Having seen this performance by Welles I am really sad and sorry he did not get the part in ' The Godfather ' ...... He would have played the part of a mafia boss brilliantly . He really was a genius .
This was my very first introduction to Messrs. More, Wolsey, Cromwell and in the 60+ years since, how many more interpretations have we seen of this mad story? And it just remains a top story waiting for each generation's top acting talents.
The writing for this film and play was of the highest order. More gives two speeches, one on the purpose of law and one on God's intention for creation which are the best accounts I have heard.
I found those two speeches: Listen, Meg. God made the angels to show Him splendour. As He made animals for innocence and plants for their simplicity. But Man He made to serve Him wittily, in the tangle of his mind. Cut a road through the law to get after the Devil? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned on you... where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted with laws from coast to coast. Man's laws, not God's, and if you cut them down do you really think you could stand upright in the wind that would blow then?
One of my favorite movies. My one issue with it is simply that it strays a bit too much from Bolt's original for my liking. I love reading the play as much as I do watching it, so it's a bit frustrating when a part I've rehearsed so much in my head then fails to show up. The Charlton Heston version is better in that respect, but it faces a different problem. Heston does a good job, but for this essentially English work, Heston is no Scofield.
There's a lot to admire about Sir Thomas, but a lot to condemn as well. There are multiple accounts of him torturing heretics and while he denied those accusations, his involvement in and support for the burning or heretics is confirmed by his own words. I know that judging the actions of 500 years ago by today's values is unfair, but to suggest that he is perhaps the best Englishman "of all times" is perhaps stretching it a bit too far. In my opinion.
...and all because of the ignorance arrogance of the king. I know a country in this world where the supreme court in that land that just made the position of the president king-like, ignoring established law and constitution.
All authentically cast..... great film and actors... unlike today's somewhat comedic castings and scripts for so-called historical dramas....how we've fallen..!!!!!!!
I saw the play from which the film is based, in the Savoy Theatre, London. It starred Charlton Heston as More, and Roy Kinnear as 'the common man' (a part that hardly features in the film). Heston was, unfortunately, RUBBISH. He should never have attempted live acting on stage.
This has always been one of best films of all time. I well remember being bored to death when taken to see it by my school, and didn't see it again till my 40s. When I saw it after so long, it was a profound experience. Scofield has to be one of the greatest actors ever, in the UK.
At 7:52, there's a look on Thomas More's face when he finally realizes he's dealing with a crazy person. Priceless. Of course, this new realization did not save him from the gallows.
More was part of a campaign to exterminate heretics and he was involved and in some cases deeply involved in burning men to death. Historians debate how zealous he was or was he "doing his duty". Probably a combination. Not quite the saint the movie portrays him to be.
A top ten film for me, script, actors and direction all wonderful. My only criticism, other than the short time that Orson Welles was on screen (unavoidably due to the death of his character) is that, as others have commented here, the portrayal of Sir Thomas More fails to acknowledge in any way his campaign against Bibles printed in English or his approval of burning Protestants at the stake 🇬🇧
Enrique VIII quemó “protestantes” en la hoguera, y descuartizó católicos en Inglaterra e Irlanda. Lutero o Calvino no fueron, precisamente, santos. Esa era la terrible época que vivieron.
Film-maker forgot to include the Fact that St. More tied hundreds of English to the Stakes and Burned Them Alive. Constantine never intended that when he invented your Church.
I've played Thomas More in the stage play the movie is based on, and one of the hardest things about it was trying not to just mimic this performance, which is just about flawless, flawless by Scofield and by Shaw. First rate in every way.
I actually asked this of a community theater actor who played More. How did he avoid Scofield's influence? (Which, in my opinion, he had done.) His answer? Step 1 was to avoid watching the movie at all for months after he'd been cast!
