mark.waltz This is one of the rare color movies of the late 1930's, and the only one that Bette Davis made during her 17 years at Warner Brothers. Only in her 30's when she played the part, Davis became Queen Elizabeth, just as other actresses as worthy as her have done two or more times. But Davis, the Meryl Streep of her day, didn't get roles like this without struggle, and by 1939, she was a two time Academy Award winning actress, the most powerful woman in Hollywood, referred to by some as the fifth Warner Brother.One of several films in which she co- starred with both Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, this film is nevertheless dominated by Davis's every move. Like the virgin queen, Davis is in command, and Davis uses every trick she knows to keep all eyes on her. In a year of four great films added to her resume, she makes Elizabeth seem so unlike there's any acting going on. Flynn and de Havilland get some good moments, with Vincent Price in a smaller role, and British history gets a nice screen presentation. Period detail all superb, given the Warner Brothers gloss and that sensational sound that only they could record.

Ross622 "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" is one of the best movies that Michael Curtiz ever directed along with "Casablanca" (1942), "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938),"Angels with Dirty Faces (1938),and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) as well as being one of the best historical epics that I have seen in a long time. The movie tells the tale of the at best rocky relationship of Queen Elizabeth I and Earl of Essex. The movie stars Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth in one the best performances of her career and Errol Flynn in his best work in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in the previous year. The movie also has a brilliant supporting cast such as Vincent Price, Olivia de Havilland, and Donald Crisp. Curtiz really knew how to direct an effective period film as well as a good action picture even though this isn't the best movie he ever directed but it sure is one of them. Also the acting, set design, and the costumes are totally true to the period. One of the most effective scenes of the movie is when the Queen bans Essex from ever coming to her kingdom for his brash attitude, and within minutes ends up regretting her decision, and allows him to come back once Lady Penelope Gray (Olivia de Havilland) convinces her to let him come back to the kingdom. Curtiz has been known to clash with his actors for his movies to the point where he threatened to fire Errol Flynn because of his alcohol problems even though his directing skills were very good and he chose very good material to make into a motion picture. This is one of 1939's best films

Leofwine_draca THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX is a colourful Hollywood re-telling of the turbulent affair between Queen Elizabeth I and her prime courtier, the Earl of Essex. This is a lavish production, shot in glorious Technicolor, boasting some of Hollywood's biggest names and impressing on the sheer scale of things, if not the authenticity.Indeed, once you see the swamp sets that stand in for a backward Ireland, you'll be laughing like I did. But overall this is a film that it's hard to dislike. You get Bette Davis, a natural fit for the part, at her waspish best, and Errol Flynn at his rakish prime. There's the requisite romance, action, and tragedy to keep the running time flying past. The film also has an unusually high propensity of future stars in its supporting cast: Vincent Price is here, as well as Leo G. Carroll, Alan Hale, the lovely Olivia de Havilland, and the eternally scheming Henry Daniell. This is the sort of film where you leave your brain at the door and allow yourself to get caught up in the lavish spectacle of it all.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . is how Errol Flynn indicts Bette "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?" Davis when she refuses to abdicate as Queen of Tinsel Town toward the end of THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. Davis had reached her zenith a year earlier in JEZEBEL, and never would win a third Golden Statuette. She would continue to break every mirror within reach (as he does in PRIVATE LIVES). Her main regret was not living long enough to play the title character in the horror B-movie, HORRID HAG 6. Devil-may-care Errol, on the other hand, was traumatized so badly from being cooped up with this aging cougar for weeks on end that he swore off grown women for good, sticking with 14-year-old girls exclusively for the remainder of his brief sojourn on Earth. Since Flynn was not one iota different from his CAPTAIN BLOOD, ROBIN HOOD, and ESSEX characters in Real Life, he continued his Rebel Ways, ultimately leading Castro's Band of Merry Men to victory in Cuba. This is documented in his final film, CUBAN REBEL GIRLS. President "I-like-Ike" Eisenhower had delegated his wife Mamie (a dead-ringer for Ms. Davis) to run the CIA in 1959, and she pulled an ELIZABETH by having Flynn assassinated over a question of Palace Protocol.