Today, at 4.02pm to be precise, two ancient enemy nations will do battle - on the field of Twickenham!
Wales will play England at Rugby and....far be it from me (a humble Englishman) to attempt any psychological gain for my country but I was put in mind of the trial of St Thomas More as portrayed in 'A Man for All Seasons'.
It is one of the great films about one of England's greatest men and a saint of the Church.
In the film, More is betrayed by his erstwhile assistant Richard Rich who has accepted the badge of the Red Dragon, signifying his post as Attorney General for Wales.
You may view the scene here, it appears at around 3:50 but watch the whole clip, it's Paul Scofield at his best.
And St Thomas, picking up on this reward for treachery utters the immortal line: "For Wales Rich, for Wales?"
If Wales wins on the 25th I may live to regret this post. Until then...heh! heh!
And may the worst team win!
It is one of the great films about one of England's greatest men and a saint of the Church.
In the film, More is betrayed by his erstwhile assistant Richard Rich who has accepted the badge of the Red Dragon, signifying his post as Attorney General for Wales.
You may view the scene here, it appears at around 3:50 but watch the whole clip, it's Paul Scofield at his best.
And St Thomas, picking up on this reward for treachery utters the immortal line: "For Wales Rich, for Wales?"
If Wales wins on the 25th I may live to regret this post. Until then...heh! heh!
And may the worst team win!
Blocked by Sony for copyright reasons.
ReplyDeleteThat is a decided narrow view, for Sony will not profit by alienating people who buy their products. Indeed, those few minutes would have been free advertising for a great film about St. Thomas More.
And how did an English cultural artifact become the property of a Japanese company? Perhaps Parliament would be pleased to nationalize it and lease it to a British company so that the surviving actors and crew could receive their contracted royalties.
-- Mack in Texas
Yes, a great scene from a great film from a great play; and the 'Wales' line is one of my favourites, too.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly the play was by Robert Bolt, an agnostic with no great Catholic sympathies; but the subject of the play seems to have taken over - a bit like Anouilh writing l'Alouette about St Jeanne d'Arc...
Mack, it's on Youtube, not sure if that helps.
ReplyDeleteRichard
This is one of my favorite film sequences of all time :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about Robert Bolt being agnostic! It's hard to believe someone could write a work like this and not believe in it themselves. Do you know what religion Sir Paul Scofield was?
Blessings,
Pearl of Tyburn
P.S. Mack, I agree with you about Parliament getting a hold of this treasure of Britishness ahead of the Japanese!!! The current situation would be equivalent to the British laying claim to.....well.....the Godzilla films! :P