The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

Recently, there's been a public relations effort by Hollywood to portray Henry VIII as a thinner, sexier monarch like in the recent Showtime cable series THE TUDORS starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyer as the Tudor King. In reality, Henry VIII was a large, heavy set, some might say pudgy ruler. I appreciate Hollywood's attempt to make Henry look slimmer in hopes of drawing in a younger target audience. But if you want to see a more authentic version of Henry VIII played by an actor with a closer body type to the real Henry, look no further than 1933's THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII starring the fantastic and always entertaining Charles Laughton.

I became a Laughton fan last year after watching his compelling performance as the obsessed police inspector Valjean in LES MISERABLES (1935). Laughton seemingly owned all the plum roles in the 1930's playing Dr. Moreau in THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932), Captain Bligh in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935), and Quasimodo in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939). After binge watching THE TUDORS a few years ago and aware that Henry did not really look like actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyer, I wanted to see an actor with the same beefy physique as Henry play the ruler. Laughton uncannily resembles Henry. If Laughton had been born in the 16th Century, he might have passed as Henry's twin brother.

A tender moment between Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) and Wife #5 Catherine Howard (Binnie Barnes)

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII was directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Biro and Arthur Wimperis. PRIVATE LIFE is a cliff notes version of King Henry's life and relationships with five of his six wives. In fact, the film's prologue states that Henry's 1st wife Catherine of Aragon is not in this movie. "She was a respectable woman so Henry divorced her," the credits tell us. The film begins in 1536 with the impending execution of Henry's 2nd wife Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon) and the immediate wedding to Henry's 3rd wife Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie). Once Anne Boleyn is beheaded by a French Executioner (Gibb McLaughlin), King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) weds Jane Seymour. Jane gives Henry the male heir he so desperately desires but Jane dies during childbirth. It has only been 25 minutes into the film and Wife #2 and Wife #3 are already gone.

Henry mourns the loss of Jane. Henry's chief minister Thomas Cromwell (Franklin Dyall) knows the king needs to be married for the sake of the country and suggests Henry marry Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester), the German daughter of the Duke of Cleves (William Austin). By marrying Anne, Henry can calm some of the countries upset with Henry for divorcing and exiling Catherine of Aragon. Henry requests a painting of Anne. The German painter Hans Holbein (John Turnbull) paints Anne's portrait but she requests he make her look unappealing. Besides, Anne is in love with the man sent to bring her back, a man named Peynell (John Loder) from Henry's court.

Henry VIII (Laughton) with Wife #3 Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie)

But Anne of Cleves does her duty, crossing the English Channel and marrying Henry to become Wife #4. By now, Henry has fallen in love with Katherine Howard (Binnie Barnes) from his court and Anne has a lover in Peynell. Henry and Anne agree to get an annulment one night while playing and cheating at cards with one another in bed. Once again, Henry is alone and morose. His Privy Council which includes Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Lawrence Hanray) urges him to seek yet another wife. Henry weds Katherine Howard. By all appearances, Henry and Katherine seem happy and in love with each other. Except Katherine is having an affair with Henry's courtier and friend Thomas Culpeper (Robert Donat). When one of his advisers Wriothesley (Miles Mander) reveals the affair to Henry at a secret council meeting, Henry almost strangles him.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII ends as it begins with another beheading (the lovers Katherine and Thomas) just as the film opened with Anne Boleyn's execution. Henry grows fatter, older, and lonelier. Anne of Cleves visits him. She recommends he marry Katherine Parr (Everley Gregg), a widow with children already. Katherine Parr is more maternal. Henry marries Wife #6 Katherine Parr who takes care of  Henry like one of her children, pampering and scolding him simultaneously. As the film ends, Henry looks at the camera and proclaims, "Six wives and the best of them's the worst."

As I mentioned earlier, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF  HENRY VIII is a Readers Digest version of Henry's life. It plays more toward the romantic and comedic. It races through Henry's marriages and doesn't linger on the executions or political and religious turmoil that Showtime's THE TUDORS spent four seasons covering. Previous projects focused on Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn (PBS's 2015 WOLF HALL) or the political intrigue of the Boleyn family in THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL (2008). In PRIVATE LIFE, Anne Boleyn scarcely makes an appearance even though she's portrayed by well known actress Merle Oberon (in one of her earlier roles). It's Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester as Anne of  Cleves who receives the most time on the screen (it's good to be the wife of the lead).

