Soixante années de gloire

I envy the previous individual who had the opportunity of viewing this in the UK as, to my knowledge, it has never appeared on home video or been broadcast on American television in recent memory. One interesting fact that I found about this film is that, while all reference sources list the USA release title of this British film as QUEEN OF DESTINY, some research I was doing for something else turned up an interesting fact. This film premiered in the US at Radio City Music Hall (December 1938)under its original British title. Subsequent releases may have used the alternate, but it at least played in New York as Sixty Glorious Years.

Before Sept. 9, 2015, Queen Victoria had been the longest reigning monarch in the history of England. Her rule lasted for 63 years and nearly five months. Born on May 24, 1819, she was 18 when she ascended to the throne after the death of William IV on June 20, 1937. She was 82 when she died on January 22, 1901.

On Sept. 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth II surpassed Victoria's length of reign. She became the longest reigning English monarch at 5:30 p.m. British Standard Time. Her tenure at that time was 23,226 days, 16 hours and about 30 minutes. Queen Elizabeth was 89 years old at that time. She was born on April 21, 1926, and ascended to the throne at age 25 on Feb. 6, 1952.

"Queen of Destiny" (aka, "60 Glorious Years"), is a film about Victoria's reign. Much of the film is devoted to her marriage to Prince Albert and their great love. They had nine children, but as Prince consort of the United Kingdom, Albert had no special duties or powers. The film shows their relationship and Victoria's support as Albert took on many causes for the public good. Besides running the royal household, office and estates, Albert worked on educational reform and abolition of slavery. He was one of the founders of the Great Exhibition in October 1851 that was the first of the World's Fair events to be held.

Albert died on Dec. 14, 1861, at the young age of 42. Victoria went into a long period of mourning that included seclusion from most public appearances for the next decade. She wore black all the rest of her life. The film shows some of this and then glosses over the last few decades of her reign.

Victoria was generally well liked by her people, but she had a couple of periods of discontent. This film and others seldom include mention of the number of attempts on her life. Most were men who shot guns at her as her carriage passed. There were no global wars during her reign. But, Victoria supported the lesser wars that the U.K. was part of, including the Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42) and the Boer Wars in South Africa (1880-1881, and 1899-1902). She also supported English expansion. And the empire continued to thrive during her rule. Three powerful prime ministers served among the 11 who were in office during Victoria's reign – Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, and the Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Gascoyne-Cecil).

Her reign was not without problems. The Great Famine (Potato Famine) of 1845-1852 affected all of Europe. Ireland was hurt more than any place. More than one million people died and one million emigrated. Ireland's population dropped by 20 to 25 percent. And, while England was progressing and the economy flourished overall, rank poverty was also a problem in poorer areas and in the back streets of London.

But the reign of Queen Victoria will always be known as the Victorian era or age of England. And that refers mostly to the revival in architectural styles, flourishing of the arts and an especially rich time of English literature. Many of the greatest authors, poets and playwrights lived and worked during the Victorian Age. These include the Bronte sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), Mary Ann Evans as George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lewis Carroll, Robert Louis Stevenson, Anthony Trollope, Samuel Butler, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Robert Browning, Thomas Carlyle, and Alfred Lord Tennyson.

This film has an excellent supporting cast, especially C. Aubrey Smith as the Duke of Wellington. It presents us a genteel portrait of the beloved queen. Anna Neagle and Anton Walbrook give good performances in their roles as Victoria and Albert. It's a nice look at an historical period in England, but one must realize that the life of Queen Victoria is highly sanitized.

A couple of other reviewers have noted one of the best assets of this movie. That is its shooting locations. It has beautiful scenes of Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Balmoral. I doubt that any other movie production has been allowed such access since this film was made. This would be a good movie to bring out on DVD. I obtained a copy made from a TV broadcast. Consequently, its of quite poor quality. But the story makes it worth watching nevertheless.

This is a tremendously well made film that fans of movies about the royalty should love. Unfortunately, while very good, it also comes off as a bit episodic because the film tries to cover too much material and would have been better off with either a narrow focus or a series.

The film begins at the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign in 1837. Very shortly after this, she marries Prince Albert and the film specifically focuses on their relationship. In many ways, it's like the recent film "Young Victoria" though it places a greater emphasis between her relationship with her husband and covers a much longer period. Both films are terrific and would make a great double-feature. Heck, if you have a chance, also see "Mrs. Brown"--making it a terrific triple-Victoria viewing experience.

So what did I like about it? Well, Anna Neagle (Victoria) and Anton Wallbrook (Albert) did terrific jobs and their interplay was very nice. Additionally, the direction and quality of the production were superb. It also helped that the film makers got permission to use many of the royal residences in the movie--so they really got the look down right. All in all a very good film that tries to encompass a bit too much of for a film that is this short. You'd think you'd need at least three hours to do the topic justice since she lived so long and so much happened in Great Britain during her reign.

This film is something of a puzzle to me in that Anna Neagle played the same role in a film released a year earlier which covered a lot of the same ground in the long life of Queen Victoria. A great many members of the cast covered said ground with her, most prominently Anton Walbrook who fits my conception perfectly of what Prince Albert must have been like.

Sixty Glorious Years which was released on this side of the pond as Queen Of Destiny is a bit slow and ponderous, but Neagle makes an unforgettable Queen Victoria in all the stages of her 64 years. The British people are currently going through the same experience as Queen Elizabeth II has reached her 60th year, her Diamond Jubilee year of her reign.

Matching her in every way is Anton Walbrook who played HRH Prince Albert who set a standard of behavior for a male consort to follow, one that Prince Philip has matched in his time as well. It took a while for him to win over the British people, but he managed.

One thing that was glossed over and I wish was given more attention was that in 1861 Albert played a great if back channel role in preventing the USA and the UK from going to war over the Trent Affair. During the early years of our Civil War, an American navy captain seized the British ship Trent carrying some accredited Confederate agents bound for London and Paris. Two wars was not something Abraham Lincoln was ready to handle as was this nation. He was in the early stages of the illness that claimed him, still he labored tirelessly for peace.

Standing out in the vast supporting cast of a pageant of British statesmen and personalities of the 19th century are C. Aubrey Smith as the aged Duke of Wellington and Felix Aylmer as Viscount Palmerston. Again fitting my conception of what these two guys were like.

Sixty Glorious Years is a bit ponderous and slow, still it is a fine tribute to a woman who molded and shaped the character of the British monarchy today.

I saw only the first fifteen minutes of this talking-waxworks show, but that was more than enough. This picture is lame and prissy, the kind where the viewer is expected to feel a naughty thrill and a glow of pride at Victoria's daring--"Oh, look! the Queen is dancing the waltz!" Anton Walbrook is debonair but demure, and Anna Neagle is a typical dim debutante. After seeing several real-life royal weddings live on TV, the spectacle of actors stiffly pretending to get married is less than overwhelming, especially with no attempt at characterisation or humour. People who worship the royal family on bended knee may like this kind of thing, but anyone wanting a movie with intelligence or charm had best look elsewhere. Give me The Smiling Lt., with Maurice Chevalier in the title role, who raises havoc in the bedrooms of the royal palace, any day!