The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) on Netflix
Approved19391h 46mBiographyDramaHistory
Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, returns to London after a naval victory at Cádiz. Queen Elizabeth I loves him, but fears his ambition and his popularity with the commoners.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.0/106,743 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Elizabeth I rules England and loves a younger man, Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, whose victory over the Spanish at Cádiz brings him home to London. She also fears his ambition and his popularity with the commoners. Sir Robert Cecil, Lord Burghley and Sir Walter Raleigh are envious rivals at court, and Francis Bacon is his only friend there. Elizabeth scolds him for letting the Spanish treasure fleet escape and rewards his fellow commanders, which drives Essex from court to his estates. When rebellion under the Earl of Tyrone spreads in Ireland, the queen summons him back.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Bette Davis sent studio president Jack L. Warner at least two telegrams in 1938 threatening to refuse the film unless Elizabeth was named before Essex in the title; Errol Flynn had already demanded his own name be acknowledged, and the interim title The Knight and the Lady had upset her.
- Bette Davis lobbied for Laurence Olivier to play the Earl of Essex, but Warner Brothers cast Errol Flynn instead, nervous about giving the part to an actor still relatively unknown in the United States.
- To look more like Queen Elizabeth I, Bette Davis studied the queen's life, worked on a passable accent, and shaved her hairline and eyebrows for a greater resemblance.
- Errol Flynn and Bette Davis, born in 1909 and 1908, were 30 and 31 when they played Essex and Elizabeth, while the real Elizabeth I was 63 during the events depicted, more than twice Davis's age.
SPOILER
The film had a final scene of Errol Flynn's Earl of Essex on the execution block, but it was cut after preview screenings.- Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who composed the score, later reused a theme from the film in his Symphony in F sharp major.
