Anne of the Thousand Days

Anne of the Thousand Days
Original theatrical poster
Directed byCharles Jarrott
Screenplay byBridget Boland
John Hale
Story byRichard Sokolove
Based onAnne of the Thousand Days
by Maxwell Anderson
Produced byHal B. Wallis
StarringRichard Burton
Geneviève Bujold
Irene Papas
Anthony Quayle
John Colicos
CinematographyArthur Ibbetson
Edited byRichard Marden
Music byGeorges Delerue
Production
company
Hal Wallis Productions
Distributed byThe Rank Organisation (UK)
Universal Pictures (US)
Release dates
  • 18 December 1969 (1969-12-18) (United States)
  • 23 February 1970 (1970-02-23) (United Kingdom)
Running time
145 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4.5 million[1]
Box office$6,134,264 (US/Canada rentals)[2] or $15-20 million (world gross)[1]

Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 British historical drama film based on the life of Anne Boleyn, directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The screenplay by Bridget Boland and John Hale is an adaptation of the 1948 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson.

The film stars Richard Burton as King Henry VIII and Geneviève Bujold as Anne Boleyn. Irene Papas plays Catherine of Aragon, Anthony Quayle plays Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and John Colicos plays Thomas Cromwell. Others in the cast include Michael Hordern, Katharine Blake, Peter Jeffrey, Joseph O'Conor, William Squire, Vernon Dobtcheff, Denis Quilley, Esmond Knight, and T. P. McKenna, who later played Henry VIII in Monarch. Burton's wife Elizabeth Taylor makes a brief, uncredited appearance.

Despite receiving some negative reviews[3] and mixed reviews from The New York Times[4] and Pauline Kael,[5] the film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won the award for best costumes. Geneviève Bujold's portrayal of Anne, her first in an English language film, was very highly praised, even by Time magazine, which otherwise skewered the movie.[6] According to the Academy Awards exposé Inside Oscar, an expensive advertising campaign was mounted by Universal Studios that included serving champagne and filet mignon to members of the Academy following each screening.[7]

  1. ^ a b Haber, Joyce (30 January 1972). "Presenting the exclusive, reclusive Hal Wallis". The Los Angeles Times. p. 15.
  2. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety, 6 January 1971 p 11
  3. ^ "Anne of the Thousand Days seems to have been made for one person: the Queen of England", Time Magazine
  4. ^ Canby, Vincent (21 January 1970). "Screen: A Royal Battle of the Sexes:'Anne of 1,000 Days' Bows at Plaza Burton Cast as Henry Miss Bujold Stars". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Pauline Kael". www.geocities.ws.
  6. ^ "Cinema: The Lion in Autumn". Time. 2 February 1970. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  7. ^ Inside Oscar, Mason Wiley and Damien Boa, Ballantine Books (1986) pg. 434