Drake of England (1935)
Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth century's great Shakespearean players, and became Britain's foremost screen actor during the 1920s; in Drake of England, one of his final films, he takes the title role in Arthur Woods' portrayal of the life and times of the flamboyant piratical adventurer who founded Britain's sea fortunes. From clandestine romance at the court of Elizabeth I to conquests in the newly discovered lands of South America and spectacular victory over the Armada, Drake of England offers a panoramic overview of Drake's life.
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I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
It is little surprise that this recreation of the Elizabethan era is virtually forgotten when you remember that both Bette Davis and Flora Robson played Elzabeth a couple of years later.Athene Seyler was a good actress but she was not on the same level as her competitor's.Furthermore Matheson Lang does not compare with the leading men of Errol Flynn and Laurence Olivier.It is also clear that this film suffers from an inadequate budget and some truly awful model work.The action scenes are lamely directed.Compare this with what Korda was producing at this time,and this comes off a poor second.It is however interesting to see what other British producers were making.Apparently one of the few surviving films of director Arthur Woods.One of those credited for photography is future director Ronald Neame.The original running time was 111 minutes which was then cut down to 104minutes.This version runs for 95minutes and is slow moving so I pity those who had to sit through the full version.The Armada at the climax is just amateurish.