--- product_id: 2287824 title: "A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition)" price: "£10.75" currency: GBP in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/2287824-a-man-for-all-seasons-special-edition store_origin: GB region: United Kingdom --- # A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition) **Price:** £10.75 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition) - **How much does it cost?** £10.75 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.uk](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/2287824-a-man-for-all-seasons-special-edition) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Robert Bolt's successful play was not considered a hot commercial property by Columbia Pictures--a period piece about a moral issue without a star, without even a love story. Perhaps that's why Columbia left director Fred Zinnemann alone to make A Man for All Seasons , as long as he stuck to a relatively small budget. The results took everyone by surprise, as the talky morality play became a box-office hit and collected the top Oscars for 1966. At the play's heart is the standoff between King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw, in young lion form) and Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield, in an Oscar-winning performance). Henry wants More's official approval of divorce, but More's strict ethical and religious code will not let him waffle. More's rectitude is a source of exasperation to Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles in a cameo), who chides, "If you could just see facts flat on without that horrible moral squint." Zinnemann's approach is all simplicity, and indeed the somewhat prosaic staging doesn't create a great deal of cinematic excitement. But the language is worth savoring, and the ethical politics are debated with all the calm and majesty of an absorbing chess game. -- Robert Horton Stills from A Man for All Seasons (click for larger image) Beyond A Man for All Seasons at desertcart.com More Films By Fred Zinnemann More Biographies on Film Utopia by Thomas More Adaptation of Robert Bolt's play about Sir Thomas More, a Catholic statesman in England who rebelled against Henry VIII's self-proclaimed status as the head of the Church of England and paid for his religious beliefs by having his head exhibited on London Bridge. Review: Do not rent this movie, OWN it. - This Academy Award winning movie is a miracle. Fred Zinnemann's cinematic treatment of the play by Robert Bolt has a quality of luminous economy. The casting is amazing. Every member of the cast is just right, from Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More and Dame Wendy Hiller as Lady Alice all the way down to those cast as the Thames river boatmen, the messengers, the jailers at the Tower and the big lab who played the More's family dog. The costuming and settings in the movie are perfect, a huge departure from the costuming and makeup of other historical movies produced in the fifties and sixties. Another perfectly rendered component of A Man for All Seasons is the soundtrack. It is sparse and beautiful and truly evokes the historical period surrounding the events that lead to the split of the English Church from Rome and the subsequent execution of Sir Thomas. Although this movie was not made to inspire in a religious sense, it is one of the best hagiographies ever made in any medium. It is, after all, the story of a man who is now a canonized Saint of the Catholic Church. More importantly, it is a well-told story with grace abounding everywhere. The opportunities for all the characters to respond to grace seem suspended in time, the choices still waiting to be made, as if time and history have been detained so we can see what they choose to do. King Henry, the Duke of Norfolk, Richard Rich, Lady Alice, Matthew, Margaret, Cromwell ... all of them ... choosing. One of the most exquisite and heartrending scenes in the movie is the foreshadowing of the choices Henry makes -- looking up from his immediate surroundings at his wedding to Anne Boleyn and thinking he sees Thomas (whom he loves and trusts) entering the hall with a group of men. You can almost see the two-fisted thrusting away of the grace of the moment when he realizes the man is not Thomas, and that Thomas will not and cannot endorse his marriage. Spoilers abound in the Lives of the Saints, June 22, the Feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. This movie, in my opinion, is a far better way to learn about a man who walked this earth and was remarkable in his love and compassion in imitation of Christ (and he was a lawyer!) Folks of a secular bent will not find much to complain about, either, as the movie is so well done and has no moralizing or melodrama. A Man for All Seasons is not a movie to rent, it is a movie to own. I have already owned two VHS tapes and 2 DVDs and will probably have to buy it at least once or twice more in my life. Review: An excellent award winning movie - A good period movie showing court life in the time of Henry the 8Th. Paul Scofield does an excellent job playing Sir Thomas More. The movie won 6 Academy Awards. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Contributor | Corin Redgrave, Fred Zinnemann, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Nigel Davenport, Orson Welles, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, Wendy Hiller Contributor Corin Redgrave, Fred Zinnemann, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Nigel Davenport, Orson Welles, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, Wendy Hiller See more | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,254 Reviews | | Format | DVD | | Genre | Award Winning, Biography, Drama, History | | Language | English | | Number Of Discs | 1 | ## Product Details - **Genre:** Award Winning, Biography, Drama, History - **Format:** DVD - **Contributor:** Corin Redgrave, Fred Zinnemann, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Nigel Davenport, Orson Welles, Paul Scofield, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, Wendy Hiller - **Language:** English - **Number Of Discs:** 1 ## Images ![A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81xzq2TOPEL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Do not rent this movie, OWN it. *by F***L on July 25, 2008* This Academy Award winning movie is a miracle. Fred Zinnemann's cinematic treatment of the play by Robert Bolt has a quality of luminous economy. The casting is amazing. Every member of the cast is just right, from Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More and Dame Wendy Hiller as Lady Alice all the way down to those cast as the Thames river boatmen, the messengers, the jailers at the Tower and the big lab who played the More's family dog. The costuming and settings in the movie are perfect, a huge departure from the costuming and makeup of other historical movies produced in the fifties and sixties. Another perfectly rendered component of A Man for All Seasons is the soundtrack. It is sparse and beautiful and truly evokes the historical period surrounding the events that lead to the split of the English Church from Rome and the subsequent execution of Sir Thomas. Although this movie was not made to inspire in a religious sense, it is one of the best hagiographies ever made in any medium. It is, after all, the story of a man who is now a canonized Saint of the Catholic Church. More importantly, it is a well-told story with grace abounding everywhere. The opportunities for all the characters to respond to grace seem suspended in time, the choices still waiting to be made, as if time and history have been detained so we can see what they choose to do. King Henry, the Duke of Norfolk, Richard Rich, Lady Alice, Matthew, Margaret, Cromwell ... all of them ... choosing. One of the most exquisite and heartrending scenes in the movie is the foreshadowing of the choices Henry makes -- looking up from his immediate surroundings at his wedding to Anne Boleyn and thinking he sees Thomas (whom he loves and trusts) entering the hall with a group of men. You can almost see the two-fisted thrusting away of the grace of the moment when he realizes the man is not Thomas, and that Thomas will not and cannot endorse his marriage. Spoilers abound in the Lives of the Saints, June 22, the Feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. This movie, in my opinion, is a far better way to learn about a man who walked this earth and was remarkable in his love and compassion in imitation of Christ (and he was a lawyer!) Folks of a secular bent will not find much to complain about, either, as the movie is so well done and has no moralizing or melodrama. A Man for All Seasons is not a movie to rent, it is a movie to own. I have already owned two VHS tapes and 2 DVDs and will probably have to buy it at least once or twice more in my life. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ An excellent award winning movie *by H***0 on April 19, 2026* A good period movie showing court life in the time of Henry the 8Th. Paul Scofield does an excellent job playing Sir Thomas More. The movie won 6 Academy Awards. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ My pick for Greatest Film of all time *by F***D on November 15, 2016* My favorite Movie of all time and fairly accurate historically. It presents the man as he was with all his flaws but also his greatness. I wish that the film had been able to present a more complete biography, but it would take 6 or 7 hours to do so and that was not possible for a film (maybe a mini-series, but it would have lost its impact). Sir Thomas More was a lawyer who was the son of a Lawyer. He was a brilliant man who knew Latin and Greek and had studied the Roman and Greek writings available to him at the time. He was a friend of Erasmus, the ultimate intellectual of the age. He was also a devout Catholic in an age Lutheran revolt. The film does not cover this aspect of his life, but as Chancellor of England, he was responsible for burning Protestants at the stake pursuant to law. Not admirable by modern standards, but we should not judge him by modern standards, but by standard of his own time. The film is based on Robert Bolt's play and presents short period of the lives of both Sir Thomas More and King Henry the 8th. The acting is outstanding, Orson Welles is Cardinal Woolsey and well cast, and the actor who plays Thomas Cromwell is also excellent (He also played Rumple of the Bailey for BBC)---All the other actors are excellent, even the minor ones. The movie covers the events around Henry the 8th's divorce (actually an annulment in modern terms) of Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Ann Boleyn wherein England left the Roman Catholic Church. The film accurately shows King Henry to be an intellectual well versed in history, law and Catholic theology---he was not an intellectual light weight. He was a man willing to do wrong and rationalize it effectively and he was a tyrant willing to pervert justice and english law to gain his ends. He appointed Sir Thomas More to be his Chancellor replacing Cardinal Woolsey, but he miss judged More's allegiance to English law and Catholic theology. It accurately presents Henry as a very orthodox Catholic, but who threw off the authority of the Bishop of Rome, aka, the Pope. Henry believed More would as a loyal British subject support his king. More was loyal to Henry, but gave his greatest allegiance to God and upheld Roman Catholic and British law. Things not included are that Henry and More together wrote a rebuttal to Luther in around 1520 (7 or 8 years prior to the events in this movie) which caused the Pope to give Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith." More, a commoner, but a brilliant lawyer was a member of Henry's court by virtue of his amazing intellect and learning which Henry appreciated as he was also an very learned man. All Characters are presented sympathetically in the film, but when great moral questions arise, people have to make decisions. My wife thinks More made the wrong decision, I disagree but understand her view. Last historical tidbit, Sir Thomas More was made a Saint of the Catholic Church which may surprise people who think all attorneys are in league with the devil---being an attorney, I appreciate that, even though I am a Protestant and kind of don't like burning Protestants. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/2287824-a-man-for-all-seasons-special-edition](https://www.desertcart.co.uk/products/2287824-a-man-for-all-seasons-special-edition) --- *Product available on Desertcart United Kingdom* *Store origin: GB* *Last updated: 2026-05-26*