The Virgin Queen (1955 film)

Last updated

The Virgin Queen
The Virgin Queen, film poster.jpg
Original poster
Directed by Henry Koster
Written by Harry Brown
Screenplay byMildret Lord
Based onSir Walter Raleigh
Produced by Charles Brackett
Starring Bette Davis
Richard Todd
Joan Collins
Cinematography Charles G. Clarke
Edited by Robert L. Simpson
Music by Franz Waxman
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • July 22, 1955 (July 22, 1955)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.6 million [1]

The Virgin Queen is a 1955 American DeLuxe Color historical drama film directed by Henry Koster and starring Bette Davis, Richard Todd and Joan Collins. Filmed in CinemaScope, it focuses on the relationship between Elizabeth I of England and Sir Walter Raleigh.

Contents

The film marks the second time Davis played the English monarch; the first was The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). It was also the first Hollywood film for Australian actor Rod Taylor. [2]

Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills were nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design of a Color Production. LeMaire then won the award for another film instead; Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955).

Plot

In 1581, Walter Raleigh, recently returned from the fighting in Ireland, pressures unwilling tavern patrons into freeing from the mud the stuck carriage of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. When Leicester asks how he can repay the kindness, Raleigh asks for an introduction to Queen Elizabeth I, to whom Leicester is a trusted adviser. Leicester grants the request.

Elizabeth takes a great liking to Raleigh and his forthright manner, much to the disgust of her current favorite, Christopher Hatton. As the court ventures outside, Raleigh graciously drapes his cloak (an expensive item borrowed from a reluctant tailor) over some mud so that the queen need not soil her shoes. At dinner, Raleigh reveals his dream of sailing to the New World to reap the riches there. Elizabeth decides to make him the captain of her personal guard. He enlists his Irish friend, Lord Derry.

Meanwhile, Beth Throckmorton, one of the queen's ladies in waiting, very forwardly makes Raleigh's acquaintance. Raleigh's relationship with both ladies is stormy. Beth is jealous of his attentions to Elizabeth, while the queen is often irritated by his independence and constant talk of the New World. Hatton does his best to inflame her annoyance, but she is too clever to be taken in.

When Hatton informs Elizabeth that an Irishman is a member of her guard, Raleigh is stripped of his captaincy when he protests that his friend is loyal and refuses to dismiss him. Banished from court, Raleigh takes the opportunity to secretly marry Beth. Soon after, however, he is restored to Elizabeth's favor.

Finally, Elizabeth grants Raleigh not the three ships he desires, but one. He enthusiastically sets about making modifications. In private, however, Elizabeth reveals within Beth's hearing that her intentions do not include his actually leaving England. When so informed, Raleigh makes plans to sail to North America without royal permission.

Hatton tells the queen not only of Raleigh's plot, but also that he is married to Beth. Elizabeth orders the couple's arrest. Raleigh delays those sent to take him into custody so that Derry can try to take Beth into hiding in Ireland, but they are overtaken on the road, and Derry killed. Raleigh and Beth are sentenced to death, but in the end, Elizabeth releases them. They set sail for the New World.

Cast

Production

Richard Todd signed to make the film after the success of A Man Called Peter. He says Charles Brackett arranged for him to have a false nose put on to look more like Raleigh. [3]

Comic book adaptation

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Raleigh</span> English statesman, soldier, writer, and pioneer of New World colonization (1552–1618)

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion in Ireland, helped defend England against the Spanish Armada and held political positions under Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex</span> English nobleman and rebel (1565–1601)

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a poor campaign in Ireland during the Nine Years' War in 1599. In 1601, he led an abortive coup d'état against the government of Elizabeth I and was executed for treason.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester</span> English statesman (1532–1588)

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.

