The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933)

Director:

Alexander Korda

Writers:

Lajos Biró (story) and
Lajos Biró (dialogue)

Release Date:

21 September 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Tagline:

HE GAVE HIS WIVES A PAIN IN THE NECK And did his necking with an axe. Henry, the Eighth Wonder of the World! And this picture...the wonder of all time!

Plot:

Tells how King Henry VIII came to marry five more times after his divorce from his first wife.

Plot Keywords:

King Henry VIII | Anne Boleyn | 1530s | Royalty | 1540s

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Charles Laughton	...	King Henry VIII
Robert Donat	...	Thomas Culpeper
Franklin Dyall	...	Thomas Cromwell
Miles Mander	...	Wriothesley
Laurence Hanray	...	Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (as Lawrence Hanray)
William Austin	...	Duke of Cleves
John Loder	...	Thomas Peynell
Claud Allister	...	Cornell (as Claude Allister)
Gibb McLaughlin	...	The French executioner
Sam Livesey	...	The English executioner
Merle Oberon	...	Anne Boleyn
Wendy Barrie	...	Jane Seymour
Elsa Lanchester	...	Anne of Cleves
Binnie Barnes	...	Katherine Howard
Everley Gregg	...	Katherine Parr

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A

Filming Locations:

British and Dominions Studios, Elstree, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

London Film Productions

Trivia:

While he was on a tour of Europe, huge American professional wrestler Man Mountain Dean was hired to be Charles Laughton's uncredited stunt double. This would be the first of Dean's appearances in motion pictures.

Quotes:

[Henry's fourth wedding night]
King Henry VIII: My wife? Huh... not yet.
Anne of Cleves: Poor mother told me... first he says the marriage is no good, and then he cuts off the head with an ax chopper!
King Henry VIII: That is an exaggeration, madam.
Anne of Cleves: Then why do you say I am not yet your wife?
King Henry VIII: Well, madam, uh, a marriage ceremony doesn't make us one.
Anne of Cleves: Mmm?
[shows her ring]
King Henry VIII: Oh, yes, yes, yes, 's all right, but you, uh, have to, umm, I have to...
Anne of Cleves: What?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Public Life of Henry the Ninth (1935)

good film

Charles Laughton won an oscar for playing Henry VIII and the movie stars out with the beheading of his second wife. His third wife dies during childbirth and his fourth wife, played by Elsa Lancaster, saves her own skin by agreeing to divorce him. His fifth wife is also beheaded for cheating on him with Robert Donat, and it doesn't show what happens to his sixth wife. They don't even mention his first wife expect at the start where they say they were divorced. Charles Laughton also played Henry VIII 20 years later in Young Bess but he wasn't the main star there, Jean Simmons was. Charles Laughton is great as the king and so is Elsa Lancaster, his fourth wife. I don't know how accurate this film is but i don't care.