The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
(1939)
106 mins | Drama | 11 November 1939
Director:
Michael CurtizWriters:
Norman Reilly Raine, Aeneas MacKenzieCinematographer:
Sol PolitoEditor:
Owen MarksProduction Designer:
Anton GrotProduction Company:
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.The working titles of this picture were Elizabeth the Queen , The Knight and the Lady , and Elizabeth and Essex . It was also released as Elizabeth the Queen . Modern sources state that Errol Flynn insisted that the original title, Elizabeth the Queen , be changed to acknowledge his presence in the film. When The Knight and the Lady was chosen, Bette Davis threatened to walk out of the picture. Although the title Elizabeth and Essex met with everyone's approval, writer Lytton Strachey had already copyrighted a book with that title. Hence, the title The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was selected. According to a pre-production news item in HR , William Keighley was originally slated to direct this film, but was replaced by Michael Curtiz when Keighley went on vacation. Other news items in HR note that production on the film was postponed after Errol Flynn was involved in a car accident which resulted in facial abrasions and stitches. Shooting had to be rearranged so that Flynn could recover. Another news item in HR adds that the film was to have had its premiere in London, but the advent of the war forced Warner Bros. to move the premiere to Beverly Hills. This was Bette Davis's first Technicolor film. The film received the following Academy Awards: Best Art Direction (Anton Grot); Best Cinematography (Sol Polito and Howard Green); Best Original Score (Wolfgang Korngold); Best Recording (Nathan Levinson, the Recording Director at Warner Brothers); and Best Special Effects (Byron Haskin and H. E. Koenekamp). ... More Less
The working titles of this picture were Elizabeth the Queen , The Knight and the Lady , and Elizabeth and Essex . It was also released as Elizabeth the Queen . Modern sources state that Errol Flynn insisted that the original title, Elizabeth the Queen , be changed to acknowledge his presence in the film. When The Knight and the Lady was chosen, Bette Davis threatened to walk out of the picture. Although the title Elizabeth and Essex met with everyone's approval, writer Lytton Strachey had already copyrighted a book with that title. Hence, the title The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was selected. According to a pre-production news item in HR , William Keighley was originally slated to direct this film, but was replaced by Michael Curtiz when Keighley went on vacation. Other news items in HR note that production on the film was postponed after Errol Flynn was involved in a car accident which resulted in facial abrasions and stitches. Shooting had to be rearranged so that Flynn could recover. Another news item in HR adds that the film was to have had its premiere in London, but the advent of the war forced Warner Bros. to move the premiere to Beverly Hills. This was Bette Davis's first Technicolor film. The film received the following Academy Awards: Best Art Direction (Anton Grot); Best Cinematography (Sol Polito and Howard Green); Best Original Score (Wolfgang Korngold); Best Recording (Nathan Levinson, the Recording Director at Warner Brothers); and Best Special Effects (Byron Haskin and H. E. Koenekamp). This picture also marked the adult film debut of Nanette Fabares, who subsequently changed her name to Nanette Fabray. More Less
The Knight and the Lady
Elizabeth the Queen
In London, in 1596, the Earl of Essex returns from his victory at Cadiz to be greeted by the admiration of Lady Penelope Gray and other ladies of the court and the jealousy of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil. Queen Elizabeth, although in love with Essex, fears his thirst for power and so castigates him for the high cost of his empty victory. Proud and headstrong, Essex retreats to his ancestral home at Wonstead and refuses to return to court. His friend, Francis Bacon, seeking to reconcile the battling lovers, suggests that Elizabeth appoint Essex Master of the Ordnance in order to quell the uprising in Ireland led by the Earl of Tyrone. To serve his country, Essex returns to court where he falls victim to the intrigues of Raleigh and Cecil who conspire to drive a wedge between him and the queen by sending Essex to Ireland. Against Elizabeth's wishes, Essex leads the army to Ireland, where his pleas for help go unanswered and thus, facing suffering and death, he is forced to surrender to Tyrone. Unknown to either Essex or Elizabeth, Cecil, Raleigh and Penelope have been intercepting the lovers' letters, and so Essex returns to England, believing that he has been betrayed and abandoned by his queen. Essex and his men take the palace by storm, and although the court conspiracy is finally brought to light, Essex still refuses to subordinate himself to Elizabeth's throne and, thirsting for power, demands that she share it with him. Elizabeth refuses and orders him arrested and executed. In one final meeting, both lovers refuse to relinquish their hold on the throne, and therefore bid ... + −
In London, in 1596, the Earl of Essex returns from his victory at Cadiz to be greeted by the admiration of Lady Penelope Gray and other ladies of the court and the jealousy of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil. Queen Elizabeth, although in love with Essex, fears his thirst for power and so castigates him for the high cost of his empty victory. Proud and headstrong, Essex retreats to his ancestral home at Wonstead and refuses to return to court. His friend, Francis Bacon, seeking to reconcile the battling lovers, suggests that Elizabeth appoint Essex Master of the Ordnance in order to quell the uprising in Ireland led by the Earl of Tyrone. To serve his country, Essex returns to court where he falls victim to the intrigues of Raleigh and Cecil who conspire to drive a wedge between him and the queen by sending Essex to Ireland. Against Elizabeth's wishes, Essex leads the army to Ireland, where his pleas for help go unanswered and thus, facing suffering and death, he is forced to surrender to Tyrone. Unknown to either Essex or Elizabeth, Cecil, Raleigh and Penelope have been intercepting the lovers' letters, and so Essex returns to England, believing that he has been betrayed and abandoned by his queen. Essex and his men take the palace by storm, and although the court conspiracy is finally brought to light, Essex still refuses to subordinate himself to Elizabeth's throne and, thirsting for power, demands that she share it with him. Elizabeth refuses and orders him arrested and executed. In one final meeting, both lovers refuse to relinquish their hold on the throne, and therefore bid each other a final farewell as Essex goes to his death. + −
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