<i>Elizabeth R</i> TV miniseries

Elizabeth R is a BBC television drama serial of six 90-minute plays starring Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I of England. It was first broadcast on BBC2 from February to March 1971, through the ABC in Australia and broadcast in the United States on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre. The series has been repeated several times, most recently from 15 March 2023, by BBC Four.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Todd</span> British actor (1919–2009)

Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance as Corporal Lachlan MacLachlan in the 1949 film The Hasty Heart. His other notable roles include Jonathan Cooper in Stage Fright (1950), Wing Commander Guy Gibson in The Dam Busters (1955), Sir Walter Raleigh in The Virgin Queen (1955), and Major John Howard in The Longest Day (1962). He was previously a Captain in the British Army during World War II, fighting in the D-Day landings as a member of the 7th Parachute Battalion.

Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley. The oldest son and heir of John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley. He was an English nobleman and soldier. Contemporary sources also refer to him as Sir Edward Dudley.

<i>The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex</i> 1939 American historical romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, for a time also entitled Elizabeth the Queen, is a 1939 American historical romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Olivia de Havilland. Based on the play Elizabeth the Queen by Maxwell Anderson—which had a successful run on Broadway with Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in the lead roles—the film fictionalizes the historical relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. The screenplay was written by Norman Reilly Raine and Aeneas MacKenzie.

<i>Elizabeth: The Golden Age</i> 2007 film by Shekhar Kapur

Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a 2007 biographical historical drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur and produced by Universal Pictures and Working Title Films. It stars Cate Blanchett in the title role and is a loose but fact-based portrayal of events during the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth I, forming a sequel to Kapur's 1998 film Elizabeth. The film co-stars Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Jordi Mollà, Abbie Cornish, and Samantha Morton. The screenplay was written by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst, and the music score was composed by Craig Armstrong and A. R. Rahman. Guy Hendrix Dyas was the film's production designer and co-visual effects supervisor, and the costumes were created by Alexandra Byrne. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios and various locations around the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Robsart</span> Wife of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Amy, Lady Dudley was the first wife of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favourite of Elizabeth I of England. She is primarily known for her death by falling down a flight of stairs, the circumstances of which have often been regarded as suspicious. Amy Robsart was the only child of a substantial Norfolk gentleman. In the vernacular of the day, her name was spelled as Amye Duddley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland</span> English nobleman and conspirator

Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy was an English nobleman and conspirator.

<i>Kenilworth</i> (novel) Novel by Walter Scott

Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical romance novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels, first published on 13 January 1821. Set in 1575, it leads up to the elaborate reception of Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle by the Earl of Leicester, who is complicit in the murder of his wife Amy Robsart at Cumnor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Throckmorton</span> 16th-century English Catholic conspirator

Sir Francis Throckmorton was a conspirator against Queen Elizabeth I of England in the Throckmorton Plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Throckmorton</span> English diplomat and politician (c. 1515–1571)

Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was an English diplomat and politician, who was an ambassador to France and later Scotland, and played a key role in the relationship between Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Raleigh</span> English lady-in-waiting

Elizabeth, Lady Raleigh, was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Her secret marriage to Sir Walter Raleigh precipitated a long period of royal disfavour for both her and her husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland</span> English noble

Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland was the younger daughter of Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex by Lettice Knollys, and the wife of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland.

<i>My Friend Walter</i> British 1988 childrens novel

My Friend Walter is a children's fiction novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by William Heinemann in 1988. The book was shortlisted for the 1989 Smarties Prize.

Events from the 1580s in England.

Sir Thomas Heneage PC was an English politician and courtier at the court of Elizabeth I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Killigrew (diplomat)</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Sir Henry Killigrew was a diplomat and an ambassador for the Kingdom of England in the sixteenth century. He was several times employed by Elizabeth I in Scottish affairs and served as one of the English appointees to the Council of State of the Netherlands in the United Provinces in 1586 and 1587–1589. He served as a Member of Parliament for Newport & Launceston in 1553, for Saltash in 1563, and for Truro in 1571–2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Raleigh in popular culture</span>

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English gentleman, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer, well known for popularising tobacco in England.

References

  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN   978-0-8108-4244-1. p249
  2. Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood, Bear Manor Media, 2010 p 48
  3. Todd, Richard (1989). In camera : an autobiography continued. Hutchinson. p. 85.
  4. "Dell Four Color #644". Grand Comics Database.
  5. Dell Four Color #644 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original )