrie as The King's Barber
• Wally Patch as Butcher
• Arthur Howard as Kitchen Helper
• Annie Esmond as Cook's Wife
• Claude Allister as Cornell
• Eileen O'Mahony as Jane Seymour's First Lady-in-Waiting

Production

Alexander Korda was looking for a film to star Charles Laughton and his wife, Elsa Lanchester. Several stories of the film's genesis were from a resemblance between a statue of Henry VIII and Laughton, a cabby singing the music hall song "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am", and a discussion on a set of one of his previous films. Originally, the story was to focus solely on the marriage of King Henry VIII and his fourth wife Anne of Cleves, but as the project grew, the story was re-modified to focus on five of Henry's six wives. Only the first wife, Catherine of Aragon, was omitted because they had no particular interest, described later as a "respectable lady," as denoted in the film.

Reception

Box office

It was hugely successful as a commercial film. It made Alexander Korda a premier figure in the film industry at the time; United Artists signed Korda for 16 films. It also advanced the careers of Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, and Merle Oberon. It was also Oberon's first major film role. Laughton would later reprise the same role in 1953 in the film Young Bess, opposite Jean Simmons as his daughter, Elizabeth.

It was the 12th most successful film at the US box office in 1933. The film premiered to record-breaking crowds at New York's Radio City Music Hall and London's Leicester Square Theatre one week later. It earned £500,000 on its first release.

The first non-Hollywood film to win an Academy Award. Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Henry. The film was the first British production to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Laughton was also voted Best Actor in a British film by readers of Film Weekly.

Bibliography

• Law, Jonathan (1997). Cassell Companion to Cinema. London: Market House Books Limited. ISBN 0-304-34938-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Magill, Frank (1980). Magill's Survey of Cinema. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc. ISBN 0-89356-225-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Korda, Michael (1980). Charmed Lives: The Fabulous World of the Korda Brothers. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-1318-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

See also

• Anne Boleyn in popular culture

External links

• The Private Life of Henry VIII at IMDb
• The Private Life of Henry VIII at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Private Life of Henry VIII is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• The Private Life of Henry VIII at AllMovie
• The Private Life of Henry VIII at the TCM Movie Database
• The Private Life of Henry VIII review at Old Movies