Man For All Seasons, A

Fred Zinnemann’s adaptation of Robert Bolt‘s 1960 hit play scooped the Academy Awards in the year of its release, winning Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Paul Scofield), Best Director ( Zinnemann), Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Bolt), Best Color Cinematography (Ted Moore), and Best Color Costume Design (Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge). Quite an achievement for a modestly budgeted, high-minded film. 

Scofield flawlessly reprises his stage role as Sir Thomas More, the Catholic churchman who dared to refuse King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) his wish for a divorce. With an all-star cast that also includes Orson Welles, Leo McKern and a young John Hurt whilst being, if anything, too tendentious in its sanctification of More and despite its specifically religious context the film is a stirring plea for freedom of conscience and personal probity and has today lost none of its efficacy as either text or film.

 

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