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A Man For All Seasons
By Staff Writer Jim Cohn
A Man For All Seasons
(1966)
Based on the play A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt
Screenplay: Robert Bolt
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Paul Scofield: Sir Thomas More; Wendy Hiller: Alice More; Leo McKern: Thomas Cromwell; Robert Shaw: King Henry the VIII; Orson Welles: Cardinal Wolsey; Susannah York: Margaret More; Nigel Davenport: The Duke of Norfolk; John Hurt: Richard Rich
"Such and so finely Bolt-ed"
British born Robert Bolt had that rare ability to combine a keen understanding of human nature with razor-sharp description and dialogue. Of Sir Thomas More's opposition to the King Henry's creation of the Church of England, Bolt says, More, "…could no more be budged than a cliff."
Armed with his WWII experiences, a degree in history from Manchester University, and seven years of teaching English at the exclusive Millfield School, Bolt wrote radio plays, but received no acclaim until his first stage play, Flowering Cherry was produced in 1957.
Three years later, his third play, A Man for All Seasons, became a smash on the London and Broadway stages. Impressed, film producer Sam Spiegel hired Bolt to re-write the script forLawrence of Arabia. The effort earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1963. Two years later, Bolt won the coveted Oscar for Doctor Zhivago. The following year, he won again for his screenplay of A Man for All Seasons.
Bolt specialized in adapting literature for the screen, and the wisdom he left us in the legacy of his words has made him a writer for all seasons.
The Measure of a Man
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity.
The Second Coming - W.B. Yeats
Listening to the news from Washington, hearing the prattle emanating from those claiming to be our leaders, Yeats's words have the eerie ring of uncomfortable truth.
Ours is a time rife with Orwellian double-speak, a time when mamon replaces Washington as the icon of liberty, when leadership abandons thoughtful reason for senseless doctrine, when politicians claim statesmanship and statesmen suffer ridicule by corporate-directed media profiteers.
Ours is a time when we sorely need the wisdom and wit and thoughtful reasoning of one such as Sir Thomas More.
In his time More was the lone voice of opposition to Henry VIII's plan to divorce and re-marry by dissolving England's ties to the Church of Rome and establishing the Church of England. As presented in A Man for All Seasons, More's story is not a lesson in medieval British history, nor is it concerned with religious conviction. Rather, it presents a successful man's struggle to remain true to his self. The conflict is not staged on a blood-soaked battlefield; it is played out in the battleground of the mind.
A Man for All Seasons won six Academy Awards in 1967, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor. It received nearly unanimous worldwide acclaim from a multitude of international film organizations.
Given that pedigree, this film needs no blessing from me, except to say its script contains words of real wisdom, words worth listening to and thinking about. Here are a few pearls to whet your appetite for More:
On adherence to a fair application of the law:
"And, when the last law was down and the devil turned round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast. Man's laws, not God's. And, if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the wind that would blow then? Yes, I give the devil benefit of law-for my own safety's sake."
The role of religion in the lives of British nobles:
"The nobility of England would have snored through the Sermon on the
Mount, but you'll labor like scholars over a bulldog's pedigree."
Speaking to his daughter of man's place in God's plan:
"Listen Meg. God made the angels to show him splendor, 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. If He suffers us to come to such a case that there is no escaping, then we may stand to our tackle as best we can. And, yes Meg, then we can clamor like champions, if we have the spittle for it. But it's God's part, not our own, to bring ourselves to such a pass. Our natural business lies in escaping."
On the meaning of an oath:
"What is an oath then, but words we say to God? Listen, Meg. When a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his own hands, like water. And, if he opens his fingers then, he needn't hope to find himself again."
In the movie, Sir Thomas More is a man both modest and firm. His measure is how well he adheres to his beliefs-He is A Man for All Seasons with lessons for all times.
Surely, we could use one such as he in ours.
Do you have comments about Jim's reviews? He'd love to hear from you. Contact him at:
ReadersRoom2@aol.com
Copyright 2005 by ReadersRoom, LLC. All rights reserved.
