Moore is More!

I have just watched A Man of all Seasons on DVD. I missed it the first time it did the circuit as I was too young or opportunity did not come my way then. All is not lost. Despite these past 40 years, the movie continues to be crisp and engrossing and the dialogue, editing and acting is so good that it certainly deserves the cluster of Academy Awards it won including Best Picture for the year 1966.

The story is simple-about a man who stuck to his principles when everyone else has abandoned theirs for convenience, power, wealth, and the status quo. Expediency rather than principles dictated the actions of the courtiers and their families. It is the same today.

Sir Thomas Moore. The Lord Chancellor went against the King by not supporting his marriage to Anne Boleyn. The King’s fears drove him to have Moore imprisoned, tried in a kangaroo court of sort and finally had him beheaded in the Tower of London. The open court scene at the end was spell-binding especially Moore’s rebuttals!

In this movie, we saw the abject and low-down treachery of Cromwell, Wosley and Richard Rich – all for runaway ambition, gross corruption and transient power. Moore’s death was later to be followed by Cromwell’s execution for treason. As if by divine intervention, sex-crazed Henry VIII had to die from the dreaded syphilis!

The movie is well paced and is entertaining enough. Do see it some time.

Quote of the Day:

“It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.” Earl Warren

Heartsong