Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueSir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) overcomes court intrigue to win favor with Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.Sir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) overcomes court intrigue to win favor with Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.Sir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) overcomes court intrigue to win favor with Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Nommé pour 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination au total
- Anne
- (as Marjorie Hellen)
- Postillion Rider
- (non crédité)
- Tavern Maid with Derry
- (non crédité)
- Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
- (non crédité)
- Physician
- (non crédité)
- Patch Eye
- (non crédité)
- Lady-in-Waiting - 2nd Group
- (non crédité)
- Serving Maid
- (non crédité)
- Town Crier
- (non crédité)
Avis à la une
An ambitious adventurer named Walter Raleigh arrives at her court. He only wants three ships to sail and discover gold and the other treasures of the Americas. She takes an instant liking to the handsome Raleigh and the film revolves around her plotting to keep him at her side. She famously refused to marry because she believed in putting country first and here she manipulates Raleigh towards a private relationship that would not diminish her power as Queen in a man's world.
The colorful costumes look a bit party rental but there is plenty of historical accuracy apart from the myth of the "coat over the puddle". The performance from Richard Todd is good but there is little chemistry between him and his wife played by Joan Collins. She delivers her lines so hastily in a modern London accent as if she is about to get on a bus.
The Bette Davis interpretation of Elizabeth and the political machinations at her court are the focus points of the film. There are no dodgy Spanish Armadas or swashbuckling Errol Flynn types detracting from the storytelling or the excellent portrayal of Elizabeth.
Bettie Davies is brilliant as The Queen (the template for Miranda Richardson's version in Blackadder II) and Richard Todd looks the part as the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh. The DVD cut of this film, issued as part of the Studio Classics series, is pristine with the digital format bringing out the sheer spectacle of colour in the scenes in the royal court.
A great old fashioned drama.
The rest of the cast is just acceptable. Richard Todd is handsome and the young Joan Collins is beatiful to watch. The costumes and settings are carefully reproduced, and Koster's direction is profesional. The dialogues are wonderfully written, though the story is not quite historically accurate.
By the way, the European VHS edition is simply disgusting: the film is cut to fit the normal TV screen 4:3, leaving out vital parts of it. For example, in a scene between Sir Walter Raleigh (Todd) and Bess Throckmorton (Collins), they are standing the one in front of the other at both sides of a huge paned window: the only thing you can see on screen is the window, while you hear both talking! A new DVD edition would be most welcome.
This is a mildly interesting film and historically not very accurate, though it is true that Sir Walter married Beth Throckmorton secretly, she became pregnant, and he was arrested. The real story is simplified in the film. It makes for not very exciting viewing, though the acting is strong and the cast excellent - besides the stars mentioned, Herbert Marshall is Lord Leicester and Dan O'Herlihy is Lord Derry.
Bette Davis does a marvelous job as Elizabeth, a tough, feisty, demanding and sometimes angry woman. Nobody could look as bad as Davis when she felt it was necessary for the role - she allowed four inches to be shaved from her hairline (Elizabeth had lost her hair due to fever) and wears what can only be called a fright wig. Hollywood stars back then would dress down, muss their hair, maybe cut back on the makeup, but Bette set the bar quite high for acting generations to come when it came to distorting her appearance. She is very effective in the role - as someone pointed out, she's a Yankee playing a British queen, and you never doubt that she is one. Richard Todd handles the language beautifully, but while he may have more depth than someone like Flynn, he doesn't exhibit the necessary charisma and charm. Joan Collins is young, beautiful, and does a good job as Elizabeth Throckmorton.
Worth seeing for the elegance of production and for that fabulous force of nature, Bette Davis.
The earlier film had Davis at 31 playing Queen Elizabeth in her sixties, and thus the two films make for an interesting comparison. Here Richard Todd plays Sir Walter Raleigh, who, like Essex in the earlier film, is a younger man who trades on Elizabeth's love for him to gain some personal glory. Richard Todd plays Raleigh effectively, but there is just no topping the charisma of Flynn's performance in the earlier movie.
Also, this film is saddled with Joan Collins in a supporting role who always made any film she was in worse and almost single handedly caused the death of classic film on DVD with her box set of not so special Fox films.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThe second time Bette Davis portrayed English monarch Queen Elizabeth I, the first being "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex "(1939).
- GaffesAt the concluding scene of the movie, Queen Elizabeth looks through her window with a telescope, an invention of 1608, five years after her death in 1603.
- Citations
French Ambassador: May I compliment you, Madame, on this most beautiful palace? There is no other like it in all of Europe.
Queen Elizabeth I: It was my father's. I'll tell him when I see him.
French Ambassador: [not fully understanding her answer] Yes... but King Henry is dead. Madame jests?
Queen Elizabeth I: Madame never jests.
- Crédits fousOpening credits prologue: In 1581 all the roads of England led to London -- for better or worse.
- ConnexionsFeatured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
Meilleurs choix
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Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- The Virgin Queen
- Lieux de tournage
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Budget
- 1 600 000 $US (estimé)
- Durée1 heure 32 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 2.55 : 1