Young Bess (1953)

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Margaret Irwin (novel)
Jan Lustig (writer) ...

Release Date:

29 May 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

Chronicles the life of queen Elizabeth I, before she became the queen of England. Apart from taking part in the court intrigues...

Plot Keywords:

Queen | England | Love | Court | Queen Elizabeth I

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Jean Simmons	...	Young Bess (Queen Elizabeth I)
Stewart Granger	...	Thomas Seymour
Deborah Kerr	...	Catherine Parr
Charles Laughton	...	King Henry VIII
Kay Walsh	...	Mrs. Ashley
Guy Rolfe	...	Ned Seymour
Kathleen Byron	...	Ann Seymour
Cecil Kellaway	...	Mr. Parry
Rex Thompson	...	Prince Edward / King Edward VI
Robert Arthur	...	Barnaby
Leo G. Carroll	...	Mr. Mums
Norma Varden	...	Lady Tyrwhitt
Alan Napier	...	Robert Tyrwhitt
Noreen Corcoran	...	Bess as a child
Ivan Triesault	...	Danish Envoy

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #16304)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This was young Rex Thompson's film debut as Prince Edward/King Edward VI. He turned in a truly engaging performance as the ill-fated young King of England, remarkable considering he was only eleven years old, and was not British but a native New Yorker.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The royal badge on Barnaby's livery consists of a crowned Tudor rose with four red-and-white petals, but the real Tudor rose emblem had five petals, the crown flush with the top petal.

Quotes:

Thomas Seymour: If you were queen of England, what would you do, eh? Would you give your admiral the opportunity to do great deeds?
Young Bess: I'd give him the opportunities he never dared to dream about. I'd send him around the globe as the Portuguese do. I'd send him to the New World to let the Spaniards know that they are no longer masters of it.
Thomas Seymour: That won't be easy. We're a small country, Bess.
Young Bess: That can be remedied, Tom. It CAN be remedied!

The queen

"Young Bess" features three of the greatest English actors of all time :Jean Simmons,Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr;the two actresses had already teamed up for "black narcissus" but in "young Bess" it's Simmons who plays the lead .

The movie does not really show it,but Elizabeth had a very harsh childhood ,unlike Mary Stuart ,her dear cousin who spent her youth in the sweet Chateaux de La Loire in France .That may explain why Elizabeth was prepared to reign and Mary failed dismally. It was a wonder she kept her head after all those years with Mary Tudor.But Jean Simmons succeeds in her performance:from a romantic young girl to the strong queen (the big shadow on the wall is revealing),she runs the whole gamut and she gets strong support from Stewart Granger as her dashing attentive escort ,from Deborah Kerr ,in an underwritten part, and from Charles Laughton,ideally cast as Henry the Eighth.