The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
Directed By: Alexander Korda
Written By: Lajos Bíró, Arthur Wimperis
Starring: Charles Laughton, Binnie Barnes, Robert Donat
Length: 97 min.
Genre: Comedic Drama
Skipping Catherine of Aragon, this movie was about Henry and his wives. It begins with the execution of Anne Boleyn and Henry's marriage to Jane Seymour. She dies in childbirth and Henry eventually agrees to marry again, this time to Anne of Cleves.
Until this point, the movie to me was really flat. Not funny nor dramatic. Just very boring. But then Anne of Cleves comes on the scene and she is pretty funny. She intentionally makes ugly faces to repulse Henry for she never wanted to marry him. Nor him her. It was a political marriage forced on both.
The scene with Henry and Anne playing cards on their wedding night was easily the best scene of the movie. Quite funny with Anne making her faces and beating Henry over and over. In the end, Henry says he can't stay married to such a woman, and she negotiates a settlement for annulment right there with him.
Then Henry marries Katherine Howard, who is carrying on an affair with one of Henry's courtiers, Thomas Culpeper. They are eventually found out and executed.
Henry finally marries Catherine Parr, who essentially mothers him.
A popular movie with high ratings, it was just an average movie overall. It gets off to such a slow, boring start, hits paydirt with the Henry - Anne of Cleves scenes, and then settles into an okay, average movie the rest of the way.
My Rating: 6/10
IMDB User Rating: 7.2/10 (3k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Critics (14-0), 75% of Audience (3.5 / 5 ; 1k votes)