The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

Films/DVD Asylum

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1939 film starring Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth and Errol Flynn as Lord Essex, in what the d.v.d. box claims is a rather fictionalized account of this part of their lives. The film opens with Flynn returning from fighting Spain in Cadiz, where he has defeated the Spanish, at a loss of men and resources, but not captured the gold he promised. Elizabeth fumes because she is more worried about stability for England, and does not want to go into debt financing Essex's wars.
The complicating factor is that Elizabeth and Essex love each other. However, she demotes him. Knowing that as long as he is around he is a threat to Elizabeth's inner circle. They, including Sir Lord Raleigh, played by Vincent Price, attempt to get rid of him by taunting him into agreeing to leave for Ireland to defeat the Earl of Tyrone, a thorn in England's side. Once there, Elizabeth's inner circle torpedoes Essex and Elizabeth's communications, the result being, his defeat.
He then pays his soldiers himself, and heads back to London to de-throne Elizabeth. There, the story takes a turn for the worse. Elizabeth loves Essex, and he her, but he loves power more. She loves England more.
This was presumably the film which solified Davis's career. I am sort of in awe of every Davis performance, as she surprises me. Here, she is in a period piece, and gives an incredible performance. Her body language, and her speech, are very un-Davis like. She does an excellent job of communicating the inner turmoil she experiences between love of Essex, and love of country. Between what she knows is right, and between what she wants. Her speech is that of a royal, and a lonely one at that, and never does not loose the accent. It is not really a British accent, but more of an accent that exists only in the land of Davis. She is portrayed as very much older than Essex, and while the film never references her age, she appears at least twn years his senior. Though Davis was only one year older than Flynn. The makeup, plus her acting, pull off the illusion. Her performance in this, and then a year later in The Letter, shows her range.
Flynn is, well, Flynn. I never found him to be a particularly good actor, but most certainly an immensely likeable actor. The extras point out that he was a "live and let live" actor, one who did not criticize other actors, but also did not want comments on his acting. This role was perfect for him, and he plays it well, if perhaps a little too carefree.
Olivia de Havilland has a small role as one of Elizabeth's maidens. We learn in the D.V.D. that Warner did not like actors to be too uppity, so he cast her in a small role following her bigger role in Gone With the Wind. How times have changed.
The transfer is generally pretty good. Colors are rich and vibrant. At times the camera looses focus, and colors fade. On the extras, we learn that Davis did not like Flynn. She was more of a serious actress, and expected the same from those she worked with. Flynn was more carefree. Apparently, they worked together on The Sisters, and she preferred Lawrence Olivier in the title role here, but with Robin Hood, Flynn was riding a huge crest, and so Warner cast him. Regardless of her dislike of Flynn, their chemistry is apparent on the screen.
I highly recommend this film. The direction is crisp, and the set is beautiful. There are moments when I think the screenplay is not of the period, but those moments are far and few between. The screenplay does an admirable job, with the talents of the actors, not to show the finale before it has climaxed. The screenplay also does a good job of giving screen time and depth to Elizabeth's inner court such that we understand them, and their motivations, and how those motivations figure into the story between Elizabeth and Essex, and how that leads to the ending, which though tragic, is perfectly logical.

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Topic - The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex - jamesgarvin 13:02:48 09/25/05 (0)

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