The Virgin Queen

The young Walter Raleigh needs ships and money for a voyage to the New World, and the only route is the Queen's favour. Elizabeth takes an interest in him, but Raleigh falls in love with one of her ladies, Beth Throckmorton, and marrying without the Queen's permission is a crime. The film is not interested in a love triangle. It is interested in the jealousy of power: Elizabeth's obstruction is political rather than emotional, because at court even who marries whom belongs to the crown. The form is big CinemaScope-era court production: wide halls, heavy costumes, ceremonial scenes. At the centre is Bette Davis's second Elizabeth. We first saw her in the role in 1939 in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex; this story takes place fifteen years earlier in history, and Davis plays Elizabeth at forty-seven, exactly her own age at the time. She shaved back her hairline again for the part; her hair still had not grown out when she presented an award at the 1954 Oscars and she went on stage in a sparkling cap. Henry Koster directed. Richard Todd plays Raleigh, and Joan Collins plays Beth in her first American film. Who it is for: viewers who like classical period pictures and Davis as a queen. Who it is not for: anyone after historical accuracy. Events are rearranged freely for dramatic effect.