| Anne of the Thousand Days | |
|---|---|
 Original theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Charles Jarrott |
| Screenplay by | Bridget Boland John Hale |
| Story by | Richard Sokolove |
| Based on | Anne of the Thousand Days byMaxwell Anderson |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis |
| Starring | Richard Burton Geneviève Bujold Irene Papas Anthony Quayle John Colicos |
| Cinematography | Arthur Ibbetson |
| Edited by | Richard Marden |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production company | Hal Wallis Productions |
| Distributed by | The Rank Organisation(UK) Universal Pictures(US) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 145 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $6,134,264 (US/Canada rentals)[2] or $15-20 million (world gross)[1] |
Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 Britishhistorical drama film based on the life ofAnne Boleyn, directed byCharles Jarrott and produced byHal B. Wallis. The screenplay byBridget Boland and John Hale is an adaptation of the 1948 play of the same name byMaxwell Anderson.
The film starsRichard Burton asKing Henry VIII andGeneviève Bujold asAnne Boleyn.Irene Papas playsCatherine of Aragon,Anthony Quayle plays CardinalThomas Wolsey, andJohn Colicos playsThomas Cromwell. Others in the cast includeMichael Hordern,Katharine Blake,Peter Jeffrey,Joseph O'Conor,William Squire,Vernon Dobtcheff,Denis Quilley,Esmond Knight, andT. P. McKenna, who later played Henry VIII inMonarch. Burton's wifeElizabeth Taylor makes a brief, uncredited appearance.
Despite receiving some negative reviews[3] and mixed reviews fromThe New York Times[4] andPauline Kael,[5] the film was nominated for 10Academy Awards and won the award forbest costumes. Geneviève Bujold's portrayal of Anne, her first role in an English language film, was very highly praised, even byTime magazine, which otherwise skewered the movie.[6] According to theAcademy Awards exposéInside Oscar, an expensive advertising campaign was mounted byUniversal Studios that included servingchampagne andfilet mignon to members of the academy following each screening.[7]
InLondon, 1536,Henry VIII considers whether or not he should sign the warrant for theexecution of hissecond wife,Anne Boleyn.
Nine years earlier, in 1527, Henry has a problem: he reveals his dissatisfaction with his wife,Catherine of Aragon. He is enjoying a discreetaffair withMary Boleyn, a daughter of one of his courtiers, SirThomas Boleyn, but the king is bored with her too. At a courtball, he notices Mary's eighteen-year-old sister,Anne, who has returned from her education inFrance. She isengaged to theson of the Earl of Northumberland, and they have received their parents' permission to marry. The king, however, is enraptured with Anne's beauty and ordersCardinal Wolsey, hisLord Chancellor, to break the engagement.
When news of this decision is carried to Anne, she reacts furiously. She blames the cardinal and the king for ruining her happiness. When Henry makes a rather clumsy attempt toseduce her, Anne bluntly informs him how she finds him.
Henry brings her back to court with him, and she continues to resist his advances out of a mixture of repulsion for Henry and her lingering anger over her broken engagement. However, she becomes intoxicated with the power that the king's love gives her. Using this power, she continually undermines Cardinal Wolsey, who initially sees Anne as a passing love interest for the king.
When Henry again presses Anne to become hismistress, she repeats that she never will give birth to anillegitimate child. Desperate to have a son, Henry suddenly comes up with the idea of marrying Anne in Catherine's place. Anne is stunned, but she agrees. Wolsey begs the king to abandon the idea because of the political consequences of divorcing Catherine. Henry refuses to listen.
When Wolsey fails to persuade the pope to give Henry hisdivorce, Anne points out this failing to an enraged Henry. Wolsey is dismissed from office, and his magnificent palace in London is given as a present to Anne, who realizes she has finally fallen in love with Henry. They sleep together, and after discovering that she is pregnant, they aresecretly married. Anne is given a splendidcoronation, but the people jeer at her in disgust.
Months later, Anne gives birth to a daughter,Princess Elizabeth. Henry is displeased because he wanted a son, and their marital relationship begins to cool. His attentions are soon diverted to LadyJane Seymour, one of Anne'smaids. Once she discovers this liaison, Annebanishes Jane from court.
During a row over SirThomas More's opposition to Anne's queenship, Anne refuses to sleep with her husband again unless More is put to death. More is executed, but Anne's subsequent pregnancy ends with astillborn boy.
Henry demands that his new ministerThomas Cromwell find a way to get rid of Anne. Cromwell tortures a servant in her household into confessing toadultery with the queen; he then arrests four other courtiers who are also accused of being Anne's lovers. Anne is taken to theTower and placed under arrest. When she is told that she has been accused of adultery, Anne laughs until she sees herbrother being brought into the Tower and learns he faces the same accusation.
At Anne's trial, she manages to cross-questionMark Smeaton, the tortured servant who finally admits that the charges against Anne were lies. Henry makes an appearance, then visits Anne in her chambers that night. He offers her freedom if she will agree toannul their marriage and make their daughter illegitimate. Anne refuses, saying that she would rather die than betray their daughter, whom she claims will rule after Henry. He slaps her and tells her that her disobedience will mean her death.
In the present, Henry decides to execute Anne. A few days later, she is taken to the scaffold andbeheaded by a French swordsman. Henry rides off to marry Jane Seymour. Meanwhile, Elizabeth toddles alone in the garden as she hears cannons firing, announcing her mother's death.
Elizabeth Taylor has an uncredited cameo appearance as a maskedcourtesan who interrupts Queen Catherine's prayers.Kate Burton makes her acting debut as a maid.
The playAnne of the Thousand Days, the film's basis, was first enacted on Broadway in theShubert Theatre on 8 December 1948; staged byH. C. Potter, withRex Harrison andJoyce Redman as Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn respectively, running 288 performances; Harrison won aTony Award for his performance.
Cinematically,Anne of the Thousand Days took 20 years to reach the screen because its themes – adultery, illegitimacy, incest – were then unacceptable to the U.S. motion pictureproduction code. The film was made on such locations asPenshurst Place andHever Castle,[8] and atPinewood andShepperton Studios.Hever Castle was one of the main settings for the film; it was also the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.[9]
British actressOlivia Hussey was the first choice for the role of Anne Boleyn.[10] When producerHal B. Wallis first met Hussey in New York in November 1967 at a party for her then upcoming filmRomeo and Juliet (1968), he offered her the title role. In addition, he also offered her to star withJohn Wayne inTrue Grit (1969). In her 2019 memoir, Hussey stated that she had "mumbled something about being interested inAnne of the Thousand Days” but added that she "couldn’t see herself with Wayne". She claims that this "adolescent and opinionated" remark inevitably ended her professional relationship with Wallis, and he immediately withdrew his offer from her. "It had taken me less than a minute to talk my way out of it" Hussey stated.[11]
Maxwell Anderson employedblank verse for parts of his play, but most examples of this were removed from the screenplay. One blank verse episode that was retained was Anne's soliloquy in theTower of London. The opening of the play was changed, withThomas Cromwell's tellingHenry VIII the outcome of the trial and Henry's recalling his marriage to Anne rather than Anne's speaking first and then Henry's remembering in flashback.[12]
The film received mixed reviews from critics, as most commonly they considered the plot dull and plodding. Beyond the story itself, the performances ofGeneviève Bujold,Richard Burton, andIrene Papas were met with universal acclaim, especially that of Bujold. Bujold remains the only actress to have been nominated for anOscar for playingAnne Boleyn.
The film was one of the more popular movies of 1970 at the British box office.[15]
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