Great lines but Sir Thomas wasn't content to remain a great lawyer. An ambitious man telling someone else to restrain their own ambition is inviting trouble.
Regrettably I discovered this story in high school but was too dumb to read it. It is one of my all time favourite films and I use it to teach children about conviction and integrity under pressure from others.
A Man for All Seasons is true British masterpiece full of wonderful scenes of which this one is amongst the best. Paul Schofield is absolutely magnificent as Thomas More.
This is my favorite scene alongside the trial. The more I watch it, the more I can see the traces of their friendship -- More's struggle before playing "bad cop" to extinguish Norfolk's sympathy for him, Norfolk hesitating long enough to let More duck his wide punch. And the diatribe cuts too deep to be just rhetoric -- More must be giving voice to some of his less charitable, but still true thoughts about the "nobility of England" and his own motives. He would've still been right if he had verbally thrashed his enemies and lukewarm friends like this the whole movie, but with God's grace he resisted the urge and was gentle and winsome instead, until extremity made harsh words necessary. This scene is loaded with subtext, the watcher has to keep up (and maybe review it a few times too).
Norfolk loved Thomas to the end. Even took delight at his clever answers to clumsy questions by Cromwell. There is not a bad scene in this movie. It could have gone for hours more and been worth the time
I can watch this movie forever. One of the greatest political films ever. Great scene. Your pupils, family and friends, God. Not a bad public that. Brilliant. Instead he sold his soul for Wales.
Thomas More had arrested, ordered the torturing and imprisoned in his own basement anyone who sold Bibles or criticized the papacy. He was a religious fanatic who said "The smell of heretics' burning flesh is sweetness in the nostrils of God." His portrayal as a kind humanist is one of the worst historical distortions ever to deface the cinema. Thanks to vatican funding and rewriting of history. Read "Book of Fire" by Brian Moynahan, about More's destruction of William Tyndale, who followed Christ's call and first translated His word into English.
The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. Eliot, George
A brilliant film which has stood the test of time. A stellar cast of actors and eloquent dialogue, depicting a monumental period of English history. On this subject, I have just rewatched the superb BBC 6-part drama Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel’s trilogy. Another example of compelling and meticulously crafted filming and narrative. The focus is Thomas Cromwell and his relationship with More and the King. Mark Rylance’s Cromwell is as mesmerising as Paul Schofield’s More. Both are seen in a very different light.
I'm Catholic, but I sympathize with Luther. The Church did indeed need reforming badly (and I can't believe More wasn't aware of that), and Luther tried hard to make his complaints and concerns heard, but the Pope ignored him. I often imagine that at this point the Church was like a house on fire, burning with corruption. Sir Thomas More believed the flames could still be put out and the house restored to its former glory. Martin Luther believed the house had burned too much to be saved, and the only thing left to do was to abandon it and build a new one. That's probably a gross simplification on my part, of course.
I thought Thomas More was rather selfish. Full of himself and couldn’t take criticism. Do all those schools named after him realise they’re named after a traitor?
"The nobility of England would have snored through the Sermon on the Mount, but you'll labor like scholars over a bull-dog's pedigree". This is my favorite line from this movie. It still rings true in spirit about the oligarchs of today.
More asks if Roper could stand upright in the winds that would blow after all the laws benefitting the Devil had been cut down. Later in the movie, More walks home in gale-force winds. If you noticed that, good for you.
My daughter is a barrister, and I've made her watch this scene many times. Everyone, including the devil, is entitled to the full benefit of law. If we deny it to one, we eventually deny it to all.
