Fire Over England

There is not real film about the events leading to Philip II's great enterprise of 1588, the sailing (and destruction, as it turned out) of the great Spanish Armanda. To understand the story would take too many twists and turns. I recommend Garrett Mattingley's classic account of the Armada from the 1950s for those interested. Philip, tired of the aid that Elizabeth I of England gave to the Dutch and French Protestants, made a plan to transport an army under his nephew, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Palma, from Belgium to England using the Armada. He put the fleet under command of the Spanish nobleman, the Duke of Medina Sidonia. But Medina Sidonia was not a sailor (although a conscientious nobleman and servant of Philip). The Armada would first suffer a raid (by Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake). After it was repaired it did sail, only to find the faster English ships of Drake, Howard, and Frobisher more deadly, and the heavy winds, seas, and storms even deadlier. Many ships were wrecked off Scotland and Ireland. It was one of the worst naval catastrophes of history.

However it was also Philip's finest moment. Always a firmly religious man, he did not despair at the disaster to his fleet and plans, but he saw it was God's will. He actually put together Armadas again twice in the 1590s, but neither got as far as the first one did.

The complications of the story make it too confusing for anything but a full television seris: Philip was spurred on when Mary, Queen of Scots was executed in 1587 - he had been named her appointed heir to the English throne in her will; the French religious wars were approaching a critical moment, and Mary's uncle (the Duc de Guise) was leader of the Catholic forces at war with King Henri III of France and King Henri of Navarre (the leader of the Huguenots). There have been films dealing with Elizabeth's sea rovers, such as Drake ("Seven Seas To Calais", "The Sea Hawke"), but only this film tries to tackle the actual story of the Armada. As an adventure story it is excellent. As history, not exact but pretty good in parts.

First it does touch briefly on Mary's execution, in an early scene where one of Mary's servants tries to assassinate Elizabeth (Flora Robson). It really concentrates on the complex world of Elizabethan spying and the Elizabethan Catholic "underworld". The latter is an unfair description, for the Catholics were being persecuted in England. They had been supporters of Mary, and now that she was killed they gave support (mostly begrudgingly) to Philip. England's master of spies was Sir Francis Walsingham (who does not appear in this film). Instead the espionage against Spain is handled by Robert, Earl of Leicester (Leslie Banks) in the film - but in fact, Leicester died in 1587 in Holland, so he was not around for the Armada.

Lawrence Olivier is splendid in this early role as the young agent sent to spy on Philip and his plan (going in place of James Mason, who committed suicide in trying to avoid arrest). Olivier manages to get close to Philip (Raymond Massey) but that is not fully possible. Philip does not even like Englishmen, but he is willing to go along with the Catholics to get rid of Elizabeth and her regime. Philip is not easy to fool, and in a marvelous (almost comic moment) he stops Olivier from disclosing anything by finding that there was one name Olivier does not know that he should.

I won't go into the rest of the film's story. Watch it to see how Olivier still manages to escape and save England, and end up with his love (Vivian Leigh). For a 1937 historic film it is quite good, even if it could not tell the completely true story of the invasion of 1588.

This enjoyable historical drama is particularly notable for the fine cast headed by Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, and Raymond Massey. The period atmosphere works well, and the setting, against the background of the 16th century struggles between England and Spain, is an interesting one.

The story does a solid job of working the historical setting into a romance between Olivier's and Leigh's characters, setting up some interesting possibilities. Those two work well together - Leigh is a natural in her role, and it's an interesting change of pace for Olivier, from his Shakespeare roles and the like. Massey adds considerable interest and energy as the kind of heavy that he played so well – his very voice seems appropriate. Flora Robson is very well suited to the role of Queen Elizabeth. Tamara Desni and Leslie Banks also do well in their roles.

The plot creates good moments of drama, romance, and action, along with some good cat- and-mouse games between the characters. It builds to a good climax and, if it occasionally stretches plausibility, it easily holds your interest all the way through. Overall, it's pretty good and well worth seeing.

I saw this years ago and didn't think much of it at the time dismissing it as a third rate Errol Flynn rip-off. I'm glad I revisited it - I found it a real exciting, superbly produced intelligent swashbuckler.

