The film completely ignores matters of state and the Protestant reformation that divided England during (and after) Henry's rule. Thus, first wife Catherine of Spain, wed to Henry for 24 years, is out of the story. Henry's autocratic rule and tendency to execute political opponents are also ignored.
Instead, Henry is depicted sympathetically, after early scenes that show him eager to dispose of second wife Anne Boleyn in favor of third wife Jane Seymour. The film becomes a black comedy with an early scene in which a French executioner and an English executioner exchange boasts and insults.
The story begins on the day of Boleyn's execution for alleged infidelity, a capital crime since any child would then be of doubtful royal lineage. The need for Henry to produce sons was great, since the continuation of uncontested Tudor rule meant that a civil war over succession would be avoided.
Boleyn (Merle Oberon in an early star-making supporting role) is portrayed as a sad, tragic figure, the only such departure from the rest of the movie, which is stocked with comic roles. Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie) is a simpleton, but she does manage to bear Henry's only son to survive past infancy, the future King Edward VI.
Alas, Seymour dies shortly after giving birth. Henry is soon pressured by court fawners to wed again, and he reluctantly agrees. A marriage is arranged with Anne of Cleves of Germany. Anne (Elsa Lanchester) is something of a con artist, a cardsharp who manipulates Henry into a divorce that comes with a lucrative severance package.
Then it's onto the fifth wife, ambitious court lady in waiting Katherine Howard (Binnie Barnes). Howard promptly tires of Henry, and returns to her former boyfriend, humorless court page Culpeper (Robert Donat). Howard's infidelity is discovered, and investigated by royal advisor Archbishop Cranmer (Laurence Hanray). Howard is beheaded, but this time Henry has no joy over the event.
Again single, Henry is inevitably pressed to marry. Anne of Cleves arranges a marriage to Katherine Parr (Everly Gregg), the bossy governess of future rulers Elizabeth and Edward. Although nagged about his diet, Henry admits in the film's final line, "Six wives, and the best of them's the worst."
How others will see it. In real life, Henry was accomplished but imperious monster. He also become obese in his later years, and weighed some 300 pounds with a chronic, oozing ulcer on his leg.
Wisely, director Alexander Korda downplays these characteristics, and instead makes Henry a comical character who simply had bad luck with women. This suited audiences, and the well-made movie garnered a Best Picture Oscar nomination despite its British origin.
Classic movie fans, currently the chief audience for the film, are well aware that Elsa Lanchester, the fourth wife here, was the real-life wife of Charles Laughton for most of his adult life. Lanchester is best known as the title character in The Bride of Frankenstein, among the strangest major studio films from the 1930s.
Today, nearly 80 years later, the imdb.com user ratings are high, but not remarkably so. Some regard the film as lesser than the many big budget color productions from the 1960s and onward that depict the era, especially the majestic but moderately stuffy A Man for All Seasons. There's also the matter of historical inaccuracies, presumably made to condense the saga of Henry's marriages into a serviceable 90-minute film.
How I felt about it. We recite the most obvious misrepresentations of history. For example, the film has Seymour wedding Henry on the day of Boleyn's execution, but they actually married 11 days later. We are to believe that Seymour is impregnated with son Edward upon their wedding consummation, but Edward was in fact delivered 17 months later. Further, it is implied that Seymour dies during childbirth, but her death took place 12 days later.
Katherine Howard was only about 16 years old when she married Henry. She appears much older, as she was played by 30 years old Binnie Barnes.
Historically important figures like Thomas Cromwell and Archbishop Cranmer are reduced to minor supporting players, since the film is about Henry and his last five wives. The rotund Laughton indeed looks much like the more flattering portraits of King Henry, and Laughton fully understands how his character is too be played, like a spoiled and randy but naive oversized child.