A Man For All Seasons – Special Edition (DVD-Video)
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B-
Robert
Bolt was at his prolific peak when he wrote Lawrence Of Arabia and continued to pen some strong scripts that
led to more hit films. Fred Zinnemann’s A Man For All Seasons (1966) managed to
repeat the critical success of Lawrence and led to another Best Picture Oscar
penned by Bolt. Though not as good a
film, the tale of the rise and fall of Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) has
become timelier than ever.
He was
the Roman Catholic Chancellor to England and put into the ugly position of no
less than King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) requesting an annulment so he could
have a legitimate marriage to his mistress wanting to separate and divorce his
wife without penalty or any hint of irrespectability. The idea that someone of high power,
privilege and position thinking “the rules” do not apply to them is more
familiar than ever, royalty, presidency and otherwise.
More was
enough of a man of The Church and God not to agree to this and it led to a few
profound showdowns. One is of The
British Empire thinking they are above or more significant that The
Vatican. Another is of the do as I say,
not as I do variety. Then there is that
of More versus the King and playing the ultimate price for it, even though he
is passive aggressive about the whole thing.
The film
has always had a sense of dread and doom since it first surfaced and the feel
of the film is constantly one of the British Empire as gilded cage, even for it
ruler, who is never totally happy with anything. One scene where Henry thinks he sees More in
a pub has his joy hushed with silence as no one tells him More is not there as
they are afraid they may be killed or hunted down for no good reason.
Then
there is the idea of two oppressive forces in a far from free or advanced
world. More is at least a man about
principle, though the Hollywood witchhunts in the 1950s for “Communists” likely
played a part in the Academy’s embracing of the film at the time, it is still
pretty good for a pre-Barry Lyndon
costume epic making the big statement.
Scofield and Shaw are very effective in their performances, backed by a
great supporting cast including Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Susannah York, John
Hurt, Nigel Davenport, Colin Blakely, Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey and Vanessa
Redgrave as Anne Boleyn.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image is a little soft, but the color and
solid look of the picture “Remastered in High Definition” offsets the flaws,
though it is going to take Blu-ray to really do justice to the amazing
cinematography by Ted Moore, B.S.C., on his long break form the James Bond
films. The film was issued at the time
in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor and though this DVD does not always
show that, the richness beyond the costumes and production design is
undeniable. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
does its best to boost the original theatrical monophonic sound, but it is
better than the Dolby 2.0 and Georges Delerue’s score can never be clear
enough.
A
featurette on More and two trailers are the only extras, but a special edition
of such a key Columbia title deserves more.
Maybe trailers, press materials and featurettes on the film itself would
be a good idea for the Blu-ray, plus a few interviews or historical audio
commentary would not hurt.
- Nicholas Sheffo
