Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-11-11

Flynn is party of the second part,
but they have kept the camera
focused mainly upon that small
area where ragged the storm between
the Queen and her man. As q
result they converted Maxwell An
derson's fine historical play into an
exciting piece of cinema. Yes, even
If it does grow wordy at moments,
the technicolor tends to run at 9TH
ers, and Flynn falls occasionally
short of the flaming quality Of Es-
sex's love and ambition.
THE Private Lives of Elizabeth
and Essex" finds its chief glory in
Miss Davis portrait of the Queen.
Her fierce yearning to play the role,
Of which more has been written
than about the original romance, is
betrayed by no false step in its
creation. Her Elizabeth is a queen
In every temper, word and gesture,
but she is also a woman. AS the
ruler of England, she is the essence
of domination, the prize specimen
OF an arrogant, determined, wilful
line. AS a woman, she Is the help
less victim of an overpowering love.
The conflict between the two parts
Of her being is a spectacular affair,
engrossing in its every mercurial
change up to the very moment when
the Queen wins her phyric victory
over the woman.
It definitely is to the advantage
of the picture that Miss Davis domi-
mates 50 much of the footage, for
when 1t wanders out of sight of
her its bright fire dims, and even
Mr.. Anderson's poetic speech loses
its musical charm.
For fidelity to historic truth the
Davis facade has been radically al
tered for the role of the virgin queen.
Her hair is shaved back, red wig
supports her crown, and a pinched,
ashen face gives tragic emphasis to
Elizabeths worry that she was no
glamour girl in her battle to subdue
Essex's hayward heart.
There are many fine, humorous
moments as we'll as dark, dramatic
ones in the affair between the
Queen and the arrogant, ambitious,
handsome Essex. Among the more
memorable of the former is that
Freudian tinted one in which the
pair knock each other about physi-
cally and verbally, each round of
the contest ending in a fierce, less
than royal clinch. That is the sort
Of thing at which Mr. Flynn is more
of a match for Miss Davis. In the
more intensely poignant passages,
as in their tragic decision that he
were better dead, she is the more
dominant figure, as perhaps BELTS
a queen.
No one, of course, is more adroit
as a swashbuckler than the tall
spare Flynn, and his appearances
on the battlefield are rich op-
portunities for him to be a gallant,
jocular, light-hearted Essex. He is
capable, too, in his exhibitions of
hot-headed, unconquerable pride,
which ought to be enough to satisfy
the legion Of Flynn fans for Miss
Davis general dominance.
Those were spacious days in which
Elizabeth and Essex loved and con-
templated beheading each other,
and the picture so indicates with
out overriding its opportunities. In
the costuming, even with the
temptations of technicolor, which
must have been profound, no less,
Director Michael Curtiz exercised
restraint. The ladies and gentlemen
of the court and the warriors on
the battlefield are arrayed becom-
ingly under all circumstances.
The cast Of Elizabeth and Essex"
was selected with a careful eve to
regal bearing on the part of the
men, beauty on the part of the
women. The. latter turn out mainly
to be Olivia De Havilland as the
deeply, futilely loving Lady Pene-
lope. Miss De Havilland never
looked more beautiful, but more to
the point Is that she never looked
more like an actress.
OF the men, the cunning oppor-
tunist Francis Bacon is treated with
great care by Donald Crisp, Vim
cent Price makes a properly crafty
fop of Sir Walter Raleigh, Henry
Daniel brings out all the foxiness
Of Sir Robert Cecil, Henry Stephen
son Is quite up to the diabolic
Burghley, who looks like a monk,
and Alan Hale is proud, vital
and jocose Earl of Tyronne, the
Irish leader who gave Elizabeth fits.
The screen version of Anderson's
play retains much of its poetic and
pointed dialogue, one of the best
samples of the latter being Eliza
beth's explanation of her swift
changing moods: LAS a child I never