Anne of the Thousand Days **** (1969, Richard Burton, Geneviève Bujold, John Colicos, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Michael Hordern, Katharine Blake) – Classic Movie Review 2366

Director Charles Jarrott’s beautifully crafted 1969 British historical drama Anne of the Thousand Days attracted 10 Academy Award nominations. But in the end it won only a single Oscar – for Best Costume Design (Margaret Furse).

It concentrates on its gloss surface of gorgeous costumes and handsome sets designed by art director Lionel Couch, producing a lavish, lovely looking movie. But John Hale and Bridget Boland’s screenplay, based on Maxwell Anderson’s stage play, is disappointingly thin on character or historical insights and it inspires solid performances but few of especial note.

Burton is fine, even if he goes rather gloomily through the motions as King Henry VIII of England, who discards his wife Katharine of Aragon (Irene Papas), having failed to produce a male heir, in favour of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife who becomes the mother of Elizabeth I. 

She was barely 18, but, in this fanciful romantic story, during their thousand days the king and his new queen played out the most passionate and shocking love story in history. 

The young Geneviève Bujold is more impressive, Oscar nominated for her spirited performance as a strong-willed Anne Boleyn. But, arguably, the best performances come from John Colicos as Oliver Cromwell, Oscar-nominated Anthony Quayle as Cardinal Wolsey and Michael Hordern as Thomas Boleyn. Burton’s Oscar nomination was his sixth out of seven, though he never won.

Anne of the Thousand Days is best viewed as an attractive picture-postcard view of history, lushly photographed by cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson with his lovely Technicolor images accompanied by an appropriately regal score from Georges Delerue.

British acting stalwarts Esmond Knight and Nora Swinburne (playing Lord Kingston and Lady Kingston) were real-life husband and wife.

Also in the impressive cast are Katharine Blake (as Elizabeth Boleyn), Valerie Gearon (as Anne’s older sister Mary Boleyn), Michael Johnson (George Boleyn), Peter Jeffrey (Norfolk), Joseph O’Conor (Fisher), William Squire (Thomas More), Vernon Dobtcheff (Mendoza), Brook Williams (Brereton), Gary Bond (as Smeaton), T P McKenna (Norris), Denis Quilley (Weston), Terry Wilton (Lord Percy), Lesley Patterson (Jane Seymour), Nicola Pagett (Princess Mary), Juliet Kempson, Sarah Jane Gwillim, Lilian Hutchins, Amanda Walker, Charlotte Selwyn, Elizabeth Counsell (Anne’s lady-in-waiting), June Ellis (Bess), Cyril Luckham (Prior Houghton), Marne Maitland (Campeggio), Kate Burton (serving maid) and Kynaston Reeves (Willoughby).

Gary Bond (right) plays Smeaton.

The young Walter Matthau got his first big break when in 1948 he was hired as an understudy on the Broadway stage for the role of an 83-year old English archbishop (!) in the original theatre production of Anne of the Thousand Days starring Rex Harrison as Henry VIII.

Greek actress and singer Irene Papas (born Irene Lelekou (3 September 1926 – 14 September 2022) starred in more than 70 films over 50 years. They include The Guns of Navarone (1961), Zorba the Greek (1964), The Trojan Women (1971), Iphigenia (1977), Antigone (1961) and Electra (1962).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2366

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