A purported "historical" movie that would earn a grade of "F" in school.

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 1999)

The movie "ELIZABETH" is a decent movie based on acting, direction, and cinematography (although too gory for my tastes). But it is a nearly complete failure as history--especially for a movie which claims to be "historical." The writer takes a few undisputed facts a builds a wholly concocted story around them. He invents entirely false stories, distorts others, and even takes events that occurred 20 years later and attributes them to Elizabeth's first year. Along the way, he deflowers "the virgin queen," and makes a traitor out of her one true love, Robert Dudley, who never would betray her. In short, for lovers of history like me, the movie is sanctimonious drivel.