How sad is this?

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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 It was never withdrawn from circulation until the advent of television.COMMENT: Considering the enormous — indeed the super-star — popularity of Charles Laughton, it's peculiar that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.

This classic impression of "Henry VIII" by Charles Laughton is fun to watch. After this, it became impossible to think of the real-life English monarch without picturing Mr. Laughton. However, the unlikable character's "Private Life" makes a dull film. Alexander Korda creates atmosphere, but he and the scenery-chewing star needed a better story. There is some respite, if you endure, during the second half. Things pick up when dapper Robert Donat (as Thomas "Tom" Culpeper) arouses fifth wife Binnie Barnes (as Katherine "Kate" Howard). Also stay tuned as Elsa Lanchester (as Anne of Cleves) visits the castle for a quick marriage and returns, later, to offer the King some good advice. Laughton took home his "Oscar" for this role.****** The Private Life of Henry VIII (8/17/33) Alexander Korda ~ Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Binnie Barnes, Elsa Lanchester

Near the beginning of "Three Days of the Condor," Max von Sydow and his gang of hired hit men brutally murder in cold blood half a dozen harmless and unarmed civilians. At the end, von Sydow's character has a little speech that is supposed to make us sympathetic. He may kill for the group that pays him the most, but he is a sensitive man, a man of principle. But that initial mass murder, starkly depicted, is an unforgivable act. It was so repellant that the fact that he might know the Louvre inside and out became irrelevant.I had the same problem with "The Private Life of Henry VIII." Charles Laughton gives a find performance, considering that it's so overplayed. But one expects a great big ham at a royal banquet. The difficulty is that the film begins with the tragic beheading of Anne Bolyne, Henry's second wife. And the preparations are dwelt on. The French headsman, imported for the occasion, spends forever sharpening his sword. There is reassuring talk about how it doesn't hurt. Happily the execution takes place off screen, as does the descending sword in "Anne of the Thousand Days," which tells part of the same story.The king isn't at all put off by his wife's death. She had to make room for wife number three. He goes through half a dozen wives. In the last scene he turns to the camera and says, "Six wives, and the last one is the worst." And we're supposed to chuckle at the bad luck of this pompous, self indulgent, murdering curmudgeon who lives by hypothetical imperatives alone.Laughton's performance can't be criticized. He shouts out orders and bullies everyone, man and woman alike. When he executes another wife for possible adultery, he weeps as he prays for forgiveness, "Mea culpa," but I don't believe it. He's never shown remorse in his life. Yet he injects some humor into the narrative. "There is no more delicacy," he complains at the dinner table, as he tears off a large piece of capon and slips the bones over his shoulder. Laughton has developed a walk that reeks of uncompromising authority, as he stomps around the castle.I guess the contemporary audience enjoyed it. I didn't like it much.

What a pity that many people's defining image of Henry the Eighth,founder of The Church of England and probably the last all-powerful king of the realm should be that of a fat greedy badly-behaved overgrown baby with appalling table manners.The truth was very different.Henry was a disciple of the "New Learning",a man with impeccable manners,a linguist,fluent in French and Latin,a poet,a musician,keenly interested in all aspects of science and aware of his position as head of the most elegant and sophisticated Court in Europe. In common with aristocratic beliefs of his time Henry considered sex within marriage was principally for the purposes of procreation.For sexual pleasure he took mistresses. His main purpose in contracting marriages was to secure the male line of the monarchy.If Katherine of Aragon had given him a son the history of Europe would have been significantly different. "The private life of Henry V111th" is Hollywood history at its most absurd.It makes "The black shield of Falworth" seem like a prestige BBC2 documentary.It's history for people who don't care about it . Mr Charles Laughton -the scenery chewer's scenery chewer - is allowed to run riot and the rest of the cast overact like mad in a vain attempt to keep up with him.Important events in English history ,complex motives and multi - layered characters are trivialised.The whole look and feel of the movie is pure 1933,nothing even remotely suggests Tudor England. As a respite from the grimness of the height of the Depression this may have been worth a punt.73 years down the line I submit it has no value whatsoever.