The Private Life of Henry VIII

The reasons to watch this are A. Laughton's marvelous performance. He captures the bombast and lust for life of King Henry, and he also captures Henry raging against the dying of the light - his own aging - in a very poignant way. And he certainly looks like him. Then there is B. The fabulous cast, often before they are famous in America, such as Merle Oberon and Robert Donat, who wins the Best Actor award six years later as Mr. Chips.

As for the facts? I never expect dead on accuracy in historical dramas, BUT this one completely misses the mark. Catherine of Aragon, married to Henry for 18 years and the inability of Henry to obtain a divorce from her causing the founding of the Church of England, and she is given just a title card at the beginning, described as being "of no importance". The film picks up at the execution of Anne Boleyn (Oberon), Henry's second wife. Anne of Cleves, Henry's fourth wife with whom he probably never consummated his marriage because he found her ugly and ungraceful, is supposedly the centerpiece of his life! Now I realize this was done because she is played by Elsa Lanchester, and she and Laughton were married - and the two have marvelous chemistry and comic timing - but the film so misrepresents their relationship it is mind boggling.

And Katherine Howard, wife number five, was a 17 year old girl when Henry married her, not a grown woman sitting around for years waiting for Henry to dispose of wives until he got around to her.

What really puzzles me is that this film was made in Britain, so I'm surprised they played so fast and loose with the facts. It would be like making a film in America about George Washington in which Marie Antoinette was the great love of his life, and that her beheading brought on his decline and death. But then history is so poorly taught in this country perhaps the public would buy it.