Maxwell Anderson's blank verse play about the love affair between the 60-something Elizabeth I and the 30-something Earl of Essex was adapted for the screen in 1939 as The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. This version, taped for television for Hallmark Hall of Fame—back when that name actually meant drama of quality—is drastically cut to fit within a 75 minute time frame, and it shows. Many scenes of exposition or transition are awkwardly chopped down to just two or three lines, and most of the background characters are not well differentiated. But the performances of Judith Anderson as Elizabeth and Charlton Heston as Essex are quite good. The plot is a highly fanciful and fictionalized version of history. In the play, it is implied that Elizabeth and Essex are lovers, despite their thirty-year age difference, though most historians don't believe their relationship was ever physical. At any rate, Essex is a much favored member of Elizabeth's court, and others, including Sir Walter Raleigh, are jealous of the attention he gets. And there is some question, even in Elizabeth's mind, about Essex's ambitions, not just on the battlefield but within the court; is he a possible usurper of the crown? Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil plot to send the reluctant Essex to Ireland, hoping he'll get bogged down in fighting a revolution there. He does, and he defies his queen's orders by taking his troops into the interior rather than staying on the coast. Cecil intercepts messages sent between Elizabeth and Essex, making sure they're not received, leading to a major misunderstanding between the two. When Essex returns to London with his troops, it is assumed that he is back to take the throne by force; though he insists to the Queen that that's not his intention, his followers shouting their support for him in the streets send a different message.
Like the Davis-Flynn version, this is basically a melodrama of romance and power. In real life, Essex was forgiven his Ireland shenanigans (he apparently forged a truce which was not approved of by Elizabeth) but later did engage in a plan to capture the Queen and install James VI in her place. Elizabeth would seem rightfully to have sent Essex to his death. In Anderson's play, Essex's betrayal is played out more ambiguously. Though the streets are filled with his followers, he claims not to be plotting to dethrone her—what he really wants is to share her throne. Elizabeth cannot bring herself to contemplate that, assuming she would essentially become his prisoner. The two reach an impasse that can only be broken by Elizabeth sending Essex to the executioner; though she will suffer mightily for it, it is the price of holding on to power. Anderson is quite good; Heston is not an obvious choice, and the New York Times critic who reviewed this program back in 1968 criticized his "immobility of expression" and lack of passion, but I thought he was fine as a conflicted lover, even if he doesn’t quite capture the necessary pathos for the final scene. Adequate support is given by Michael Allinson as Raleigh, Harry Townes as Cecil, and Alan Webb as Sir Francis Bacon, a supporter of Essex. Staging and shooting are average for the era of taped performance. [DVD]
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