''Martin Luther, Heretic'' is a 1983 film made to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

. It was released on 8 November 1983 in the United Kingdom, two days before the 500th jubilee on 10 November. It starred

Jonathan Pryce Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he was ...

as Martin Luther.

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

reprised his role of

Johann von Staupitz Johann von Staupitz, O.S.A. (c. 1460 – 28 December 1524) was a Catholic theologian, university preacher, and Vicar General of the Augustinian friars in Germany, who supervised Martin Luther during a critical period in his spiritual life. Martin ...

that he played in the 1973 American Film Theater film ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

''. The time frame of the film is 1506-1522: the beginning of Luther's monastic vocation to his return from exile at the

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the ...

in 1522. A medieval dramatic troupe's performances of

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

s provide the unifying motif for a parallel telling of the story of the film. When Luther's carriage en route from the

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north o ...

it is shown passing an actor wearing a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

's mask. When this scene is revisited at the end of the film, the actor slips this mask off his face.

Historical inconsistencies

Some could interpret the portrayal of Martin Luther returning to

, which occurred in early 1522, as his approving of the radical changes instigated by Andreas Karlstadt the year before. However, historically, Luther opposed some of the changes as well as the rashness of the changes he did approve of. The movie makes the out-break of the radical changes the instigation of his return thus implying, probably rightly, the need he felt to moderate them. He preached his "Invocavit Sermons" against this radical reform in Wittenberg, and he had some of the changes rolled back.

Cast

- Father Staupitz * John Nettleton - Andreas Karlstadt *

Clive Swift Clive Walter Swift (9 February 1936 – 1 February 2019) was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for h ...

Johann Tetzel Johann Tetzel (c. 1465 – 11 August 1519) was a German Dominican friar and preacher. He was appointed Inquisitor for Poland and Saxony, later becoming the Grand Commissioner for indulgences in Germany. Tetzel was known for granting indulgence ...

Philip Stone Philip Stone (14 April 1924 – 15 June 2003) was an English actor, well known for portraying film characters such as "Pa", the father of Alex DeLarge, in ''A Clockwork Orange''; General Alfred Jodl in '' Hitler: The Last Ten Days''; Delbert ...

Johann Eck Johann Maier von Eck (13 November 1486 – 13 February 1543), often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and a pioneer of the counter-reformation who was among Martin Luther's most important int ...

David de Keyser David de Keyser (22 August 1927 – 20 February 2021) was an English actor and narrator. Life and career Born in London in August 1927, in the mid-sixties de Keyser worked twice with the writer, actor and director Jane Arden. Their first coll ...

- Duke Frederick *Hugh Dickson - Georg Spalatin *Jon Croft - Berlepsch *

Valentine Dyall Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908 – 24 June 1985) was an English character actor. He worked regularly as a voice actor, and was known for many years as "The Man in Black", the narrator of the BBC Radio horror series '' Appointment with Fear'' ...

- Chancellor *Pip Miller - Captain *John Byron - Papal Nuncio *Eric Francis - Keeper of Relics *

Timothy Ackroyd Sir Timothy John Robert Whyte Ackroyd, 3rd Baronet (born 7 October 1958), known as Timothy Ackroyd, is an English actor. Ackroyd was born on 7 October 1958 to Sir John Robert Whyte Ackroyd, 2nd Baronet, and Jennifer Eileen McLeod Bishop. Early ...

- Student *Neal Swettenham - Student *James Kirby -

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

External links

* 1983 films Films about Martin Luther Films with screenplays by William Nicholson 1980s English-language films {{christian-film-stub