*. Hal Wallis back for another round of Tudormania, with director Charles Jarrott again at the helm. You could almost think of it as a sequel to Anne of the Thousand Days, and indeed the lead part was apparently intended for Geneviève Bujold. Even the basic structure of the story is the same, with a falling out between the heroine and England’s monarch, leading to the destruction of the former, only for her to be avenged, as prophesied, by her offspring.
*. It might have worked. They weren’t afraid to take a number of historical liberties in order to play up the main draw, which is the conflict between Mary (Vanessa Redgrave) and Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson). Even to the point where they are shown secretly getting together twice (it’s generally assumed by historians that they never actually met). But the foregrounding of this fraught relationship is also telling. The thing is, Elizabeth has more vitality than Mary, and as played by Jackson — busting a lute or beating the hell out of poor Dudley — she puts Redgrave, playing one of history’s great victims, in the shade.
*. Perhaps that’s why, in the words of Pauline Kael in her review of this one, “Mary’s ‘tragic destiny’ has always been a movie flop” (I take it that she’s mainly referring here to the 1936 Katherine Hepburn vehicle Mary of Scotland). Mary led an eventful life, at least for its first couple of acts, and was not without resources, but Scottish politics chewed her up.
*. You can tell they were really trying to pump up the drama in conventional modern ways. Darnley is played by Timothy Dalton as a whining homosexual (typecast after his turn in The Lion in Winter?) who was bedding David Riccio (Ian Holm). I guess there were rumours about this at the time, but then rumours of homosexuality were a standard way of tearing someone down in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, Mary only has eyes for Bothwell (Nigel Davenport). The truth was probably more mundane. Darnley was just an angry drunk and Bothwell a brute who didn’t care for Mary at all (a lack of feeling that was reciprocated). But with all these costumes they needed to find some romance somewhere.
*. Other historical figures tend to be cartoons, like John Knox who only shows up to spit “Papist whore!” at Mary. Trevor Howard as Cecil is the lone bright spot as the sort of intriguer we recognize from our own courts. I like Jackson, who was also playing Elizabeth in the miniseries Elizabeth R at the same time. I wonder if they plucked her forehead to make it look that strange. Kael thought her performance had “a sort of camp humor,” as “She looks like a ragpicker hag dressed by Klimt.” That’s bitchy, but I don’t think it’s quite right. Jackson is mannish and modern, but not incongruous.
*. Redgrave is fine. Apparently Jane Fonda (!) and Sophia Loren (?!) were both considered ahead of her for the part (indeed, Redgrave was going to play Elizabeth). Maybe Fonda or Loren could have turned this into the trashy soaper that you feel that it wants to be. Redgrave is a bit gray, which is why the movie keeps dragging us back to Elizabeth’s court.
*. John Barry contributes a jaunty score. The costumes are nice and some of the photography nicely done. You almost seem at times to be looking at a period painting. But it’s all a bit dull. There’s lots of expository dialogue explaining the political machinations but few dramatic highlights, despite all of the potential in the material. In fact, part of the problem was that there may have been too much material. I could imagine a decent biopic being made just based on Mary’s early years and time at the French court, and another dealing with her marriage to Darnley, and another covering her time in custody (the last nineteen years of her life). Few lives have the kind of consistency, or uneventfulness, to be boiled down to a two-hour drama. What we end up with here isn’t good history, or a very insightful biopic, but just horses and lace collars and stuff.
Alex on Film 
Managed to miss this one though I did see the Glenda Jackson series. Margaret George (the Henry 8 autobiography I told you about) also wrote the life of Mary and that was excellent too.
Yeah, there’s so much soapy stuff here I think it probably works better as a series. I put a request in for the Tudors at at the library so I’ll be checking that out next week on your say-so!
The Henry one?
Is that the one with Rhys Meyers? That’s the one I put a hold on.
Yes sorry I thought you meant the book! I forget that libraries do other things. Well I’ll look forward to your review!
Yes, I have all the books I can read at home. I usually just get DVDs from the library.
Nice that you can ask for them to be kept for you.
They’ll hold them for a week. But it’s a nice walk to the library so it usually doesn’t take that long for me to pick them up.
Were you surprised when you got the part of Jack Bartlett in Heartland, and have any funny things ever happened to you on the set?
I had scones for breakfast this morning.
Hot or fruit?
Yes.
Just dealing with excitement in my comments secrtion; looks like I’m the first credible, serious 21st century critic to consider the legacy of Charlie Chan in the movies. Why not stop by and learn something?, hahahahhahaha!
Your comment secretions do need some managing. Who was Warner Orland? Hard to get past the obvious language barriers in your writing.