Perhaps one of the earliest paintings done by Hans Holbein the Younger of Henry VIII, circa 1536

Henry VIII is portrayed more humorously in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII than recent shows and films. Charles Laughton plays the king as a big spoiled kid. Laughton gives Henry a large hearty laugh that permeates throughout the castle, making all his court and servants smile and laugh when they hear it. When the king's in a jovial mood, so is his kingdom. It might be an inside joke that the film's title is THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII because Henry's life is anything but private. In one funny scene, Henry tries to sneak over to Catherine Howard's bedroom in the middle of the night for some naughtiness. But the King's Guard announces his every move, shouting "The King's Guard" as his element of surprise is ruined. PRIVATE LIFE has plenty of sexual innuendo for 1933 and for a British film. Henry has to explain the birds and the bees to Anne of Cleves who still believes storks bring babies.

This isn't to convey that PRIVATE LIFE is entirely a comedy. Henry's emotions run the gamut: petulant, happy, morose, cheerful, and flirtatious. Director Korda even stages a fight scene for Henry when he challenges a wrestler entertaining the court to impress his new wife Katherine Howard, defeating the wrestler but almost killing himself in the process. But PRIVATE LIFE avoids the bloodletting that made me finally stop watching THE TUDORS opting to show a more human and humorous side to the king. Laughton's portrayal of Henry VIII would earn him the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1933.

Henry (Laughton) with Wife #4  Anne of Cleves (real life wife Elsa Lanchester)

We never see Wife #1 Catherine of Aragon. Wife #2 Anne Boleyn is barely showcased and almost presented as a martyr. Jane Seymour, Wife #3, is portrayed as stupid and childish, a perfect match for Henry but she dies after giving birth to his son. Anne of Cleves (Wife #4) is supposed to be ugly but Lanchester's beauty can't be hidden underneath her funny gaments and accent. Anne is the nicest of the wives. Catherine Howard comes off as the most ambitious and smartest of the bunch, a woman who sought the crown but paid the price.  Catherine's ambition and infidelity will cost her and Culpeper their heads. Katherine Parr rounds out the six wives and appears the most practical. Interestingly, the movies spells both the later Katherine's with a K while history tells us their names were spelled Catherine.

As for the actresses playing Henry's wives, Elsa Lanchester as Anne of Cleves has the showiest part. With her big luminous eyes and funny accent, Lanchester almost steals all her scenes from Laughton in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII. Lanchester would play both the Bride and author Mary Shelley two years later in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935). Lanchester and husband Laughton would make 11 films together (some of them early short films) including another Alexander Korda biographical film REMBRANDT (1936) and Billy Wilder's WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1957). Merle Oberon may be the most well known actress besides Lanchester to play one of Henry's wives but Oberon only appears in the first twenty minutes as Anne Boleyn before she loses her head. Ironically, director Alexander Korda discovered Oberon and cast the beauty in PRIVATE LIFE. They would be married in 1939 and divorced in 1945. Oberon would soon land bigger parts in films like THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1934), WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939), and THE LODGER (1944).

Binnie Barnes who plays Henry's 5th Wife Katherine Howard is also very memorable. She has the most dramatic and interesting role, seemingly in love with Henry but having an affair with Henry's closest friend Thomas Culpeper. Her character is the closest we see to the drama and intrigue that more recent projects about Henry VIII have targeted. Binnie Barnes would appear in over 75 films including George Cukor's HOLIDAY (1937) with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.

Henry (Laughton) and Katherine Howard (Barnes) watched over by Katherine's lover and Henry's friend Thomas Culpeper (Robert Donat)

The last well known actor to appear in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII is Robert Donat. I've known Robert Donat forever from Alfred  Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS but it's the only Donat film I've ever seen until now. PRIVATE LIFE is only Donat's 4th film and he's clearly cast as a romantic supporting character with his thin mustache and tights. But his matinee good looks served him well as he followed up PRIVATE LIFE with the lead role as Edmond Dantes in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (1934) and then as the accidental hero Richard Hannay in Hitchcock's fantastic British spy thriller THE 39 STEPS (1935). Not to be outdone by Laughton, Donat would win the Best Actor Academy Award for GOODBYE MR CHIPS (1939). Donat was dogged by poor health throughout his career and only made films sporadically after GOODBYE MR CHIPS.

Director Korda made THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII in England where it was a smash hit both in Britain and overseas. Eventually, director Korda and actors Laughton, Lanchester, Donat, Oberon, and Barnes would all end up in Hollywood, all with varying degrees of success. If PRIVATE LIFE were made today, the closest actor I could see portraying Henry with the right body type would be John Goodman.

