In the year that saw such classics as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Alfie, playwright Robert Bolt’s award-winning play-turned-film somehow managed to snatch up six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor. Based on the true story of Saint Thomas More, the 16th Century Chancellor of England in the court of King Henry VIII, the film chronicles More’s opposition to the King’s annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Bolt, who was an atheist, apparently admired More’s courage to stand up to the King more than his religious convictions—convictions that led to More’s execution, and set the framework for Protestantism. They also made beheading queens fashionable.
Wed., Sept. 23, 6 p.m., 2009