You must have your spectacles on upside down again, grandpa. Must dazzle you to see such pioneering writing. Astonishing that these films have not been tackled by anyone of any literary merit until now.
And it’s Oland, not Orland, and he played the detective, happy to correct schoolboy error on your part! Hahahah!
Fake news! I see no criminality! Anyone could have mocked this up! Proves nothing!
WHY ARE YOU SCREENSHOTTING MY WRITING IN THE FIRST PLACE?
It’s not like a topless women with her eyes gouged out, something that you might enjoy privately?
It all goes into the file named “Epic Fails.” You are the sole author.
Is there space on your hard-drive considering the bulging file of ‘Mutilated Models’? Maybe if you read my pieces rather than photoshopping errors into them, you might learn about how an award-winning writer can cover these films to powerful effect?
*sigh* Thirtieth-best movie blog in Blanefield. As chosen by a random link generator. Off to the bins!
You can run, but you can’t hide, Bunty! hahahha!
I’m hiding right now.
I see you.
What am I eating? Hm?
String.
Nope. And are you eating crayons again?
Then what is that dangling out of your mouth? Screenshotting wounds again?
Processed cheese food. Not processed cheese, but what processed cheese eats.
Looks like string.
You’re projecting again. Or else you’re glued to the wrong Twitch channel.
String or cheese, my point is proved. I can see you. You cannot hide. Next!
You need to clean the crayon off your monitor. Is that what you watch movies on? It’s a mess.
I don’t use a monitor, who does? Funny little men saving images for future use.
I forgot. You watch movies on your cellphone. So much for the glories of Cinerama. Or widescreen.
Sigh. A blunt scalpel when a razor wit is required. Hard to know how to respond to such pitiful attempts at banter.
You’re not doing too bad. Though the window is closing.
I’ll close it on your napper, sunshine.
Wait, you have a phone in your cell?
I’m sitting at my desk, trying to get work done. You’re the one doing this on a pager.
Pager? Cellphone? What year do you think it is? 1990?
Did you see The Wire? People like you use pagers because they can’t be traced.
Was that back in the golden age of televisuals? You won’t be traced once I’m done with you.
I’m off the grid now. We’ve already established that I’m hiding and you can’t see me. Why, I might be standing outside your door . . .
Enjoy your spaghetti, Buster! Hahaha!
Enjoy your Alphaghetti, Bunny!
Mary a victim? Really? I realize my knowledge of history of that era is probably the one week in highschool but I’d be interested how you view her as a victim.
And I see from your comments that you and Dix are almost at an agreement for a Peace Treaty. Always good to see old friends coming back together 😉
She was basically just used (and abused) by other people almost her whole life. Lousy marriages to a couple of brutal jerks. The Scottish lairds did her over. Spent the last twenty years of her life rotting in captivity.
And so will you, Alex, if I have anything to do with it! hahahaha!
I guess it’s a Scottish thing.
I’ll make sure you rot in captivity in an international, inclusive way.
Oh that’s fine if I get to go places. Just not Scotland. Already been. Don’t want to go back as I’ve heard it hasn’t got any better.
What’s with this attack on my home country? My attacks on you are bespoke, tailored to you specifically. Rude to rope a whole country in, I’d imagine Canada is a fine place.
I have to generalize from the population sample I have to draw on.
Have you not visited Canada? Odd for someone who fashions himself a globetrotter.
Hoping to visit to help the Royal Canadian Mounted track down the bald bandit whose perverse screenshotting has shocked the civilised world.
Sounds like they’ve set you up for a sting operation. I wouldn’t accept that invitation. They’ve been wanting to shut down the Scottish mafia over here for a while.
Got an invite to Toronto Film Fest this week. Fancy a few jars?
I don’t do Zoom events. Never even installed the app.
They not invite you? Shame. No awards? Shame. Will enjoy hobnobbing with my CBC pals.
If you’re looking to get someone from the Ceeb to buy you a drink you’re going to be disappointed. They may be totally defunded by September. Your CBC pals are all skint.
Who are you not full of vitriol for? I thought you funded these stalwarts?
No vitriol for the Ceeb, though I’m one of the very few in this country who can say that. Anyone who works there has my sympathy. What I said (if you’d been reading carefully, which you weren’t) was that nobody there was going to be able to buy you a drink.
You seem to revel in their misfortune.
You should google “defund the CBC.” That’s some real negativity.
It seems to bother you that your national broadcaster sees me as a rising new voice in the art of film criticism, and you as a hermit lunatic, peeing through his knee length beard. Discuss.
This country takes a lot of pride in its hermit lunatics. They’re national icons. Something to keep in mind if you’re visiting.
I’ll be sure to point you out to the RCM!