Korda's decision to jettison some major characters in Henry's life and focus on the wives is a good decision. Thomas Cromwell who's a major character in WOLF HALL and THE TUDORS is but a bit player in PRIVATE LIFE and Cardinal Wolsey another important player in Henry VIII's world doesn't even appear (probably because he was involved with the Catherine of Aragon storyline which is also missing from the film). Korda's success with THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII stems from the casting of Charles Laughton who throws his considerable weight and exuberance into the role of Henry VIII making the King of England a likable, sympathetic historical character. Explore PRIVATE LIFE as it may be the closest  you'll ever come to seeing the real Henry VIII.

Marathon Man (1976)

When I was young film viewer, my naïve view of Nazis in movies were as stereotypical villains, the type you saw in films like CASABLANCA (1943) or last month's film blog RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981). They were cartoonish. But there was another type of Nazi that was making headlines in the 1960s and 70s that became subject matter for a few films. It was the real life Nazis who escaped Germany before the war ended and emigrated to South America. The most famous Nazi who got caught after WWII was Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann blended into the Buenos Aires German community until he was caught in 1960 and hanged in 1962. But the most infamous Nazi who fled Germany and was never caught although legend has it he's hiding in some South American jungle trying to start the Fourth Reich was Dr. Josef Mengele. Truth be told, Mengele had a stroke and accidentally drowned in Brazil 1979.

Nicknamed the "Angel of Death", Mengele was responsible for sending many Jews to the gas chamber at Auschwitz and for performing horrific experiments on them during WWII. In 1978 Franklin J. Schaffner's film THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL based on the novel by Ira Levin (Rosemary's Baby) was released. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL was about a Jewish Nazi hunter played by Laurence Olivier hunting for Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck) in South America. But there was an earlier film that had caught my attention about a Nazi war criminal who comes out of hiding and shows up in New York. It was MARATHON MAN (1976) directed by John Schlesinger (MIDNIGHT COWBOY) and starring Dustin Hoffman. Ironically, Laurence Olivier stars in MARATHON MAN as well but instead of playing a Nazi hunter, Olivier played the fictional Nazi war criminal Dr. Christian Szell, clearly patterned on Mengele.

In my teens in the 70s, CrazyFilmGuy (then just a comic book/girl crazy nerd) was fascinated by the Loch Ness monster, UFO sightings, Bigfoot, and the Bermuda Triangle. But as I got into middle school and matured a bit, the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa and Nazi war criminals hiding in South America piqued my interest. So when MARATHON MAN came out, I was keen to see it. MARATHON MAN is a combination of the conspiracy paranoid thriller/urban noir genre with the Nazi war criminal subplot thrown in. But like some other films I wanted to see during the mid-70's like JAWS or ROLLERBALL, MARATHON MAN was another film that my parents wouldn't let me see. It was R rated. I know I watched it at some point as an adult but I don't recall the particulars of the plot. And so I return to another forbidden fruit from my past to see what was all the fuss about MARATHON MAN.

With a screenplay by the great William Goldman (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) based on his own novel, MARATHON MAN begins with a seemingly random incident. Two old men, one German, the other Jewish (Lou Gilbert), race through the streets of New York's Upper East Side, insulting each other, consumed by road rage until they crash their cars into a gas truck, killing both of them. This accident will set in motion dire consequences for two seemingly unconnected men. The German man killed was Klaus Szell (Ben Dova), the brother of wanted Nazi Auschwitz Concentration Camp dentist Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier). Szell's brother had one of two keys to Christian's safety deposit box full of diamonds extorted by Szell from Jewish prisoners seeking freedom during WWII. With his brother dead, the ex-Nazi Szell comes out of hiding from his Uruguayan jungle compound and sets off for New York to retrieve his fortune.

Thomas "Babe" Levy (Dustin Hoffman) is a college graduate history student haunted by the suicide of his professor father. Babe's father was turned in by his friends as a communist during the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950's. Babe's mysterious older brother Doc (Roy Scheider) shows up in New York to visit his younger brother. When Doc is stabbed by Szell, he crawls back to Babe's apartment and dies. A federal agent Peter Janeway (William Devane) arrives to investigate. Janeway reveals that Doc and he were colleagues. They work for an agency known as the Division, a ghost agency situated between the FBI and the CIA that handles anything including taking care of Nazi war criminals. Known as the "White Angel" for his white hair (which he mostly cuts off before arriving in New York), Szell occasionally gave up other former Nazis to the Division in return for their protection. Doc was a courier between the Division and Szell. Janeway wants to know if Doc said anything to Babe before dying. Babe tells Janeway Doc said nothing and died in his arms.

