The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

There probably never will be the definitive visual version of the life and times of Queen Elizabeth I. However, with Anne-Marie Duff and Helen Mirren taking on their versions of the Queen in both the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries ELIZABETH I:... Full review

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was a personal triumph for Bette Davis in her portrayal of Elizabeth I of England. Davis was 31 when she played the Virgin Queen at the tail end of her regime, Elizabeth herself... Full review

This picture, based on Maxwell Anderson's play (written entirely in blank verse!) portrays the Elizabeth of legend, not the historical Elizabeth, in this case based on Lytton Strachey's book, "Elizabeth and Essex". In other words, this is more a theatrical... Full review

I saw this movie when I was a child in Mexican black and white TV. Now it has been released in DVD in Spain by Divisa(2005) It is clear that true history is absent in most of the historic events... Full review

The main interest in this 1939 film is the great performance by Bette Davis. It was a role she was born to play. Her input on the film makes it work in unexpected ways. Under the direction of Michael Curtiz,... Full review

Watching the newly restored DVD version of THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX gives this viewer a new appreciation of the lavish attention to detail in sets, costumes--and even the performances surrounding BETTE DAVIS in her showcase role as... Full review

This is a far cry from the sentimental ahistorical nonsense I was expecting. It is all about the machinations of power, the ruthlessness that a ruler must uphold so as not to endanger her kingdom, about the necessity to put... Full review

Until her death, at 81, in 1989, screen legend Bette Davis would express a combination of bitterness and disappointment over the Maxwell Anderson play that came to the screen as THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. She had lobbied... Full review

I think the last time I saw this movie was probably over thirty years ago on the late-nite movie during Errol Flynn week. The local PBS station just showed it tonight and I was very impressed. I hardly knew who... Full review

One of my top 10 best movies of all time! This has to be Davis' best dramatic performance ever - the voice, the mannerisms, the psychological torment between Queen and woman. Never have I seen a character performance like Davis'... Full review

The dreary plot follows Flynn's Essex, whose military victories make him a hero to the people.....A perfunctory featurette seems like a chore for the talking-head film historians, offering tasty behind-the-scenes gossip about the caustic relationship between Davis and Flynn (evident onscreen)..... ... Full Review

The dreary plot follows Flynn's Essex, whose military victories make him a hero to the people. Whenever Davis isn't on-screen, and even when her performance frequently dips into embarrassing camp, Elizabeth and Essex is a paralyzing bore. ... Full Review

Slightly less effective is The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), with Queen Elizabeth (a disappointingly mannered Bette Davis) trading kisses and barbs with the doomed Earl of Essex (Flynn) in an unhistorical recounting of events that favours Essex in a big way. ... Full Review

She berates Essex for his failure at the battle of Cadiz in Spain, where countless ducats that could have filled the English treasury were lost underwater. Director Michael Curtiz is happy within his shadow motif, where candles loom larger on a far-off wall and the shadow of Elizabeth seats herself within a prestigious painting, though oddly enough, the candle lighting from where it sits doesnt seem like it could give off that much light. ... Full Review

Olivia de Havilland is wasted in the role of a lady-in-waiting who carries a torch for Essex. Boiled down to essentials: Davis felt that Flynn was unprofessional, while Flynn thought that Davis took herself too damned seriously. ... Full Review

Queen Elizabeth II is so last year.This season's royal obsession takes us back to a perennial favorite, her 16th-century namesake, Elizabeth I .Since the dawn of movies, great actresses have crowned their careers playing the enigmatic Virgin Queen. ... Full Article

Errol Flynn he was no match for the mercurial Bette Davis? As Queen Elizabeth I, Davis plays a character 35 years older than she is, with shaved eyebrows and a chalky white face mask. ... Full Article

Adapted and expanded from Maxwell Anderson's play in dizzying Technicolor, "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" marked Flynn's second film with fiesty Bette Davis, and though much has been made of their mutual dislike during filming, their performances and... ... Full Article