A Man For All Seasons: a motion picture for all time! Winner of six Academy Awards - including 1966 Best Picture - A Man For All Seasons stars Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More, a respected English statesman whose steadfast refusal to recognise King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn cost him his head. Featuring an all-star supporting cast - Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles, Susannah York and Vanessa Redgrave - and directed by two-time Oscar-winner Fred Zinnemann, Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons is "a picture that inspires admiration, courage and thought." - The New York Times.
Directed by
Fred Zinnemann
Written by
Robert Bolt (play) Robert Bolt (screenplay)
Starring
Paul Scofield (Sir Thomas More); Wendy Hiller (Alice More); Leo McKern (Thomas Cromwell); Robert Shaw (King Henry VIII); Orson Welles (Cardinal Wolsey); Susannah York (Margaret More); Nigel Davenport (The Duke of Norfolk); John Hurt (Richard Rich); Corin Redgrave (William Roper (the Younger)); Colin Blakely (Matthew); Cyril Luckham (Archbishop Cranmer); Jack Gwillim (Chief Justice); Thomas Heathcote (Boatman); Yootha Joyce (Averil Machin); Anthony Nicholls (King's Representative). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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An Inspirational Man and an Inspirational Film
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
It's over 40 years since this film was made and in that time it has lost none of its appeal - if anything, in these times when Christianity appears to be under threat from so many sides of society, the film takes on added significance. For me, beyond the inspirational story of St Thomas More, who was willing to Martyr himself for his devotion to the truth, two things stand out about this production: first of all the excellent acting by Paul Scofield, who truly deserved his best leading actor Oscar. There are few actors around today that I can think would be capable of putting in such a performance as Scofield's. And second of all, the faithfulness of the production itself. I can't help but think that these days producers would even find a way somehow to take God out of the story of a Catholic Martyr and replace it with some vague notion of the protagonist just being a person of strong principles, or something equally vague. Suffice to say, this film is strongly inspiring, both to historians and to the Catholic faithful alike. In times like these A Man for All Seasons is a breath of fresh air and a reminder of the sacrifice so many have made for us, and that if called to do so, we too are asked to make for the love of God and all of His creations.
