BECKET

UK, 1964, 148 minutes, Colour.
Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Donald Wolfit, Martita Hunt, Pamela Brown, Sian Phillips, Paolo Stoppa, Gino Cervi.
Directed by Peter Glenville.

Becket has become something of a classic. It is a pageant, but it is also a thoughtful study of man and the Church. Thomas a’ Becket has been the subject of a number of plays, the most famous of which is T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Henry II is the subject of Christopher Fry's Curtmantle and James Goldman's The Lion in Winter. Here the account is partly fictionalised (and some people have taken offence at this liberty with a canonised saint's life) but the balance is given between Becket, the worldly chancellor, and Becket, the saintly archbishop of Canterbury, and his relationship with Henry at both stages of his life.

This is the talent of popular French playwright, Jean Anouilh, who also wrote an interesting fictionalised play about Joan of Arc, The Lark. Sets, costumes, acting were all nominated for various awards, Peter O'Toole took up the role of Henry II later in The Lion in Winter. But the film is Richard Burton's. He is completely convincing at each stage of the film.

1. Was this merely a lavish spectacle or does it have strong themes?

2. Did Richard Burton's acting convince you, firstly, that Becket was a fit companion for the king in his politics and his pleasures; and, secondly, that he had undergone a genuine conversion and change of heart, so that his martyrdom was a fitting climax for the film?

3. What were Becket's motives in each part of the film?

4. The film's themes?
5. Discuss Becket as an authority figure in the film. A suitable model for to-day?

6. Why did Becket excommunicate Henry? The pros and cons of the decision?

7. What role did the French king play in the story? and in the film?

8. Were the scenes with the Pope and the Cardinals at Rome realistic or caricatures?

9. Christ's ideals of authority included service and laying down one's life. Was Becket an authentic Christian?

10. Why did Henry want Becket made a saint?

11. What interested audiences most in the film: Henry and Becket, Church- state conflict, Norman- Saxon antagonism, twelfth century life and history?

12. The film was based on a stage play. Was the film confined or had the screenplay successfully translated theatre into cinema? How?