I've just watched A Man For All Seasons (Fred Zimmerman's film of the Robert Bolt play) and was absolutely blown away by it - especially Paul Scofield's central performance.
So I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations of films with acting of a similar quality.
This might sound a little ridiculous as it's quite a 'lightweight' film - but there is a scene in 'Peter's Friends' in which Imelda Staunton is incredible. She's arguing with her husband (Hugh Laurie) about the death of their son, and she is absolutely amazing; has me in tears every time.
I mean, from the pov of the arc or architecture of his performance, in my opinion there was one moment that clinched the Oscar for him. Without it, I don't believe he would have won it.
saw your Forum posting. The great lamented Paul Scofield is a favourite actor of mine. Great Omnibus prog on at Xmas about him. Seems as though he was a wonderful man too. Quiet, shy and unassuming. Didn't like the glitz. Family man. Private. His performance in 'AMFAS' was towering (what a voice)and worthy of his oscar award. When we talk about great acting in great films - well we could talk and talk. But one that springs to mind as it's a period piece also, made around the same time too, is 'Becket' with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole in the central roles. People talk about Burton never realising his potential and perhaps there is truth in that. He was a big drinker, but so was O'Toole. But rarely have I seen Burton not dominate on screen. But in my humble opinion O'Toole steals the show. Another great performance. Awesome! Have a look.
I saw Scofield play Timon of Athens at Stratford two nights in a row shortly after he won the Oscar back in '67. I'd bought the wrong tickets the second night, but saw the show again anyway. The first night he blew me away with his stage presence and voice and his command of text. The second night he blew me away because he was off, everyone was off, he forgot lines, names of characters, even corpsed once doing so, yet he held it together and kept driving through even though the audience was tuning out on him. It was one of the best lessons I ever had as a young actor, to see an Oscar winner lose it yet not lose it.
Funny, I feel the opposite to other posters regarding A Man For All Seasons and King Lear.
I thought Scofield's reserve in AMFAS was character-based - an individual whose belief in reason was second only to his belief in God; when his emotion does break through (when his family visit him in prison for example), it is absolutely heart-rending.
Whereas I found his Lear strangely vacant. With the wintry conditions, the production is evidently meant to be austere; but I found Lear difficult to connect with.
Of course the play avoids the dark side of Thomas More - a real wierdo into self-flagellation and hair shirts and all, or so the story goes. Bolt portrays him as tres noble, and not religiously driven - the Catholic pov -whereas he was a religious fanatic by all accounts.
The less-than-3-seconds flash of real emotion he lets out when he hugs his wife goodbye is the correct answer to my first trivia question. When I teach acting for camera I use it as an example of how a great actor constructs a performance. He got angry with Roper just over half way through, but the rest of his performance is a masterpiece of contained feeling. Well, the whole performance is a masterpiece. Of course, it's written that way, to give Bolt credit where credit is due.
The film of Lear let him down, I thought. The director got in the way with all the tricksy photography. I think Scofield's Lear is one of the best on record. Charles Marowitz wrote an interesting rehearsal diary during the original stage production. Well worth a read for students of Scofield's method.
Back on Paul Scofield. A couple of his films I would like to recommend (not a huge choice as he didn't make many!) are 'The Train' where he plays a Nazi officer fleeing Paris with a trainload of Impressionist Art. Burt Lancaster is the 'hero' of the piece. Another is 'Carve Her Name with Pride'. A 'biopic' of the British SOE Operative, Violette Szabo, played by Virginia McKenna. Also set during WW2.
PS was gifted with a beautiful, velvety voice. It sort of sings to you. He had great pipes! But he worked hard with words. He would play with them, and experiment with them, listening to their 'sounds' - their music. There is a very interesting interview in the Omnibus documentary which I mentioned earlier with the director of the film version of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'. He talks about the contrasting ways in which PS and Daniel Day Lewis approached their roles. Two highly acclaimed actors working together, coming from entirely different approaches to acting, simple as that. It reminded me of tale involving the opposing approaches of Olivier/Hoffman during the making of 'Marathon Man'.
If you can get a hold of the documentary, I would recommend it too.
aAH Paul Schofield trully a man for all seasons.... the day he died I had to go out and play thomas more ... of course I didnt do him justice but hopefully something rubbed off after watching his many sublime performances... a great great actor and man RIP
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