A Man For All Seasons – Special Edition (DVD-Video)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: B-

 

 

Robert Bolt was at his prolific peak when he wrote Lawrence Of Arabia and continued to pen some strong scripts that led to more hit films.  Fred Zinnemann’s A Man For All Seasons (1966) managed to repeat the critical success of Lawrence and led to another Best Picture Oscar penned by Bolt.  Though not as good a film, the tale of the rise and fall of Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) has become timelier than ever.

 

He was the Roman Catholic Chancellor to England and put into the ugly position of no less than King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) requesting an annulment so he could have a legitimate marriage to his mistress wanting to separate and divorce his wife without penalty or any hint of irrespectability.  The idea that someone of high power, privilege and position thinking “the rules” do not apply to them is more familiar than ever, royalty, presidency and otherwise.

 

More was enough of a man of The Church and God not to agree to this and it led to a few profound showdowns.  One is of The British Empire thinking they are above or more significant that The Vatican.  Another is of the do as I say, not as I do variety.  Then there is that of More versus the King and playing the ultimate price for it, even though he is passive aggressive about the whole thing.

 

The film has always had a sense of dread and doom since it first surfaced and the feel of the film is constantly one of the British Empire as gilded cage, even for it ruler, who is never totally happy with anything.  One scene where Henry thinks he sees More in a pub has his joy hushed with silence as no one tells him More is not there as they are afraid they may be killed or hunted down for no good reason.

 

Then there is the idea of two oppressive forces in a far from free or advanced world.  More is at least a man about principle, though the Hollywood witchhunts in the 1950s for “Communists” likely played a part in the Academy’s embracing of the film at the time, it is still pretty good for a pre-Barry Lyndon costume epic making the big statement.  Scofield and Shaw are very effective in their performances, backed by a great supporting cast including Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Susannah York, John Hurt, Nigel Davenport, Colin Blakely, Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey and Vanessa Redgrave as Anne Boleyn.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image is a little soft, but the color and solid look of the picture “Remastered in High Definition” offsets the flaws, though it is going to take Blu-ray to really do justice to the amazing cinematography by Ted Moore, B.S.C., on his long break form the James Bond films.  The film was issued at the time in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor and though this DVD does not always show that, the richness beyond the costumes and production design is undeniable.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix does its best to boost the original theatrical monophonic sound, but it is better than the Dolby 2.0 and Georges Delerue’s score can never be clear enough.

 

A featurette on More and two trailers are the only extras, but a special edition of such a key Columbia title deserves more.  Maybe trailers, press materials and featurettes on the film itself would be a good idea for the Blu-ray, plus a few interviews or historical audio commentary would not hurt.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo