The recent DVD release of the British classic The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) is a reminder that Charles Laughton, in the title role, gave a truly magnificent performance.  He won the 1933 Best Actor Oscar, and his is one of the rare Oscar-winning turns every bit as good as the award implies.  The picture, too, holds up surprisingly well, mostly because it isn’t a heavy biopic, but, rather, a film with a light winking tone, some saucy sexuality, and the good sense to have a very limited focus, specifically Henry’s love life.  Its refreshing humor (still funny and charming) serves to heighten the startling impact of its shifts into drama.  Everything Laughton does is executed (no pun intended) with supreme artistry.  

Laughton is a dazzling visual, a portly and commanding presence who carries his elaborate costumes with effortless panache.  No one can tear into a capon and fling its bones as he does, belching all the way.  Laughton has a marvelously theatrical collapse on a grand staircase, making a full spin before falling!  Another unforgettable scene is his dry announcement, just before he thinks he is going to bed Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lanchester):  “The things I’ve done for England.”  Laughton and Lanchester (Mr. and Mrs. Laughton) are a hoot together, playing cards in bed.  Though his is a large performance, it has illuminating moments of unexpected quiet and subtlety.  There is no moment better than when he learns of Katherine Howard’s infidelity; his initial anger turns to grief.  Bringing his hands to his eyes, he cries like a baby.  A witty comic turn has become a superb dramatic performance.  Every subsequent Henry owes something to Laughton’s definitive portrayal.

As Katherine, Binnie Barnes is the nominal female lead, though Lanchester is the wife who steals the picture.  Merle Oberon is seen briefly (and beautifully) as Anne Boleyn, but it’s Laughton’s show, whether he’s hilarious or touching, crafty or childish, vocally booming or in private pain.  Alexander Korda was not a great director but here he shows a light touch.  Korda’s film has the feeling of authenticity, a fast pace, and more than a dash of pre-Code bawdiness.  It is now a film more than 75 years old and yet no screen Henry in all that time can unseat Laughton from his throne.