A Man for All Seasons - Trial (1 of 3)

The first part of the trial scene from the 1966 movie "A Man for All Seasons". Thomas More is on trial because he would not take the Oath of Supremacy recognizing Henry VIII as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and failure to do so was treated as treason. Roman Catholics such as More had to take the Oath or were tried and usually executed.

"Not so. Not so Master Secretary. The maxim is "Qui tecat consentere." The maxim of the law is "Silence gives consent." If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented, not that I denied."
...
"The world must construe according to its wits. This court must construe according to the law."

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• thomas
• more
• man
• for
• all
• seasons
• henry
• viii
• paul
• scofield
• fred
• zinnemann
• leo
• mckern
• robert
• bolt

[EuropeAwakening]

Brilliant acting. Can you imagine this being made today, it would have Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise or some other vapid Hollywood personality in it, ugh.

Thank you for posting.

[jakewelty1]

sir thomas moore can be considered the most honorable man of his time

[zackhanscom]

if more was an atheist, he would have perjured himself quite easily, i imagine.

[1996SlimJim]

this is helping me with my essay, thanks for posting!

[InternetDickhead]

Wow, Richy Rich was called to the stand...

[RichardLKentEsq]

@kevinastraw It is the speech of a man of morality. "I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duty they lead their country by a short route to chaos." You have utterly missed the point of this entire film.

[drcgb]

I cannot praise this film highly enough; the acting, script and setting are beyond superb; it is powerful and deeply moving. And as others have already pointed out in so many words, can you imagine anything like this being made nowadays? This film is surely one of the best ever made in the English language, at least for those with the wit and soul to appreciate such things.

[umairalishah4127]

we perfomed a man for all seasons on the stage this year in edwardes collge peshawar each year we perform differen plays in 2008 we performed MACBETH in 2009 we perfomed DR FAUSTUS and this year we had the honour of performing a man for all seasons it was a memorible moment of my life while wearing a cosutume 200 years old

[adriancombe]

@UKKid 'More' is the correct spelling.

[outtaker]

@UKkid19 because we're mostly American! :P

[CurtHowland]

Were this movie made today, it would have far grander costumes, to the point of absurdity. Furnishings and decoration again to the point of absurdity.

A focus not on character and story, but on sex and explosions.

Some movies should not, must not, be re-made.

They stand as tributes to those who put their lives on the line to make them.

This is one of those.

[xandy1959]

charlton geston had wanted the lead part.he would play it in a tv version in the 80s