Trailer
Plot summary
Cromwell is a devout Puritan and a country squire, a magistrate, and a former member of Parliament. King Charles I's policies trouble him and many others: common land is enclosed for wealthy landowners, and rituals he considers Romish enter the Church of England. The king calls himself a devout Anglican. His French queen may practice Roman Catholicism privately, but she may not raise the Prince of Wales in that faith. Cromwell plans to move his family to the New World. On the eve of their departure, he is persuaded to remain and return to politics.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Cromwell (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Richard Harris liked the script and wanted to star, but financiers did not consider him a big enough star to finance the film. They wanted Charlton Heston, who wrote in his diaries on 2 November 1961 that he had turned down Warwick's Cromwell script.
- In April 1967 Irving Allen announced that John Briley had rewritten Ken Hughes' script and that Peter Hall would direct, with Paul Scofield hoped for as Charles I and Albert Finney as Cromwell. Hughes tried to get Richard Burton to read the script, but Burton was not interested.
- Henry Ireton is shown heading the parliamentary deputation that offers Cromwell the Crown, but that offer happened in 1657, by which time Ireton had been dead for six years; the scene also suggests a personal falling-out between two men who were in reality particularly close.
- The budget started at $6 million and grew to $9 million, and after $600,000 had been spent the backers were tempted to pull out of the film, but they changed their mind.
- At the 7th Moscow International Film Festival in 1971 the film won the award for Best Actor for Richard Harris, and was nominated for the Golden Prize as Best Picture for Ken Hughes.
- The original cut of the film ran three hours and fifteen minutes, but Hughes cut it down to two hours and twenty four minutes.
