Young Bess (1953)

That was an excellent one.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Costume epics are not my favorite genre. From the days of my youth and thrice re-watched, young Bess remains one of the significant exceptions to this rule. Jean Simmons gives one of her best-ever screen performances and that says quite a bit. The costumes, music, editing and supporting cast are all topnotch. The resiliency of spirit of the orphan-of-the-throne as-it-were is shown brilliantly as told through the eyes of Kay Walsh as Mrs. Ashley and Cecil Kellaway as Mr. Parry. Leo G. Carroll is also memorable as the stodgy Mr. Mums. If I were young Bess, Stewart Granger as the swashbuckling Thomas Seymour would have swept me off my feet as well. I doubt, however, that I would have been able to find the backbone that Ms. Simmons had to cut her ties to him. Then, the way the actress portrays the distanced heir's determination to be a good step-sister but always self-aware, was truly magnificent. Although the events are told in "and then" episodic fashion, the movie is edited smartly enough and moves well enough that it avoids feeling episodic. To this day, Young Bess remains one of my favorite costume dramas of all time.

The first commentary of this great old film has errors of history,.. and the film's characters.The sickly son of Henry VIII is Edward VI and is the brother of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was in love with Thomas Seymour. Arthur was the brother of Henry VIII and was married as a child to Kathrine of Aragon (the daughter of Ferdinan and Isabella of Spain) The marital conflict was that the Roman Catholic law forbid a brother to marry his brother's widow... but the pope waved this rule... but Henry lost interest in the arranged marriage and married Anne Bolyn who was the mother of Elizabeth."Bloody" Mary was the daughter of Henry and Kathrine of Aragon and the half sister of Elixabeth. She came to the throne following the 9 day reign of Lady Jane Grey who was later executed. Elizabeth became queen following the death of Mary.

When I get the chance to view some films from the 1950's, I usually enjoy the great veteran actors and the film story. This film is great because of the great actors like Jean Simmons, (Young Bess/Queen Elizabeth l),"Winter Solstice",'03 TV, who plays a very dramatic role and tries to follow in her fathers footsteps, Charles Laughton,(King Henry VIII),"Advise & Consent",'62, who gives a rather brief performance, but outstanding. Stewart Granger,(Thomas Seymour), plays an Admiral of the English Fleet and is simply adored by Young Bess, who really has the red hots for him since she was a child. Deborah Kerr,(Catherine Parr),"The Arrangement",'61, gets her claws into Thomas Seymour and simply will not let go and there is a bad relation between Catherine and Young Bess. While this film was being produced, Jean Simmons was married in real life to Stewart Granger, and I can see why their kisses appeared so very real and warm. Good Classic film, but rather slow and boring in places.

How many films have been made about Alfred the Great, the only English monarch with the nickname "the Great". Only one, made in the 1960s I believe. There is, to my knowledge no film about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings, although there are at least six versions of Shakespeare's MACBETH (who was William's contemporary monarch in Scotland!).There is one film about the Normans of William's time - THE WARLORD (1965) with Charleton Heston and Richard Boone. It's a very good film, but it never shows William. No films about St. Edward the Confessor, Ethelred the Unready, William Rufus, or Hardecanute (remember the Danish Viking ruler of England who whipped the disobedient waves of the Channel). The first major English monarch who is made the subject of a big film is Henry II, the role played (both times) by Peter O'Toole in BECKET and THE LION IN WINTER. Significantly his two roles stem from two major plays of the 1950s and 1960s. His son Richard I ("the Lion-Hearted") appears in THE LION IN WINTER, but earlier films included THE CRUSADES, ROBIN HOOD, IVANHOE, KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS, and ROBIN AND MARION. Richard is really the first English monarch to appear in more than just a couple of films - but notice, even though he is a central figure the films tend to deal with the Third Crusade he helped to lead, or the machinations of his brother "Prince John", or the possibly fictional figure of Robin, Earl of Locksley (known as "Robin Hood"). While THE CRUSADES and KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS deal with him and Berengaria (his wife), and try to build a romantic and chivalric triangle between them and Saladin, the actual sexual interests of Richard seem to be closer to the performance of Anthony Hopkins in THE LION IN WINTER. Oddly there is no film about King John and his failure to control his nobles (not even a film version of Shakespeare's historic play, although a television movie version was made starring Leonard Rossiter as John in the 1980s - but the BBC were filming the entire series of the plays). Nor of the fights led by Simon De Montford against Henry III that led to the creation of the House of Commons. Occasional films pick up on a few monarchs - BRAVEHEART giving a look at Edward I and his witless son; Christopher Marlowe's EDWARD II showing what happened to the witless son; CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT being Orson Welles's take on Henry IV and Prince Hal (but concentrating on Sir John Falstaff); and both Olivier and Branagh dealing with HENRY V in two startling great and different interpretations. Then there is another biggie: Old Crookback - RICHARD III in Olivier's production set in the 1470s and 1480s, or the version by Sir Ian McKellan set in the 1930s, or TOWER OF London with Rathbone (a distinctive Richard) abetted by Karloff, and then a version with Vincent Price (who was Clarence in TOWER OF London).This brings us to the champs of British Royals in film - the Tudors. Henry VII always pops up in the Richard films (he has to - he wins at Bosworth Field). Yet no film specifically about Henry VII has been made. Not so Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Gray, and Elizabeth (not much for "Bloody Mary") though. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (at least 3 versions, including one called CROSSED SWORDS), YOUNG BESS, SIX DAY QUEEN, ELIZABETH, MARY OF Scotland (Mary, Queen of Scots, was Henry VIII's niece), MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, THE VIRGIN QUEEN, THE SEA HAWK, FIRE OVER ENGLAND, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX / ELIZABETH THE QUEEN, Shakespeare IN LOVE. No other British Royal Family has been as chronicled in films as the Tudors. Think of it. Charles I was the center of so much turmoil that he eventually was executed after a trial following a series of Civil Wars he lost to Oliver Cromwell. Only one film about him was made - and a bad one - CROMWELL (emphasizing the victor of those wars). But the Tudors generate more interest - there is more skulduggery and treason in their reigns than most, and England becomes a great nation (and a cultural fountainhead) at the end of it all. YOUNG BESS is a small joy - it deals with the forgotten career of Admiral Thomas Seymour, uncle of King Edward VI, and would-be romantic wooer of Princess Elizabeth. He also was the last of Katherine Parr's three husbands (Henry VIII being the second). It is the second time that Laughton plays the great monarch, and the terrible fury of the man is shown in two shots showing his hand caressing the neck of Elizabeth's doomed mother Anne Boleyn, and later caressing the neck of the doomed Catherine Howard in the same way. Most interesting is the casting of Jean Simmons and Steward Granger as Princess Elizabeth and Admiral Tom Seymour. They were married at the time, so their scenes together have an extra-something to them (like the Burtons some ten years later). YOUNG BESS is not accurate history, but it is good film making. You will view this film with satisfaction.