Copyright 1955 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Roxy: 5 August 1955. U.S. release: August 1955. U.K. release: 26 December 1955. Australian release: 1 December 1955. Sydney opening at the Regent. 8,242 feet. 92 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Walter Raleigh makes the most of a chance encounter to gain an audience with Queen Elizabeth.
NOTES: Fox's 35th CinemaScope feature. Le Maire and Wills were nominated for an Academy Award for their Color Costumes, losing to Le Maire's own "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing".
Photographer Charles G. Clarke states that the dazzling camera-work in the movie was entirely due to his expertise. Koster was completely under the thumb of Bette Davis, who tried to interfere with the cinematography too. "She thought she knew something about cinematography and lighting. A couple of times she'd try and tell me my job. But I don't put up with that kind of business."
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Parental supervision is advisable to encourage children to watch this historically valid interpretation.
COMMENT: Originally intended as a routine CinemaScope romance between Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) and one of Elizabeth's Ladies- In- Waiting (Elizabeth Throgmorton played by Joan Collins), this film became "The Virgin Queen" when Bette Davis, somewhat tardily was signed as its star. The script changes Miss Davis demanded, in order to build up her part, entailed considerable literary carpentry. Despite this, and despite the fact that Miss Davis claims to have completed all her scenes in eleven days, "The Virgin Queen" is wholly successful as a film.
It is rare, in historical movies, for the dialogue to contribute to a sense of the reality of the period. In "The Virgin Queen", Elizabethans speak to their contemporaries, for the most part, in the language Will Shakespeare wrote. Many phrases have wit, and not a few period idioms are very happily used indeed. Bette Davis plays to perfection the role of Elizabeth — an elderly, watchful, suspicious, carping, greedy, lonely, proud, vicious and dangerous woman.
Especially pleasing in the supporting cast, are: Robert Douglas as Sir Christopher Hatton; Romney Brent, a New York Stage Director, as the French Ambassador; Jay Robinson (who does not overact to the extent he did in "Demetrius and The Gladiators"), as Chadwick; and Dan O'Herlihy as Lord Derry, (a role entirely different from his previous Robinson Crusoe). Todd, Collins and Herbert Marshall (Lord Leicester) are all quite adequate.
Director Henry Koster evidently agreed that fluid camera-work would enhance the film's pictorial effectiveness. Indeed, Koster's emphasis on pictorial effectiveness and his love of picturesque backgrounds, are very well illustrated in this film. The roads are as rutted and muddy, and the cobbled London streets as filthy, as were those of Good Queen Bess' time.
To Sum Up: No matter what reservations individual spectators may have respecting liberties with history, "The Virgin Queen" is an excellent example of how Hollywood, at its best, can evoke the past with both skill and interest.
SYNOPSIS: Walter Raleigh makes the most of a chance encounter to gain an audience with Queen Elizabeth.
NOTES: Fox's 35th CinemaScope feature. Le Maire and Wills were nominated for an Academy Award for their Color Costumes, losing to Le Maire's own "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing".
Photographer Charles G. Clarke states that the dazzling camera-work in the movie was entirely due to his expertise. Koster was completely under the thumb of Bette Davis, who tried to interfere with the cinematography too. "She thought she knew something about cinematography and lighting. A couple of times she'd try and tell me my job. But I don't put up with that kind of business."
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Parental supervision is advisable to encourage children to watch this historically valid interpretation.
COMMENT: Originally intended as a routine CinemaScope romance between Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) and one of Elizabeth's Ladies- In- Waiting (Elizabeth Throgmorton played by Joan Collins), this film became "The Virgin Queen" when Bette Davis, somewhat tardily was signed as its star. The script changes Miss Davis demanded, in order to build up her part, entailed considerable literary carpentry. Despite this, and despite the fact that Miss Davis claims to have completed all her scenes in eleven days, "The Virgin Queen" is wholly successful as a film.
It is rare, in historical movies, for the dialogue to contribute to a sense of the reality of the period. In "The Virgin Queen", Elizabethans speak to their contemporaries, for the most part, in the language Will Shakespeare wrote. Many phrases have wit, and not a few period idioms are very happily used indeed. Bette Davis plays to perfection the role of Elizabeth — an elderly, watchful, suspicious, carping, greedy, lonely, proud, vicious and dangerous woman.
Especially pleasing in the supporting cast, are: Robert Douglas as Sir Christopher Hatton; Romney Brent, a New York Stage Director, as the French Ambassador; Jay Robinson (who does not overact to the extent he did in "Demetrius and The Gladiators"), as Chadwick; and Dan O'Herlihy as Lord Derry, (a role entirely different from his previous Robinson Crusoe). Todd, Collins and Herbert Marshall (Lord Leicester) are all quite adequate.
Director Henry Koster evidently agreed that fluid camera-work would enhance the film's pictorial effectiveness. Indeed, Koster's emphasis on pictorial effectiveness and his love of picturesque backgrounds, are very well illustrated in this film. The roads are as rutted and muddy, and the cobbled London streets as filthy, as were those of Good Queen Bess' time.
To Sum Up: No matter what reservations individual spectators may have respecting liberties with history, "The Virgin Queen" is an excellent example of how Hollywood, at its best, can evoke the past with both skill and interest.