Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

Director:

Charles Jarrott

Writers:

Maxwell Anderson (play)
Bridget Boland (writer)

Release Date:

18 December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

He was King. She was barely 18. And in their thousand days they played out the most passionate and shocking love story in history!

Plot:

Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Katharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.

Plot Keywords:

Heir | Queen | England | King | Male Heirs

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 5 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Richard Burton	...	King Henry VIII
Geneviève Bujold	...	Anne Boleyn
Irene Papas	...	Queen Katherine of Aragon
Anthony Quayle	...	Cardinal Wolsey
John Colicos	...	Thomas Cromwell
Michael Hordern	...	Count Thomas Boleyn
Katharine Blake	...	Elizabeth Boleyn
Valerie Gearon	...	Mary Boleyn
Michael Johnson	...	George Boleyn
Peter Jeffrey	...	Duke of Norfolk
Joseph O'Conor	...	Bishop Fisher
William Squire	...	Thomas More
Esmond Knight	...	Kingston
Nora Swinburne	...	Lady Kingston
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Mendoza

Also Known As:

Anne of a Thousand Days

Runtime:

145 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1988) | USA:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:M (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hal Wallis Productions

Trivia:

Although "Anne of the Thousand Days" opened on Broadway in 1948, it had to wait until 1969 to be filmed, due to its frank discussions of adultery, illegitimacy, and incest, on which the storyline relies heavily. The old censorship code still existed in the 1940s and 1950s, and would not have allowed a play in which these subjects were discussed to be filmed, no matter how tastefully.

Goofs:

Continuity: Toward the end of the film, Anne uses wooden markers of one-hundred each to count her days as queen. However, she counts out only 9 markers, or only 900 days.

Quotes:

Anne: But Elizabeth is yours. Watch her as she grows; she's yours. She's a Tudor! Get yourself a son off of that sweet, pale girl if you can - and hope that he will live! But Elizabeth shall reign after you! Yes, Elizabeth - child of Anne the Whore and Henry the Blood-Stained Lecher - shall be Queen...

Movie Connections:

Version of Anna Boleyn (1920)

A Classic! Worth Watching for Performance of Geneviève Bujold!

The second of the six wives of Henry VIII and the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn is a tragic footnote to the lives of these two famous Tudor monarchs from English history.

"Anne of the Thousand Days" gives Anne Boleyn the belated respect she deserves due to the sparkling performance of the actress Geneviève Bujold. The screenplay draws upon the successful 1947 stage play by Maxwell Anderson, who also wrote plays on the lives of Elizabeth I and Mary of Scotland. But this is his most famous historical drama, and it is unfortunate that Anderson did not live to see this fine film adaptation.

The film covers major events and figures from the early Tudor age, including Henry's controversial divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the rise and fall of Cardinal Wolsey, the courageous ethical stance taken by Sir Thomas More in opposing the will of the king, and the unscrupulous Thomas Boleyn, who played the role of pimp and go-between in the trysts with his daughters and the king.

While the movie proceeds at a deliberate pace in recounting the various subplots, it is the figure of Anne Boleyn who ties together the different plot strands related to the king's "Great Matter." Bujold's multi-layered performance reveals an Anne Boleyn with heroic virtues and deep ethical concerns.

The film takes license with a non-historical scene where Anne confronts Henry after she has been convicted of treason, adultery, and incest and is imprisoned in the Tower of London. The deluded Henry has come to believe that he was "bewitched" by an enchanted Anne, and the scene in the Tower delivers a thundering dramatic climax to the film.

Bujold's performance is all the more remarkable as she is playing opposite one of the great actors of the previous century in Richard Burton. Not only does Bujold's Anne set Burton's Henry straight, but she takes a stand on matters of conscience from which we can still learn today. Geneviève Bujold and this dynamic scene in the Tower of London alone make "Anne of the Thousand Days" a classic.