Murder in the cathedral

Grand personalities have always made for grand performances, but lately it seems like the audience’s historical memories are getting shorter. At the upcoming Academy Awards, Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker seem guaranteed to win Oscars for playing familiar heads of state from our lifetimes: England’s still-reigning Queen Elizabeth II and Uganda’s president Idi Amin, who died in 2003.

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Royal screen roles used to draw from centuries of human affairs, and films such as 1964’s multiple-Oscar nominee Becket, set in the 1100s, used to command more respect. Long unavailable and no doubt soon to be released on DVD, the crisp restoration masterfully preserves acting and writing styles that seem to be endangered species.

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Ironically, Jean Anouihl’s original play hinges on a factual goof. The play and film present Thomas Becket (Richard Burton) as a devious, civilized and assimilated Saxon serving Henry II (Peter O’Toole), king of the conquering Normans. In fact, Becket was a Norman as well, and though the French playwright discovered the error, he let it stand, reasoning that the mistake played better.

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Indeed, Becket plays like gangbusters. Though it features plenty of plumy supporting roles, including John Gielgud’s king of France, Becket amounts to an impassioned duet between O’Toole’s mercurial king and Burton’s martyr-to-be, the latter of whom discovers his principles only after Henry II appoints him archbishop of Canterbury. Burton’s uncharacteristically understated performance neatly fits Becket’s emotionally muted persona, while O’Toole’s towering monarch proves persistently fascinating; he rules a country but can’t control his own heart. (For extra credit, contrast his work here with his wiser, more temperate take on Henry II in 1968’s The Lion In Winter.)

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Contemporary Hollywood would turn the material into a ham-handed tale of “redemption,” but Becket, though seldom subtle, not only delights in elegant dialogue but presents a conflict that suits multiple interpretations. Students of sexual politics will focus on Henry’s homoerotic streak and behavior like a spurned lover. Champions of class issues will focus on Becket’s choice of siding with the people against the powerful. Viewers intrigued by church vs. state issues will notice that Becket upholds Christianity against a hedonistic, amoral regime.

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For a film set in the 1100s and released more than 30 years ago, Becket sets a feast for blue and red staters alike.

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Becket. 5 stars. Directed by Peter Glenville. Stars Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole. Opens Fri., Feb. 9. At Landmark Midtown Art Cinema.