A Matter of Conscience: Henry VIII and Thomas More (clip)

Based on "A Man For All Seasons" by Robert Bolt, the clash between Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) and Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) is brilliantly presented, as More refuses to sanction Henry's manipulation to make himself head of the Church of England. The climactic scene in the halls of Parliament as More faces the men who will eventually condemn him is one of the most memorable ever filmed.

Specially edited by LCA from the Fred Zinnemann feature "A Man For All Seasons," winner of the Academy Award for best picture of 1966. An LCA release. 30 minutes, color.

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[franzy878]

thomas more was the most badass lawyer who ever lived. god rest his soul.

[victoriasvintage]

Awesome! St. Thomas is the best!

[OneBigRetard]

What a shitty edit. Missed the closing and brilliant line.

[LadyAmaltheaUnicorn]

agreed, I don't think it's fair to judge him for how the law were hundreds of years ago.

Back than, charging someone with heresy was like charging someone for perjury.

It's just now a days we view previous punishments as cruel, but also keep in mind that they didn't have high security prisons back than to keep every prisoner bound.

Killing people for crimes was a way of both ridding them from "hurting" society as well as scaring potential criminals from committing crimes

[DaniMajor]

"Following the publication of Tyndale's New Testament, Cardinal Wolsey condemned Tyndale as a heretic and demanded his arrest

He was tried on a charge of heresy in 1536 and condemned to death, despite Thomas Cromwell's intercession on his behalf. He "was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned".

So unless More had sobrenatura powers and got back from the dead I don´t think he had any responsability in Tyndale´s death

[DaniMajor]

More didn´t kill Tyndale.

He was tried on a charge of heresy in 1536 and condemned to death, despite Thomas Cromwell's intercession on his behalf. He "was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned". Foxe gives 6 October as the date of commemoration (left-hand date column), but gives no date of death (right-hand date column). So unless More had sobrenatural powers he had no responsability. And reading confrontation with Tyndale would also help

[Cybele1986]

Yes. People took religion far more seriously in those days, in a way that is difficult for modern people to comprehend. It was only after Vatican II that the Catholic Church abandoned the idea that other churches were heretical. In those days, heresy was something that had to be stopped because heresy led straight to Hell and heretics who influenced others to become heretics would lead them straight to Hell. That was why heretics were treated even more harshly than murderers.

[DaniMajor]

actually, no one really knows what were Henry´s feelings regarding Thomas. They were friends. Thomas educated Henry in many aspects and the fact Henry was quite inteligent. This movie shows him as being almost an idiot and really dumb but he wasn´t. Initially they agreed in many religious aspects. Thomas helped Henry to write the Defense of the seven sacrements and then Thomas defended Henry´s positions and his own in Answer to Luther.

[DaniMajor]

The man lived a 500 years ago!!! Church and State weren´t separate. Some history perspective, please. Lutherans have killed people. Catholics too, islamisc too. More condemed to death 6 people. That´s hardly a genocide. And lutherans have persecute catholics in England and in German. Actually, in some villages in German people Lutherans murderer catholics. I think wonderful that you have a critical view but you must extend that view to everything.

[AMcGrath82]

Didn't Henry the VIII really love Thomas More? It was Cromwell that acted against him... but Henry was loath to kill him, if I recall my history.

[AFaithfulServant]

I didn't say Lutherans; I said Reformers. The most notable individual example is Calvin's burning of Servetus; the Anglicans killed hundreds of Catholics. More resigned in 1532 and was killed in 1535 by the Anglicans; Tyndale was burnt by the Anglicans in 1536. Get your history straight.

[lollipopfop]

So if Thomas More had his way the Church could rule over the whole world, even above our own governments, and people like us would not even know what the Bible said. Wed just know we better do what the priest says. Im glad someone took the Church on so we can all live in freedom and peace. Im glad Im not forced to be a Catholic.