Paul Scofield is superb as the Lord Chancellor of England ultimately torn between his loyalty to his king and to his conscience. As Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) becomes more and more infatuated by Anne Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave) he insists that all of his subjects acknowledge his absolute supremacy over the church. Most, fearful for their lives and property, acquiesce but Sir Thomas More (Scofield) cannot. The King has long relied on the honest counsel of his friend as so initially is content to allow him to retire, but soon those conspiring against More use everything at their disposal to bring him to ruin. Wendy Hiller sensitively portrays his stoic wife desperate to save her husband from the scaffold but cognisant of his overwhelming sense of right and wrong. Leo McKern also stands out as his scheming successor Thomas Cromwell and there is a cameo from Orson Welles as the clearly out-of-favour Cardinal Wolsey. Robert Bolt adapts his own stage play without compromising the genuine sentiment of his original work - fear, honesty, integrity and power - making this a thought-provoking watch from Fred Zinnemann.
