Continung my marathon of Best Picture Academy Award winners, we come to the victor of 1966. And although it seems like it would three cherries on the jackpot for me (combining politics, religion, and England), I found A Man for All Seasons to be exactly what it looks like: a dull costume drama. This is ironic, as I read of a review of the film that defends its award by saying the movie is "more exciting than it looks." Disagree!
I'm not going to attempt a full plot summary because I would have to include pages worth of historical background (which is one problem with understanding the film). To make a huge simplicifaction, Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England (Paul Schofield), is caught between the church and his king when the pope refuses to grand King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) a divorce. When Henry decides to break away from Rome and form his own church (now the Anglican communion or Episcopal church) he forces everyone to take a loyalty oath, and More refuses. He also refuses to aide some members of the Catholic church, meaning that he is attacked on all sides, and the movie's point appears to be that he is the only one in the whole affair with any integrity.
The movie is well acted and looks decent, but suffers from a terminal lack of energy. There is just no reason to care about what is happening on the screen. I think that this is the fault of the director, Fred Zinneman, as the movie is based on an interesting historical event and adaptated by Robert Bolt (David Lean's screenwriter) from his play. Although I did make it to the end, I just could not fully devote my attention to the film the whole time. Zinnemann never really turns the material into the movie and there is way, way too much dialouge.
An interesting anedecote to end a review of a very uninteresting film: in 1988 a certain actor starred in and directed a remake of this film. An actor, that based on his previous parts, would not be the first on most list to be play a respected British statements. That actor's name? Charlton Heston.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)