The Sword and the Rose (1953) on Netflix
NR19531h 32mAdventureDramaHistory
Mary Tudor loves Charles Brandon, a newcomer at her brother Henry VIII's court. The king plans to wed her to King Louis XII of France, while the Duke of Buckingham wants her.
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- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.3/101,159 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Plot summary
Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, falls in love with Charles Brandon, a newcomer at the English court. She persuades her brother to name him Captain of the Guard. Henry has other plans for her: a peace agreement with France requires that she marry the aging King Louis XII. The Duke of Buckingham, who has long wanted Mary for himself, dislikes Charles because he is a commoner. Troubled by his feelings for the princess, Charles resigns his post and prepares to sail for the New World. Her lady-in-waiting, Lady Margaret, urges her not to go, but Mary disguises herself as a boy and follows Charles to Bristol.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Sword and the Rose (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Richard Todd was thrown from a horse while filming the trailer and was laid up in bed for three weeks; the production was also hit by a "go slow" strike at the studio.
- Studio sets replaced many natural settings in the film: Peter Ellenshaw painted sets for 62 different scenes in total.
- At the end of 1948 more than $8.5 million of Walt Disney Productions' money was stranded in foreign countries including the United Kingdom, so Walt Disney set up a British studio with RKO Radio Pictures.
- Peter Ellenshaw's work on the film earned him a "lifetime contract" with the Disney studio, and he moved to the United States after shooting 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).
- The real Mary Tudor married King Louis XII without much protest, and after his death Charles Brandon was sent to France to bring her home; they married there in 1515 without Henry VIII's permission, which was treason at the time.
- The real Charles Brandon was a childhood friend of King Henry VIII rather than a newcomer to court, and had already been given the title of Duke of Suffolk by Henry in 1514.
- The film's relative failure, along with that of Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue, caused Disney to become less enthusiastic about costume pictures.