Laurence Olivier shows that he wasn't just a great dramatic actor - he could also be a fabulous dashing romantic action hero as well. It seems a stupid thing to say but he sure could act. Good old reliable Leslie Banks and Vivien - the most beautiful woman in the world, ever - Leigh provide good believable support. As for Flora Robson, she is Queen Elizabeth.

Historical films are usually guaranteed to get those of us with some historical knowledge shaking their fists at the slightest inaccuracy. Unlike Korda's earlier SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII however, this film isn't too bad on that score. (SIX WIVES was a clever comedy anyway so doesn't really count). Apart from the timing of the famous Tilbury speech, it's surprisingly how historically accurate this film actually is. Although we can't really know exactly how these people thought, that sense of impetuousness and that sense of certainty that their beliefs were the absolute truth is reflected well in this.

The contrast of England's freedom of thought with the repressive totalitarianism of Philip's Spain is an obvious analogy with what was happening in Germany. Whilst American films in theory had to be politically neutral, no such undertaking existed in England so this no doubt helped to stir us up to stand up against that chap over in Berlin. It's very stirring stuff and still after all these years manages to engage emotionally.

Note the date this was made..1937. What a shot in the arm for a people about to fight for their survival....AGAIN. The lines that effectively say "Loved I you, loved I not England more" spoken by Olivier speak for all the Brits that would soon have to turn their backs on a gentle home life. Today we are not faced with that decision and it seems amazing that a human being would have to lay down his life for his country. As Vivien Leigh pleads with her lover (later to be her husband) to remember 'all the sunsets we could see together", you know that she is speaking to the audience of that time in a visceral manner.

Quaintly anachronistic, and let's pray it stays that way.

To watch Raymond Massey play the king of Spain and James Mason play the English 'spy' Vane is worth the price of the movie itself. Logic rears its ugly head, of course, or illogic: Five Englishmen are identified as traitors by Olivier and what happens? Elisabeth puts them under his command to fight off the Spanish Armada. Didn't she ever hear of fragging?

As the English ships are set ablaze and sailed into the Armada, it makes me long for a history book to find out what actually happened. I thought the weather broke the Spanish Armada up before it reached English shores off the coast of Ireland....accounting for the 'black Irish', descendants from those sailors who made it ashore.

Nonetheless, to watch the Lord and Lady of the English stage appear together while their love was young (and both were married to others) is fascinating.

You think you're watching Elisabeth Taylor half the time, with those big expressive eyes. Olivier also sings and plays a lute. His singing voice isn't bad atall, and is he handsome!!!!

When he plays his acrobatic ship and sword fighting tricks, you'll think of Errol Flynn and long for the movie to be colorized. How easy it would be with today's technology to color these wonderful old movies in gorgeous realistic color. And the mood would be enhanced, not destroyed as it might were it a film noir.

When Queen Elisabeth (the first one) says, "I'm only a woman", you'll burst out laughing.....she who made England was 'only a woman'. See it.

So 'Fire over England' was a propaganda film. Fine. I loved it.

The facts:- Charles Howard, later Earl of Nottingham, commanded the British Fleet with Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins as secondary command. When the Armada was sighted, beacons were lit, as in the movie. (It was demonstrated at the pre-wedding party for Prince Charles prior to his marriage to Diana, that it was possible to get a signal from Hampstead Heath, London, to Lands End, the furthest point west, within some extraordinarily short time by this method. If my memory serves me, the time was something like 7 minutes to Lands's End and about 40 minutes to the outer Hebrides. This is why Drake was able to famously claim that he had time ti finish a game of bowls before he thrashed the Spaniard.)

The Brits met the Armada at Plymouth and fought them in the Channel to Calais, where the Spanish expected more ships to join them from the Netherlands which was in Spanish hands at the time. The battle in the Channel lasted about a week, with the smaller and much more maneuverable English vessels whipping in close to do damage, but out- numbered by the much larger vessels.

The Armada anchored at Calais and waited. It was there that the British sent in the small fire ships which, assisted by a rising wind, created havoc among the anchored vessels. When many of the ships destroyed, the remainder could not sail westward out of the Channel to return to Spain, because of the winds. They were forced to sail northwards up the east coast of England and around Scotland, where they ran into foul weather. The weather worsened as they sailed south and many of the remaining vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast.