Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

Charles Laughton
as Henry VIII

Robert Donat
as Thomas Culpeper

Franklin Dyall
as Thomas Cromwell

Miles Mander
as Wriothesley

Laurence Hanray
as Archbishop Cranmer

William Austin
as Duke of Cleves

John Loder
as Peynell

Claud Allister
as Cornell

Gibb McLaughlin
as The French Executioner

Sam Livesey
as The English Executioner
CinemaSerf
Charles Laughton well deserved his only Oscar for this wonderfully over the top, rumbustious portrayal of Henry VIII as he embarks on his infamous spree of wives. "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" goes the mnemonic - this version skips the first wife describing her as a "decen...