I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Copyright 3 November 1933 by United Artists Corp. Made by London Film Productions, England. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall, 12 October 1933 (ran one week). London opening: 17 August 1933. U.K. release: 24 October 1933. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: King Henry VIII and five of his six wives.NOTES: Academy Award, Best Actor, Charles Laughton (defeating Leslie Howard in Berkeley Square and Paul Muni in I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang). Also nominated for Best Picture (Cavalcade). Number 3 on The Film Daily's annual poll of U.S. film critics (Cavalcade was first, 42nd Street second).Photographed at British and Dominion Studios. Shooting commenced late Spring 1933 and was completed in five weeks for a negative cost of Sixty Thousand Pounds. The film was a huge success world-wide, earning gross rentals in excess of Five Hundred Thousand Pounds on its first release. It was never withdrawn from circulation until the advent of television.COMMENT: Considering the enormous — indeed the super-star — popularity of Charles Laughton, it's peculiar that so few of his movies are aired on TV. Most viewers have seen The Sign of the Cross (1932), Jamaica Inn (1939), The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942), The Paradine Case (1948), The Big Clock (1948), Hobson's Choice (1954) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957) — seven pictures from a total of fifty-two. Many of Laughton's most famous movies have never been broadcast at all (Payment Deferred, Island of Lost Souls, White Woman, The Man on the Eiffel Tower) and even Henry VIII has not been seen for many years. This neglect by TV programmers is the more astonishing in view of a survey conducted a few years ago in which readers of a weekly magazine were asked to nominate which movie performance of the past they regarded as unforgettable. Vivien Leigh in GWTW topped the list, followed by Garbo's Camille, Donat's Mr. Chips, Laughton's Henry VIII, Laughton's Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty, Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy, Bogart in Casablanca, Gary Cooper in High Noon, Bergman in Casablanca, Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. Only Laughton figured on the list twice. In fact, the judge commented that if the performances had been tabulated simply by players and not by films, Laughton was the over-all favorite by a wide margin. His other roles frequently mentioned were in If I Had a Million, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Ruggles of Red Gap, Les Miserables, Rembrandt and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.Of all these brilliant portrayals, there is no doubt that Henry VIII was the greatest achievement of Laughton's career. He literally sweeps the rest of the characters right off the screen. Only his real-life wife, Elsa Lanchester, can hold up against him. Even Donat (who was later to make such an impression in The Citadel and Goodbye Mr Chips) and Merle Oberon seem pallid and colorless alongside him. True, he is marvelously costumed and made up and better served by the witty script. The director deliberately throws all the attention his way, virtually forcing him to carry the whole film — which he does magnificently. It's an acting tour de force — one of the most memorable impersonations in the entire history of the cinema.

The film, entitled the "Private lives of Henry the VIII" tells us that this encompasses his activities inside the royal palace, and there were many. While maybe not historical fact one hundred percent, the performance and players do well to transcend this.Laughton is at his best here, ..."ah the things I must do for England"... he sighs mischievously as he enters the master chamber to be with his fourth wife Anne of Cleves well portrayed by Elsa Lanchester. He is very amusing and while the story give us some history it also gives us an amusing peripheral view of what life may have been like for the king.The scene where he tears a capon apart, eating it and commenting on the ills of humanity, and what is wrong with people. His court is silent, as they do not want to be next on the chopping block.Merle Oberon is lovely as Anne Boleyn, dark and attractive, as she wonders if her hair will stay in place after the guillotine.The costumes and sets in the black and white are part fiction, part real. Theatrical but not over the top, as later Technicolor would be.Overall an enjoyable version which even today does not seem dated, literally one could almost imagine Laughton stepping off the screen, and coming to your living room to play King Henry today. Amazing in retrospect, how gifted actors, truly talented can transcend their time period and make an indelible impression.

Highly enjoyable British film from Alexander Korda, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII gives CHARLES LAUGHTON the plum role of his career and he munches on all the scenery with artistic skill and great humor. Even though he has the spotlight, others around him make the film a highly enjoyable one to watch.ROBERT DONAT is handsome and sensitive as Culpepper, a favorite of the Court who has the misfortune to love one of Henry's wives (BINNIE BARNES).MERLE OBERON has a brief role as Ann Boleyn in a sensitive scene where she worries about meeting the executioner's ax. Oberon would later marry Korda and this was a showy but brief role that gave her career a good start.ELSA LANCHESTER provides a lot of chuckles as Anne of Cleves, the woman whose portrait fascinates Henry--until he meets her. Her facial displays are deliberately meant to provoke him--that and her ungainly movements--and she and Laughton play their scenes together with great finesse.TCM is showing a good print of the film which makes it all the more enjoyable, because the sets and costumes are quite opulent and photographed skillfully. The pace is brisk, the humor is ever present, the story never loses interest and Laughton--even at his hammiest--is superb as the king who tried to find happiness but found out that it eluded him at every turn.

This 1933 Alexander Korda production actually holds up mighty well today. Given that it is an early talkie, and was made in a fledgling British film industry, I was expecting more than a little creakiness. But it is still a very lively, well-paced film- in large part due to Laughton's terrific performance as the much-married King Henry VIII.Politics take a back seat in this bawdy royal yarn, as we watch fat, charismatic, roaring and sometimes sensitive Henry work his way through six wives in quick succession. Actually, we never see the first, Catherine of Aragorn. The film begins with the beheading of Anne Boleyn, played by a young Merle Oberon. It's an eye-catching small role for the future Mrs Korda, and she makes the most of her limited screen time. Stage player Wendy Barrie is Jane Seymour, Henry's pretty, dumb and short-lived third wife, and the kooky, delightful Elsa Lanchester threatens to steal Laughton's thunder as Anne of Cleves. She's the only woman in the film who doesn't want to be Queen! And Billie Barnes is ambitious Catherine Howard, who carries on a fateful affair with a young, handsome Robert Donat....Fine production values, a fun, sharp script and good acting propel the drama. Korda keeps the film moving at a lively pace, even if the editing is a bit primitive. The film only starts to lose it's spirit after the death of Billie Barnes- the rest of it is a rollicking ride. Laughton won the Oscar for his portrayal, and his dominating performance is still very admirable today. Yes, Laughton was very theatrical, but he was also a darn good actor, one of the best.