Queen Elizabeth was played by: Bette Davis.
Lord Essex was played by: Errol Flynn.
Olivia de Havilland was also in this movie.
The Irish Rebel Leader was played by Alan Hale Sr.
Captain of the Queen's Household Guard was played by: Vincent Price.
Donald Crisp was also in this movie.
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was beautifully filmed in color. Some VERY minor point I noticed about this film. There apparently was alot of hubbub about the movie and to whom the top billing was to go to. Well, Bette Davis apparently threw her weight around and got the top billing both in her name as well as in the name of the film. however, Errol Flynn was the first one of these two stars to be seen and heard. I imagine that in their ways of thinking (their egos) that they both "won" the prize of being first. In my way of thinking (following their ego thinking patterns) that they both tied.
Anyway, this movie was well made and the actors all did an excellent job IMO. However, I felt that the rold of Queen Elizabeth should have gone to the lady who played her in Sea Hawk -- not that i'm trying to down play the fine acting that Bette Davis played.
Near the beginning of the film just after Essex entered the Castle and into the Queen's Court. I studied the scene where they have their disagreements and Essex turns and walks away from the Queen without her permission. The Queen then gets up and stomps over to the now halted Essex and she is angrily saying: "You Dare turn your back on me!" " "You dare!!" and then she proceeds to slap Essex. [B][COLOR=blue] {{According to the documentary disk and to which is easily seen. Bette Davis actually landed a hard slap to Flynn's face. Apparently Flynn was angry enough to want to hit her back. When you see this scene, study it carefully and you will see what thet and I mean. I doubt that look of anger on Flynn's face was acting. If it was only acting, then I have a new respect for his great acting skills--not that I lacked positive opinion for his skills anyway.
The movie though seemed to slow down at several points and I still held interest but not as much as I would have liked. When he finally meets with the Irish Rebel leader (Alan Hale Sr.) it was a relief to finally see him appear in this movie. IMO, Alan Hale did not have enough on screen time in this movie and that to me made it a bit disappointing. It was very interesting to see Vincent Price in this movie though and he was a nice breath of fresh air. Donald Crisp and Olivia de Havilland both were great as usual. It was also interesting to see that Olivia de havilland was not a love interest to Flynn.
One thing I did like about this film which stood out from it's other positive points was the plot twists. These plot twists made this movie a very watchable movie -- especially for one who never had seen it before and did not know what to expect from it. I was a bit disappointed at the ending though by then one "knew" how the movie was going to end. I kept rooting for Flynn and Davis to become a twosome.
Cheers--C
