The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Director: Michael Curtiz
Writers: Norman Reilly Raine; Aeneas MacKenzie
From a play by: Maxwell Anderson
Music by: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
| Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leo G. Carroll | Actor | 25-Oct-1892 | 16-Oct-1972 | Waverly on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. |
| Donald Crisp | Actor | 27-Jul-1880 | 25-May-1974 | Silent film actor, survived into talkies |
| Henry Daniell | Actor | 5-Mar-1894 | 31-Oct-1963 | British-American character actor |
| Bette Davis | Actor | 5-Apr-1908 | 6-Oct-1989 | All About Eve |
| Olivia de Havilland | Actor | 1-Jul-1916 | Gone With the Wind | |
| Nanette Fabray | Actor | 27-Oct-1920 | Caesar's Hour | |
| Errol Flynn | Actor | 20-Jun-1909 | 14-Oct-1959 | Robin Hood |
| Ralph Forbes | Actor | 30-Sep-1896 | 31-Mar-1951 | The Hound of the Baskervilles |
| Alan Hale, Sr. | Actor | 10-Feb-1892 | 22-Jan-1950 | The Adventures of Robin Hood |
| Vincent Price | Actor | 27-May-1911 | 25-Oct-1993 | Master of the macabre |
| Henry Stephenson | Actor | 16-Apr-1871 | 24-Apr-1956 | The Prince and the Pauper |
| Robert Warwick | Actor | 9-Oct-1878 | 6-Jun-1964 | Alias Jimmy Valentine |
CAST
| Bette Davis | ... Queen Elizabeth |
| Errol Flynn | ... Earl of Essex |
| With | |
| Olivia de Havilland | ... Lady Penelope Gray |
| Donald Crisp | ... Francis Bacon |
| Alan Hale, Sr. | ... Earl of Tyrone |
| Vincent Price | ... Sir Walter Raleigh |
| Henry Stephenson | ... Lord Burghley |
| Henry Daniell | ... Sir Robert Cecil |
| James Stephenson | ... Sir Thomas Egerton |
| Nanette Fabray | ... Mistress Margaret Radcliffe |
| Ralph Forbes | ... Lord Knollys |
| Robert Warwick | ... Lord Mountjoy |
| Leo G. Carroll | ... Sir Edward Coke |
REVIEWS
Review by anonymous (posted on 22-Jul-2005)
Rarely are there four star movies. But it is possible if you rate a movie for what it is and not for what it lacks. A superb cast, a great director and a wonderful musical score highlight a film that deals in love, war, and political intrigue. I ask that you look at the cast and tell me how one mobilizes that kind of acting firepower today. The closest I have seen in recent movies is the Tom Cruise movie where he plays a Naval attorney with Jack Nicholson as the villanous Marine General (A Few Good Men). But the tension between Davis and Flynn carries over to the big screen in a way that makes this movie consistently move towards an ending that is not quite so predictable. Bette Davis is moving as the strong queen. Flynn is himself as the brash, conquering hero who thirsts for power. Who else but Flynn always appears to look comfortable in Elizabethan clothes? Michael Curtiz does a wonderful job of assembling these actors and producing a great movie. His directing resume is formidable, at best. While he and Flynn never really got along, he knew how to deliver the finished product, as witnessed by The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca. And the Korngold score is magnificent. He goes on to use certain bars of this music in The Sea Hawk, but that's acceptable. It is HIS music. But the into where Flynn returns to the castle triumphant from victory has outstanding music, as does the confrontation with Tyrone (Alan Hale) and the finale with him going to the death. Period movies don't appear to come off as well these days. But back in the Golden Age of Hollywood, they appeared to be a genre that prospered. Maybe now is the time to reconsider that genre of movie again. This is a movie that stands on its own and serves as part of the collection of movies that made Flynn the Elizabethan Indiana Jones of his time. Davis cements her image as a woman who can portray Queen Elizebeth in her sleep. She IS-no offense to Dame Flora Robson- the Queen until she gets to star in The Lady Eve. And Korngold lets you know that John Williams' music came from somewhere. For it is Korngold who brings the idea of complex composition to movie music. His label of "The Last Prodigy" by writer Brendan Carroll is most deserved. Turner Classic Movies shows the movie from time to time and this movie works well for television. Isn't it about time we started giving Flynn his due as an actor? See the doggone movie!
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