Two men, Karl (Richard Bright) and Erhard (Marc Lawrence) break into Babe's apartment and kidnap him, whisking him away to a warehouse where Szell calmly tortures Babe with his dental instruments, repeatedly asking Babe, "Is it safe?" Satisfied Babe knows nothing and Doc wasn't trying to rob him, Szell orders Babe to be disposed. Babe manages to escape in a harrowing chase scene at night under the Brooklyn Bridge. Babe reunites with his girlfriend Elsa Opel (Marthe Keller) and she takes Babe out of the city to a friend's house in upstate New York. But Babe soon realizes that he can't trust Elsa as Janeway, Karl, and Erhard show up at the country house.

Janeway reveals Szell is trying to sell his diamonds and flee the country. Babe survives a shootout with Janeway and his men. Szell goes to the bank and withdraws his safety deposit box with diamonds. But Babe is waiting for the former Nazi dentist. He takes Szell to a water treatment plant near the Central Park reservoir he runs around where he forces Szell to swallow his diamonds if he wants to live. But Szell is like a caged animal and will not bow down to Babe's wishes in a tense finale in which only one of them will survive.

So CrazyFilmGuy has provided the plot for MARATHON MAN but why exactly is the film called MARATHON MAN? Babe is a runner, training for his first marathon. Early in the film, we see Babe running and running around the Central Park Reservoir. Schlesinger occasionally cuts to newsreel footage of Ethiopian Olympic long distance runner Abebe Bikila, Babe's hero. Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon running barefoot. But running plays a key part in MARATHON MAN besides exercise. When Babe escapes the interrogation by Szell and Janeway, he's literally running for his life as the bad guys try to kill him. Metaphorically, Babe is running from his past, from his guilt over his father's suicide, a professor ratted out by his friends during the McCarthy era. He's running from his lack of drive, ambition. He's intelligent but holds himself back. His brother Doc is a renaissance man, a well dressed agent who knows his wines and tailors. Doc has moved on from their father's disgrace. But Babe can't run away from his father's legacy. He wants to clear his father's name.

Recently, I watched another John Schlesinger film, the period film FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1967) based on a Thomas Hardy novel. Schlesinger's style is to not tell you what's going on or who's who. He makes audiences pay attention by not revealing too much right away. In MADDING, I didn't catch Julie Christie's characters name right away or that she had inherited a farm. CrazyFilmGuy needs to pay better attention. In MARATHON MAN, the early scenes don't seem connected at first. We're not sure how the two old men fighting and dying in a fiery car accident connects with Babe the college student or Doc who's in Paris barely escaping a car bombing and then an attack by a Chinese assassin Chen (James Wing Woo). Director Schlesinger and writer Goldman take their time rolling out the plot and the characters and how to connect the dots, making for a more satisfying, cerebral thriller. The first half of MARATHON MAN is like solving a puzzle.

Schlesinger would not be my first choice to direct a thriller. His previous films about an amoral model in DARLING (1965), a woman wooed by three different men in FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD,  and a male gigolo in MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969) are all very different and not particularly action oriented. But Schlesinger is well known for coaxing great performances out of actors. Julie Christie won an Academy Award in Schlesinger's DARLING. MIDNIGHT COWBOY showcases two of the best acting performances you will ever see by Jon Voight and  Dustin Hoffman. Schlesinger would win a Best Director Academy Award for MIDNIGHT COWBOY. It was probably hard for Schlesinger to pass up a chance to make MARATHON MAN with two of the titans of acting at the time: the legendary Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman, one of the best actors in the business working in 1976 (and Hoffman and Schlesinger had worked together on MIDNIGHT COWBOY).

But the English born Schlesinger handles the style and action of the paranoid conspiracy film with ease. Cinematographer Conrad Hall (COOL HAND LUKE, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) photographs MARATHON MAN with harsh lighting and deep shadows and rain slickened streets. Schlesinger and Hall are so good they make Babe's apartment and bathroom menacing. Babe's escape from his captors at night under the Brooklyn Bridge is suspenseful and well staged. Because Schlesinger is a foreigner, his images and compositions are interesting and different from what an American director would choose to show.

MARATHON MAN'S most infamous scene is Szell's torture interrogation on Babe (forever making moviegoers even more fearful of dentists). With the calm demeanor of the neighborhood dentist, Szell briefly chastises Babe for having a cavity before jabbing at a nerve, repeatedly asking "Is it Safe?" for Szell to extract his diamonds from the bank. I commend Schlesinger for his brevity in the torture scenes (today's filmmakers would have made it gorier) but then read on IMDB that originally, the dentist scene was much longer, with more screaming from Babe but the filmmakers ultimately cut it down. Another less known but equally suspenseful scene is Nazi Szell's journey into the lion's den when he wanders around the mostly Jewish diamond district in New York. Trying to gauge the price of uncut diamonds, Szell is recognized by several Concentration Camp survivors who scream his name and try to stop him. It's a powerful moment in the film, a chance for survivors to have their comeuppance against their torturer except Szell escapes before the angry mob can catch him.

