The Private Life of Henry VIII

Released Sep 21, 1933

1h 32m

History

Drama

List

95%

Tomatometer

19 Reviews

75%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon), his second wife, executed on charges of treason, King Henry weds maid Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie), but that marriage also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the king picks German-born Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester) as his bride, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and King Henry continues his string of spouses.

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Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: 4/5

Jan 10, 2003

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

It's still a superb film even if it has become outdated.

Rated: A

May 12, 2021

Full Review

Forsyth Hardy

Cinema Quarterly

The Private Life of Henry VIII gives Korda an assured place among the important directors in contemporary cinema.

Feb 3, 2021

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Alexander Korda's 'The Private Life of Henry VIII' is a period biographical drama that, for my taste, has an authentic performance of Charles Laughton as the lustful monarch, but frankly it lacks the vigor to be pleasurable. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Dec 3, 2020

Full Review

Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

It compares advantageously with most of the current crop of historical comedy-dramas.

Dec 3, 2019

Full Review

Pare Lorentz

Vanity Fair

An English production directed by Frank Capra, with Charles Laughton, his wife, Miss Lanchester, some attractive girls, and the most civilized scenario of the season.

Jun 6, 2019

Full Review

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Gregory L

Charles Laughton at his best!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/30/23

Full Review

Christopher B

A stunning portrayal of Henry VIII is given by Charles Laughton who won an Oscar for his role, is the center of The Private Life of Henry VIII. The film is a tongue in cheek display of the private life of the British King and being so, is often very humorous and yet still quite serious as people lose their lives fairly often. Once we are introduced to King Henry VIII we are told of his first wife who isn't seen because she was "too respectable to be included", and then we dive into his second marriage or I should say the end of his second marriage. We then proceed through the other of his six wives and the resulting impact each has, not just on the King himself but the whole of the court and the country. This is a very captivating film that is simple yet effective and really established Charles Laughton's international stardom and jump started his prolific career. A wonderful British piece!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/20/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Charles Laughton is one hell of an actor. He breathes life into the part of King Henry VIII of England. Henry is one of the most interesting and controversial figures in British history. The six marriages he had is something you couldn't make up. Laughton on a Best Actor Oscar for his role and he deserves it. However, he is better than the overall film. I found it duller than it should be. Only Laughton's real life wife, Elsa Lanchester makes much of an impact. Noted for it's great performance, but stale on its history.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

William L

The Private Life of Henry VIII, at the time of release a smashing success for director Alexander Korda and two of its major stars, Charles Laughton and Robert Donat, is not a particularly subtle or nuanced portrait of one of the most dynamic and notorious monarchs in history. It's highly dramatized in the character details of Henry and his matrimonial affairs, but Laughton dives into the popular facets of the legend and eats up the screen with every moment. It doesn't take much experience with early sound films to see an emerging pattern of wooden performances, with lines practically being read directly off of scripts and hardly any attention being paid to a character's mannerisms. Here, Laughton is boisterous and brash, vivid and emotional; in 1933, it was probably as if moviegoers suddenly discovered a sixth sense seeing energy like that on the screen. The Private Life is also surprisingly playful when it comes to tone, intermittently giving flashes of dramatic flair (mostly for Laughton to flex his chops) before ultimately returning to a more jovial baseline, such as the executions when Anne Boleyn worries over the appearance of her hair, or the legitimately funny wedding night card games of Henry and Anne of Cleves (featuring Laughton's wife, Elsa Lanchester) and their subsequent platonic friendship. That said, there isn't much to speak of when it comes to the more serious aspects of a notorious character in a film that is really not objectively a comedy, particularly the rather poorly aged, fourth-wall-breaking final line where the script reduces the highs and lows of the film's plot to a "women, amiright?" moment. Laughton's always great, though. It's totally worth a watch even today just for him. A Best Actor Oscar well deserved for the period. (3.5/5)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/02/22

Full Review

Audience Member

In watching this it's good to remember we're talking about his private life. The reasons of state and the impact all the marriages had on Tudor foreign and domestic politics is not dealt with here at all. In fact it was all politics and religion and the mix of the two that was involved in Henry VIII's first marriage and divorce. That was what led to the English break away from the Roman Catholic Church and the founding of the Anglican church. In this film Catherine of Aragon is dismissed as a, "good woman." The film begins with wife 2, Anne Boleyn, who failed in her duty to provide a male heir. Number 3, Jane Seymour, did so at the cost of her own life when she died in childbirth. Wife 4 is Anne of Cleves and we're not sure exactly why Henry VIII found her so unappealing. Reportedly the portrait sent to the English court of her before the marriage was brokered was shall we say, exaggerated advertisement. The vacuum of knowledge gives Elsa Lanchester a great opportunity for some scatterbrained comedy that she excelled at. It comes as a comic interlude in an otherwise grim film. Wife Number 5 is Catherine Howard, a young girl with nymphomaniac tendencies. Binnie Barnes as Catherine Howard is more virtuous but just as ambitious as the real Catherine. In truth Thomas Culpepper was only one of a series of lovers with whom she cheated with. Doing that to the King had only one remedy. Charles Laughton won an Oscar for this performance and set a standard for playing Henry VIII. Some of the others that followed and all of them doing it well. Robert Donat got first real notice playing Tom Culpepper and of course went on to a great, but limited career.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

william d

Yes, Laughton is brilliant, but the technical limitations of 1933 film making are all too obvious here.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Alexander Korda

Director

Charles Laughton

Henry VIII

Elsa Lanchester

Anne of Cleves

Binnie Barnes

Katherine Howard

Robert Donat

Thomas Culpeper

Merle Oberon

Anne Boleyn

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Synopsis

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon), his second wife, executed on charges of treason, King Henry weds maid Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie), but that marriage also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the king picks German-born Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester) as his bride, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and King Henry continues his string of spouses.

Director: Alexander Korda
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: London Film Production
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 21, 1933, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 11, 2016
Runtime: 1h 32m

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