Queen Elizabeth I has been the central figure of many movies and has been portrayed by many great actresses, and now Mary, Queen of Scots gets her turn in the spotlight. Katharine Hepburn portrayed her in "Mary of Scotland," of which I have not seen lately. But Vanessa Redgrave was truly exquisite as Mary, fleshing her out and making her a naive and vulnerable person who was ruled by her heart and her passion instead of her reason and her mind, which would lead to her downfall.
Sidebar: I love Bette Davis and all (who was Queen Elizabeth I in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" and "The Virgin Queen"), but as of this writing, I consider at least two actresses to be better at portraying Elizabeth: #1 Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth" and #2 Glenda Jackson here in this film. Flora Robson was very good, too, for "Fire Over England," which would be my #3 or tied for second.
But getting back to the movie, if you want to see Vanessa and Glenda at their best, this is a must see for movie fans, even if liberties were taken with the facts. Take them, if they must. Just don't stop making movies like this one!
Sidebar: I love Bette Davis and all (who was Queen Elizabeth I in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" and "The Virgin Queen"), but as of this writing, I consider at least two actresses to be better at portraying Elizabeth: #1 Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth" and #2 Glenda Jackson here in this film. Flora Robson was very good, too, for "Fire Over England," which would be my #3 or tied for second.
But getting back to the movie, if you want to see Vanessa and Glenda at their best, this is a must see for movie fans, even if liberties were taken with the facts. Take them, if they must. Just don't stop making movies like this one!