Becket
(Great Britain/USA, 1964, 148 minutes)
King Henry II installs his trusted confidant and best friend, Thomas Becket, as Archbishop of Canterbury to make sure the Church of England will follow him blindly, but is shocked when Becket sides with the Church against all-out royal power. Run-of-the-mill screen adaptation of a successful Broadway play hinging essentially on two strong star performances effectively milking the clever, wittily worded dialogue for all it’s worth, but other than the performances and the technical credits there really isn’t much more to recommend it.
Paramount Pictures presents a Hal Wallis production; a Paramount Film Service/Keep Films co-production. Starring Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole; with John Gielgud, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa; and Donald Wolfit. Directed by Peter Glenville; produced by Hal Wallis; screenplay by Edward Anhalt, based on the play by Jean Anouilh, Becket; music by Laurence Rosenthal; director of photography (Technicolor, Panavision), Geoffrey Unsworth; production designer, John Bryan; costume designer, Margaret Furse; film editor, Anne V. Coates.
King Henry II installs his trusted confidant and best friend, Thomas Becket, as Archbishop of Canterbury to make sure the Church of England will follow him blindly, but is shocked when Becket sides with the Church against all-out royal power. Run-of-the-mill screen adaptation of a successful Broadway play hinging essentially on two strong star performances effectively milking the clever, wittily worded dialogue for all it’s worth, but other than the performances and the technical credits there really isn’t much more to recommend it.
Paramount Pictures presents a Hal Wallis production; a Paramount Film Service/Keep Films co-production. Starring Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole; with John Gielgud, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa; and Donald Wolfit. Directed by Peter Glenville; produced by Hal Wallis; screenplay by Edward Anhalt, based on the play by Jean Anouilh, Becket; music by Laurence Rosenthal; director of photography (Technicolor, Panavision), Geoffrey Unsworth; production designer, John Bryan; costume designer, Margaret Furse; film editor, Anne V. Coates.
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