Anne of the Thousand Days

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Charles Jarrott directs. Arthur Ibbetson behind the camera. Georges Delerue scores. Richard Marden cuts. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 157 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
• 3International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
• 4Directed by Charles Jarrott, shot by Arthur Ibbetson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Georges Delerue. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Richard Marden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Richard Burton and Geneviève Bujold and Irene Papas carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "He was King. She was barely 18. And in their thousand days they played out the most passionate and shocking love story in history!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0064030 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 12 themes, including "adultery", "england", "based on play or musical", "tudor".

The technical file

Cinematography

Arthur Ibbetson

Original score

Georges Delerue

Editing

Richard Marden

Production design

Maurice Carter

Costume design

Margaret Furse

Makeup / hair

Tom Smith

Runtime

145 min · 2h 25m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) ↗

Also by

Charles Jarrott

• 
  The Woman He Loved

  1988 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Long Past Glory

  1963 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Big Breaker

  1964 · ★ 10.0
• 
  I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII

  1987 · ★ 10.0
• 
  If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have to Invent Them

  1968 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter

  1991 · ★ 9.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Anne of the Thousand Days Official Trailer #1 - Richard Burton Movie (1969) HD

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• CinemaSerf2022-04-04
  ★ 7/10

  Geneviève Bujold is on super form here as the manipulative and ambitious Anne. She captures the heart of the King (Richard Burton) and he proceeds to shake his kingdom to it's foundations in order to possess, then dispose of her. Even if you are not familiar with the story of Anne Boleyn, it is told here by way of a retrospective so we see right from the beginning that her goose is cooked. What ensures depicts how she rose to power, connived the downfall of many around her - most notably the Queen herself (Irene Papas) and Cardinal Wolsey (Anthony Quayle). With the help of a suitably obsequious character of Thomas Cromwell (John Calicos), the internecine and fickle politics of Henry VIII's court is laid bare for us to watch. Perhaps Burton is a bit overly theatrical at times, but there is a smouldering chemistry between the two; the look of the film is great with superb location and costume detail too. Towards the end you almost begin to feel sorry for the poor woman who played the game for all it was worth, but the King's caprices and her inability to have a son wrote her death warrant for her. It is too long, but still one of the best period dramas made on this topic.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• HA

  Hal Wallis Productions

  US

Key crew

• AdaptationRichard Sokolove
• Theatre PlayMaxwell Anderson
• Property MasterJohn Feehan
• ChoreographerMary Skeaping
• Camera OperatorPaul Wilson
• Makeup SupervisorTom Smith
• HairdresserJoan Carpenter
• Assistant DirectorSimon Relph
• Costume SupervisorIvy Baker
• Assistant EditorMary Kessel
• Location ManagerInez Easton
• Production SupervisorJames H. Ware
• Makeup ArtistRon Berkeley
• CastingSally Nicholl
• Matte PainterPeter Harman
• Production SecretaryJoan Williams
• Scenic ArtistFrank Graves
• Scenic ArtistMichael Guyett
• PropsArthur Wicks
• Matte PainterBryan Evans
• Assistant Makeup ArtistPaul Engelen
• Second Assistant DirectorNigel Wooll
• Matte PainterDoug Ferris
• Assistant Makeup ArtistRobin Grantham

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• adultery
• england
• based on play or musical
• tudor
• king
• british history
• anne boleyn
• henry viii
• illicit affair
• 16th century
• british monarchy
• ominous

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1969-12-18PG

Also known as

International titles

• Тисяча днів королеви АнниUA
• Anne des mille joursFR
• 1000日のアンJP
• Anna na tisíc dnůCZ