The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) on Netflix
King Henry VIII, renowned for excess, has a series of wives. After Anne Boleyn is executed for treason, he weds Jane Seymour, then Anne of Cleves. The marriage is annulled within months.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb7.0/105,519 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Plot summary
Renowned for excess, King Henry VIII spends his reign moving from one wife to the next. His second wife, Anne Boleyn, is executed on charges of treason. He then weds Jane Seymour, but she dies in childbirth eighteen months later. Not one to stay single for long, the king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves as his next bride. The marriage lasts only a few months before it is annulled.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Private Life of Henry VIII is credited with creating the popular image of Henry VIII as a fat, lecherous glutton who eats turkey legs and tosses the bones over his shoulder. In the film itself, what Henry eats is an entire capon.
- At the Academy Awards, The Private Life of Henry VIII became the first foreign picture to win an Oscar, with Charles Laughton taking Best Actor, and the first foreign film nominated for Best Picture.
- The film cost £93,710, which was five times the average cost of a British feature film in the early 1930s.
- The story was first planned to cover only Henry VIII's marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, but it grew to take in five of his six wives. Catherine of Aragon was left out because the filmmakers had no interest in her, calling her a "respectable woman".
