Year of Release: 1939Country of Origin: USA
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland
Plot outline: A dramatization of the tempestuous relationship between Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Earl of Essex (IMDb).
Based on the successful Broadway play, Elizabeth the Queen, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex is a lavish Technicolor costumer allowing full scope to Davis' histrionics and Flynn's derring-do. The gorgeous sets and costumed elegance are pure 1930s Warner Bros., and the movie's passions are as bold as its colors: Davis' 63-year-old Queen is ardent (the actress was really 31); Flynn is suitably dashing. But, Davis was infamously disapproving of her costar's "unprofessional" attitude (Flynn does seem uncomfortably hammy in his scenes with Davis), while he found her to be insufferably self-important. Many years later, however, Davis viewed the movie; and at the movie's end Davis admitted, "I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Flynn was brilliant! " Olivia de Havilland is wasted in the role of a lady-in-waiting who carries a torch for Essex. If the scenes of Essex' triumphant return to London after winning the battle of Cadiz seem familiar, it is because they were reused as stock footage in Warner Bros. (HE)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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