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Poster for The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

1933 · Feature film · 90 min · dir. Alexander Korda

HE GAVE HIS WIVES A PAIN IN THE NECK, And did his necking with an axe. Henry, the Eighth Wonder of the World! And this picture...the wonder of all time!

  • Drama
  • biographical film
Watch now On the Internet Archive

Synopsis

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

Synopsis from TMDb

Details

Director
Alexander Korda
Writer
Lajos Biró
Composer
Kurt Schröder
Cinematography
Georges Périnal
Studio
London Films Productions, United Artists
Released
1933-08-17
Running time
90 minutes

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★ · Great fun · hanguphile · 2020-04-25

I enjoyed this film a lot. One result of watching it was that I did so with Wikipedia in hand on my phone, and it is not as historically inaccurate as a previous reviewer claimed. The character of Henry is a fun fiction, showing nothing of his amazing intelligence and abilities, but the characters of his wives seem pretty accurately portrayed according to those historical accounts that are left. It doesn't show any of the violence, plotting and torture associated with the demise of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard - it simply moves to their executions. Also a beautifully clear print. A…

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