Charles Laughton won an Oscar for his work in this sweeping historical drama of the infamous English monarch and his many queens. Elsa Lanchester, Laughton’s real-life wife, was especially strong as Anne of Cleves. The Private Life of Henry VIII was also nominated for best picture (they called it Outstanding Production back then) but lost to Cavalcade.

This was the first non-American film to win an Academy Award in any category, and the first to be nominated for best picture. Leonard Maltin gave this movie a perfect 4 stars, That plus strong support from IMDb users pushed it near the top of the Internet Archive Top 100.