BBB.5
(out of 5)
King Henry VIII (Richard Burton) risks the dangerous anger of the Vatican when he forms the Church of England in order to obtain a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas). Motivating him is a romance between himself and Anne Boleyn (Genevieve Bujold), and he believes that marrying her will help him forget his stale, son-less marriage to Catherine and give him the male heir he so desires. The acting in this very plush drama is especially good, particularly in scenes where a young, vibrant Bujold gets to shine. The rest of it, however, is a glossy soap opera that doesn’t have the deft wit of The Private Lives of Henry VIII or the nasty bite that later Tudor England/Elizabethan dramas would feature that would make them so enjoyable.
Directed by Charles Jarrott
Screenplay by Bridget Boland, John Hale, adaptation by Richard Sokolove, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson
Cinematography by Arthur Ibbetson
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Music by Georges Delerue
Production Design by Maurice Carter
Costume Design by Margaret Furse
Film Editing by Richard Marden
