The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
by Chuck Jones, Michael Curtiz
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Actor: Bette Davis, Donald Crisp, Errol Flynn, Mel Blanc, Olivia de HavillandDirector: Chuck Jones, Michael Curtiz
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Dave Monahan
Writer: Maxwell Anderson
Writer: Norman Reilly Raine
Writer: Richard Hogan
Writer: Robert Givens
Writer: Æneas MacKenzie
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
DVD Review: Bette and Errol
Summary: 4 Stars
"Elizabeth and Essex"(1939) is really Bette and Errol. Bette Davis was Warners #1 female star and she wanted Laurence Olivier to play Essex. But she got Errol Flynn and complained "He wasn't an experienced enough actor to cope with the complicated blank verse..." Their off screen antagonism apparently can be seen on screen as well, and the scene in which she slaps Flynn has a bit too much muscle behind it - watch Flynn's face immediately after he gets hit.
Bette Davis is a film icon. She appeared in nearly 100 films, was nominated for an Oscar 11 times and won twice ("Dangerous" in 1935 and "Jezebel" in 1939), nominated for an Emmy 4 times and won once ("Strangers" in 1979), 3 Golden Globe Nominations, and for "All About Eve" (1950) she won awards at Cannes, in Italy, and the New York Film Critics. According to AFI she is the #2 female screen legend .
1939 was a busy year for Bette. She appeared in 4 films that year - "Dark Victory", "the Old Maid", and "Juarez". Flynn too was busy. "Dodge City" appeared this same year, and he had 4 films in 1938 and would complete 3 more in 1940. But even busier was director Michael Curtiz who completed 5 films in 1938, 6 in 1939, and 3 in 1940.
Flynn got his break out role as "Captain Blood" (1935) because Robert Donat turned down the part following his success in "The 39 Steps" and his refusal to play a one dimensional swash buckler. Flynn had no such compunctions, and since the studio was all set to start filming, and Flynn was available for a mere $125 per week, the deed was done. The rest is history, and by 1939 Flynn was a top star with such films as "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936) and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938).
Michael Curtiz directed. Curtiz and Flynn did a dozen films together including "Captain Blood" (1935), "Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936),"Robin Hood" (1938), "Dodge City" (1939), "Virginia City" (1940), "The Sea Hawk" (1940), and "Santa fe Trail" (1940). While they had an extremely successful on screen collaboration, off screen they were bitter enemies, complicated by the fact that Flynn's first wife had earlier been married to Curtiz.
While Curtiz did a lot of work with Flynn, and was nominated for their first collaboration "Captain Blood" (1935), Curtiz went on for 2 more nominations for films with Jimmy Cagney ("Angels with Dirty Faces" in 1938 and "Yankee Doddle Dandy" in 1941) and one win for a film with Bogart ("Casablanca" in 1942), one of eight they made together. Curtiz had a sense of humor about himself - he once declared "The next time I want an idiot to do this, I'll do it myself." But he could be hell to work with, and Bette Davis refused to work with him following this film after he called her a "no good sexless son of a bitch."
The film features Olivia de Haviland, Donald Crisp, Alan Hale, and Vincent Price.
Although Olivia de Haviland made 9 films with Errol Flynn between 1938 and 1943, it's her work without Flynn for which she received the most accolades. We remember her best in "GWTW" (1939) for which she was nominated for an Oscar. She was nominated again in 1941 for "Hold Back the Dream" and won for "To Each Her Own" (1947) and "The Heiress" (1949). She won Best Actress by the National Board of Review, the New York Film Criticis, and the Venice Film festival for her role as a mental patient in "The Snake Pit" (1949).
Donald Crisp plays Sir Francis Bacon. He appeared in more than 150 films from 1908 through 1963. He won Best Supporting Actor for "How Green was My Valley" (1941) and gave memorable performances in films such as "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936), "Jezebel" (1938), "National Velvet" (1944), and "The Long Gray Line" (1955).
Alan Hale Sr. was a frequent sidekick to Flynn in films such as "Robin Hood" (1938), "Dodge City" (1939), "Virginia City" (1940), "The Sea Hawk" (1940), "Santa fe Trail" (1940), and "Gentleman Jim" (1942). He has the distinction of appearing as Little John in the 1922 version with Douglas Fairbanks, again in 1938 with Flynn, and finally in 1950 in "Rogues of Sherwood Forest" with John Derek. In this film Hale plays an opponent of Flynn, the first and only time they battled each other.
Vincent Price plays Sir Walter Raleigh. We tend to think of Price for all the B horror movies he made in the 50s and 60s, especially the first 3D film "House of Wax" (1953) and the marvelous "The Fly" (1958). But Price was extremely versatile, and did comedies (e.g., "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" in 1948, "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine" in 1965, Egghead on the TV series "Batman"), period pieces (e.g., "The Ten Commandments" in 1956, "The Three Musketeers" in 1948 and again in 1960), and film noir ("Laura" in 1944, "The Long Night" in 1947, "His Kind of Woman" in 1951).
Bette Davis would play Elizabeth I again nearly 20 years later in "The Virgin Queen" (1955). Other portrayals of the great queen include Cate Blanchett in 1998 ("Elizabeth") and again in 2007 ("Elizabeth" The Golden Age"), Helen Mirren in 2005 ("Elizabeth I" on HBO), Glenda Jackson in 1971 ("Elizabeth R"), Judith Anderson in 1968 ("Elizabeth I" for Hallmark Hall of Fame), and Jean Simmons in 1953 ("Young Bess"). My personal preferences are Glenda Jackson and Judith Anderson.
E&E was a big success as befits the pairing of two of the biggest stars, but Flynn got poor reviews. The film received 5 Oscar nominations (Best Sound, Music, Special Effects, Color, and Art Direction) but no wins.
Davis is terrific and commands every scene. Flynn is weak, especially when compared to his other performances, but it was hard for a male co-star to shine with Davis on the set. Olivia de Haviland is off on the periphery, and the chemistry that she and Flynn demonstrated elsewhere is not here. The story is reasonably accurate and the costumes and sets are marvelous.
There are a host of Tudor/Elizabethian period films that emerged around this time - "The Sea Hawk" (1940) with Errol Flynn, "The Prince and the Pauper" (1937) with Errol Flynn, "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (1933) with Charles Laughton - and few of them stand up today. "Elizabeth and Essex" is probably the best of the lot.
Description of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
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