About

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Bette Davis and Errol Flynn made The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex fascinatingly public, striking sparks in this lavish Technicolor tale of the ill-fated love between the aging Elizabeth I and the dashing Earl of Essex. Thoroughly unglamorous here — eyes and hairline shaved, face painted chalky white — double Academy Award® winner Davis exudes such intelligence, energy and ardor that her romance with the decades-younger Essex (Flynn at the peak of his remarkable good looks and athletic verve) is completely believable. Based on Maxwell Anderson's play Elizabeth the Queen and directed by Michael Curtiz, this nominee for five Oscars® takes liberties with historical accuracy, but none with dramatic impact. Long may these tempestuous, titled lovers reign!

Synopsis

In London, in 1596, the Earl of Essex returns from his victory at Cadiz to be greeted by the admiration of Lady Penelope Gray and other ladies of the court and the jealousy of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil. Queen Elizabeth, although in love with Essex, fears his thirst for power and so castigates him for the high cost of his empty victory. Proud and headstrong, Essex retreats to his ancestral home at Wonstead and refuses to return to court. His friend, Francis Bacon, seeking to reconcile the battling lovers, suggests that Elizabeth appoint Essex Master of the Ordnance in order to quell the uprising in Ireland led by the Earl of Tyrone. To serve his country, Essex returns to court where he falls victim to the intrigues of Raleigh and Cecil who conspire to drive a wedge between him and the queen by sending Essex to Ireland. Against Elizabeth's wishes, Essex leads the army to Ireland, where his pleas for help go unanswered and thus, facing suffering and death, he is forced to surrender to Tyrone. Unknown to either Essex or Elizabeth, Cecil, Raleigh and Penelope have been intercepting the lovers' letters, and so Essex returns to England, believing that he has been betrayed and abandoned by his queen. Essex and his men take the palace by storm, and although the court conspiracy is finally brought to light, Essex still refuses to subordinate himself to Elizabeth's throne and, thirsting for power, demands that she share it with him. Elizabeth refuses and orders him arrested and executed. In one final meeting, both lovers refuse to relinquish their hold on the throne, and therefore bid each other a final farewell as Essex goes to his death.

The Cast

Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth I
Errol Flynn as Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
Olivia de Havilland as Lady Penelope Gray
Donald Crisp as Francis Bacon
Alan Hale as Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone
Vincent Price as Sir Walter Raleigh
Henry Stephenson as Lord Burghley
Henry Daniell as Sir Robert Cecil
James Stephenson as Sir Thomas Egerton
Nanette Fabray as Mistress Margaret Radcliffe
Ralph Forbes as Lord Knollys
Leo G. Carroll as Sir Edward Coke

Site Information

"A Lovely, Dreadful Thing" was opened on July 3, 2006. We are proudly hosted by etlove.nu. Member database is powered by Enthusiast. The rest of the site is coded in EditPlus. Valid XHTML and CSS.