Dustin Hoffman definitely looks in great shape for MARATHON MAN especially when he's shirtless running away from Szell's henchmen Karl and Erhard. But his performance as Babe Levy, although solid, reminds me of a similar character David Sumner that Hoffman played in Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS (1971). In both films, Hoffman plays meek, non-confrontational men who try to veer away from violence but circumstances force them to do brutal things they would not normally do. I guess one could see similarities in Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo in MIDNIGHT COWBOY and his Louis Dega in PAPILLION (1973) as well.

One of the joys to MARATHON MAN is watching one of the greatest actors of his generation on stage and film Laurence Olivier perform with arguably one of the most talented actors (along with Jack Nicholson) of this generation Dustin Hoffman. It's a match made in cinema heaven. Olivier's Dr. Christian Szell appears so grandfatherly with his glasses and bald head, looking like a German version of Pinocchio's father Geppetto until he springs his hidden retractable dagger from his coat sleeve. Szell is evil incarnate, a terrifying villain because he looks so harmless. When we first see Szell, he's in suspenders, baroque music playing on a phonograph but the camera pans around his room and we see skulls and human teeth and animal skins. Szell may be one of the most underrated villains in film history, no less evil than Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, convincingly played by Olivier. Olivier had cancer while making MARATHON MAN and thought he was going to die but his cancer would go into remission and he would live another 13 years. Two years later, Olivier would go from playing the Nazi war criminal Szell to playing the Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman (based on real life Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal) in THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL.

MARATHON MAN'S supporting cast is perfect with consummate pros Roy Scheider as Babe's mysterious big brother Doc and urbane William Devane (still sounding like Jack Nicholson little brother) as Doc's agency colleague and friend Peter Janeway. Schneider may have been one of the best supporting actors in the business (see THE FRENCH CONNECTION or KLUTE). He made MARATHON MAN fresh off his success in JAWS (1975). Scheider would eventually become a leading man in films like ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) and BLUE THUNDER (1983). He and Hoffman have nice chemistry as Scheider's Doc is protective of his little brother Babe. Devane's Janeway exudes Ivy League elitism. Janeway is ambiguously deceptive as most intelligence agents are. He's on both sides and neither side, climbing the corporate spook ladder to his next promotion. I was always a little surprised Devane didn't have a better film career but he has been a constant in television and cable. And Richard Bright (THE GODFATHER PART II) and Marc Lawrence (KEY LARGO) are perfect from the Rogue's Gallery of movie henchmen as Szell's muscle.

Marthe Keller as Babe's Swiss (or is she German) girlfriend Elsa had her heyday in the mid-70's. Keller appeared in MARATHON MAN as well as John Frankenheimer's BLACK SUNDAY (1977) and Sydney Pollack's BOBBY DEERFIELD (1977). In MARATHON MAN, she plays a history student who becomes Babe's nurturing lover, a role she would play again as the terrorist/lover to Vietnam Vet psycho Bruce Dern in BLACK SUNDAY. Keller's Elsa has some depth and sadness, she's not just another pretty foreign actress in an American film. Elsa's a pawn in this chess game of political intrigue.

An interesting six degrees of cinematic separation. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford would star in one of the great real life political conspiracy thrillers of all time ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) based on Washington Post writers Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's true account of Richard Nixon's presidency collapsing over the Watergate scandal. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN screenplay was written by none other than MARATHON MAN screenwriter William Goldman. In 1975, the year before, Redford starred in THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, another political conspiracy film. And then Hoffman would star in his own political conspiracy film (with a Nazi war criminal subplot) written by Goldman called MARATHON MAN. Hoffman, Redford, and Goldman all knew a good thing when they saw it with the paranoia conspiracy thrillers in light of Watergate.

MARATHON MAN is compelling but not perfect. The opening road rage scene between German and Jew is a bit contrived as the men race their cars past Orthadox Jews on the Upper East Side of New York on the day of Yom Kippur. And Babe's falling for Elsa who just happens to be Swiss was a little too convenient once we figure out Nazi Szell and Babe's brother Doc know each other. But ultimately, MARATHON MAN is a grade or two above the usual thriller because of its pedigree: Director John Schlesinger, Producer Robert Evans (who I haven't even mentioned), Screenwriter William Goldman, and a stellar cast led by Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider. MARATHON MAN is like a long distance race. It starts out slow and deliberate, building suspense, and finishes fast like a sprint.