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The Bloody, Bawdy History of Henry VIII Onscreen
From Richard Burton to Jude Law, the king with six wives frequently plays second fiddle to a more interesting woman.
Although slightly exaggerated as required by the silent format, Jenning’s performance and Lubitsch’s film set the template for cinematic Tudor courts to come: spectacular wedding scenes, a lusty and larger-than-life Henry, and a big execution for a finale. Although he’s absolutely a lecherous glutton belching and bellowing his way through meals and marriages – Anne of Cleves describes the four wives who didn’t make it as (in order) “spiteful, ambitious, stupid, and young” – Charles Laughton’s Henry is somewhat sympathetic, prone to flashes of self-reflection and genuine contrition. He’s ominously vulgar as he bites chunks of meat off the end of his dagger and strokes the necks of his assorted wives, but he’s not totally one-note, and surreptitiously revels in Elizabeth’s defiance even while referring to her as “Anne Boleyn’s brat.” Otherwise he doesn’t stick around, kicking the bucket roughly 30 minutes in.
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