Rating: NR
Genre: Historical Film
Release Date: 04/19/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 106 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video

It is no secret that Bette Davis and Errol Flynn were at each other's throats throughout the filming of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Boiled down to essentials: Davis felt that Flynn was unprofessional, while Flynn thought that Davis took herself too damned seriously. Besides, Davis had wanted Laurence Olivier to play the Earl of Essex opposite her Queen Elizabeth I. She was forced to compromise on this point, but refused to allow Flynn proxy top billing via his suggestion that the film be retitled The Knight and the Lady. The finished product, a lavish Technicolor costumer allowing full scope to Davis' histrionics and Flynn's derring-do, betrays little of the backstage hostilities (though Flynn does seem uncomfortably hammy in his scenes with Davis). Adapted by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas McKenzie from Maxwell Anderson's blank-verse play Elizabeth the Queen (which served as the film's reissue title), the story concerns the tempestuous relationship between the middle-aged Elizabeth and the ambitious Essex. At one point, the Queen intends to marry Essex and relinquish her throne, until she realizes that his plans for advancement would ultimately prove disastrous for England. When afforded the opportunity to execute Essex for treason, she reluctantly signs his death warrant. Minutes before his final walk to the chopping block, Elizabeth begs Essex to ask for a pardon. But Essex, fully aware that his warlike policies will only resurface if he is permitted to live, refuses to accept the Queen's mercy, and goes off to meet his doom. Olivia de Havilland is wasted in the role of a lady-in-waiting who carries a torch for Essex. If the scenes of Essex' triumphant return to London after winning the battle of Cadiz seem familiar, it is because they were reused as stock footage in Warner Bros.' The Adventures of Don Juan (1949) and The Story of Mankind (1957).

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Cast:
Bette Davis - Elizabeth I
Errol Flynn - Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex
Olivia de Havilland - Penelope Gray
Vincent Price - Sir Walter Raleigh
Donald Crisp - Francis Bacon
Alan Hale - Earl of Tyrone
Henry Stephenson - Lord Burghley
Henry Daniell - Sir Robert Cecil
James Stephenson - Sir Thomas Egerton
Ralph Forbes - Lord Knollys
Robert Warwick - Lord Mountjoy
Leo G. Carroll - Sir Edward Coke

Production:
Michael Curtiz - Director
Hal B. Wallis - Producer
Erich Wolfgang Korngold - Composer
Owen Marks - Editor
Aeneas MacKenzie Norman Reilly Raine - Screen Writer
Anton Grot - Art Director
Robert Lord - Associate Producer
Howard Greene - Cinematographer
Sol Polito - Cinematographer
W. Howard Greene - Cinematographer
Ali Hubert - Consultant/advisor
Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer
Perc Westmore - Makeup
Hugo W. Friedhofer - Musical Direction/Supervision
Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision
Milan Roder - Musical Direction/Supervision
Maxwell Anderson - Play Author
Nathan Levinson - Sound Special Effects
Byron Haskin - Special Effects
H.F. Koenekamp - Special Effects
Nathan Levinson - Sound Recordist

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