 |
| Anne Of The Thousand Days - 1969 |
Coming up next is 1969's "Anne Of The Thousand Days", a version of the events surrounding King Henry VIII and his passion for the ill-fated Anne Boleyn.
The film's cast includes Richard Burton, Genevieve Bujold, Irene Papas, Anthony Quayle, John Colicos, Michael Hordern, Katherine Blake, Peter Jeffrey, Lesley Paterson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Kate Burton.
In 1536, King Henry VIII is informed that a trial formed against his wife, Queen Anne, has come to an end. The verdict: guilty. And now he must sign her death warrant.
We flash back a few years. Henry has grown tired of his wife, Queen Katherine, and her inability to give him sons. The object of his fancy is a newcomer to court, Anne Boleyn.
Complications ensue when Anne is discovered to be engaged. The king forbids the marriage, and he schemes with Cardinal Wolsey to end the engagement.
The king pursues Anne, following her to her family's country estate. Her parents and her former fiancé encourage her to become the king's mistress in the hope that they will be advanced at court. Anne refuses. (Is anyone else getting serious Catherine O'Hara vibes from Anne's mother? I swear the two are lookalikes.)
Anne blames the king and the cardinal for ruining her happiness, and she will not countenance becoming the mistress of someone who may cast her aside, just as he did to her sister Mary when she was his mistress.
Henry brings Anne back to court as part of Queen Katherine's retinue. He continues his advances, and Anne continues her refusals.
Anne eventually decides to play the game in order to get the best possible outcome for herself. She longs to make the cardinal suffer for his interference in her engagement, and she promises Henry that she would marry him if he were able to be free of his wife and make her a queen.
Queen Katherine is devastated when Henry announces his intentions to begin divorce proceedings. And she will not go quietly.
Anne grows closer to Henry, and she finds that she is in love with him. She is with him when he decides to separate England from the Catholic Church and proclaim himself the Head of the Church of England. This will enable him to divorce Katherine and marry Anne.
Henry gives takes Cardinal Wolsey's Hampton Court Palace and gives it to Anne. She then gives herself to Henry.
Happily ensconced at Hampton Court, Anne discovers that she is expecting Henry's child.
This necessitates a quick private marriage ceremony and a very public coronation for Anne as Queen of England. However popular she may be with her husband, the crowds are definitely against Anne, proclaiming her to be the "King's whore".
Henry's hopes for a son and heir are dashed when Anne gives birth to a daughter, who is named Elizabeth.
A few years pass and Anne and Henry's marriage has completely broken down. Henry has turned his attentions to one of Anne's ladies, Jane Seymour.
Anne warns Henry that if he touches Jane she will have her removed from court and out of his reach.
So, Henry gets his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, and tells him to find a way to end his marriage to Anne.
We know what happens next. A charge of infidelity, a sham of a trial, and witnesses tortured into testifying against the Queen spell Anne's doom.
Anne is taken from the Tower of London and beheaded with the swoop of a sword.
As young Princess Elizabeth hears the cannons that announce her mother's death, Anne's voice is heard saying that Elizabeth will one day be queen, and when she sits on the throne, her blood will have been well spent.
Cast rundown:
Richard Burton............................King Henry VIII
Genevieve Bujold........................Anne Boleyn
Irene Papas................................Queen Katherine
Anthony Quayle..........................Cardinal Wolsey
John Colicos...............................Thomas Cromwell
Michael Hordern..........................Thomas Boleyn
Katherine Blake..........................Elizabeth Boleyn
Peter Jeffrey...............................Duke of Norfolk
Lesley Paterson...........................Jane Seymour
Elizabeth Taylor...........................Masked Courtesan
Kate Burton................................Serving Maid
And that's it for Anne Of The Thousand Days. Richard Burton was not pleased with his performance or the film. He was very surprised when he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Despite a very fictionalized storyline, the performances of Burton, Genevieve Bujold, and Irene Papas were met with much acclaim.
Burton's wife, Elizabeth Taylor, appeared in the film in the uncredited part of "Masked Courtesan". Ms. Taylor was on the set keeping an eye on her husband, whom she did not trust around the lovely Genevieve Bujold. Taylor was paid $46 dollars for her services. Her face is only visible in the scene for a few seconds before it is covered by a mask. She wore her own jewelry for the part, which included the pearl "La Peregrina", suspended from a necklace. Sold at auction in 2011, the pearl fetched more than $11 million and has been described as the largest perfectly symmetrical pear-shaped pearl in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment