Product Details

• Actors: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Mel Blanc, Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp
• Directors: Chuck Jones, Michael Curtiz
• Writers: Dave Monahan, Maxwell Anderson, Norman Reilly Raine, Richard Hogan, Robert Givens
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: April 19, 2005
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007OY2O4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,167 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH & ESSEX - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars power and passion behind the palace walls, June 27, 2007

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (DVD)

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (1939) features a stunner of a performance from Bette Davis, brilliant Technicolor photography and a sweeping score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. What more could a classic movie fan want?

Based upon "Elizabeth the Queen" by Maxwell Anderson, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX recounts, with some liberties, the stormy relationship of Queen Elizabeth 1st (Bette Davis) and the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux (Errol Flynn). Robert wants desperately to rule England, something Elizabeth would never sacrifice...not even for love.

The pain and the passion of this story is simply breathtaking. Despite the fact that Davis hated working with Errol Flynn (they were paired in "The Sisters" the previous year); their onscreen chemistry fairly crackles. Davis shaved off her eyebrows plus two inches from her hairline in order to resemble the aged Queen Elizabeth. It's one of her most subtle and affecting performances.

Olivia de Havilland (the frequent love interest in Errol Flynn's swashbucklers), is relegated to supporting status here, but still manages to command attention with her finely-drawn performance as Lady Penelope Gray. There's also an early appearance from Broadway star Nanette Fabray---billed as Nanette Fabares--as a lovesick handmaiden.

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX features a sweeping and majestic score from Wolfgang Erich Korngold, with memorable motifs for the two main characters. The Technicolor photography is warm and lush, especially during the palace scenes; the lighting is superb.

In another twist, most of the sets and costumes later found their way into Errol Flynn's next big vehicle, The Sea Hawk (1940). Bette Davis would go on to reprise her role as Queen Elizabeth 1st in "The Virgin Queen" (1956).

The new DVD from Warner Brothers include several worthwhile bonuses. There's a new Making-Of featurette ("Battle Royale") which delves into the history of the production. The 'Warner Night at the Movies' feature gives you the option to screen the film with newsreel, Merry Melodies cartoon ("Old Glory"), and musical short ("The Royal Rodeo").

(Single-sided, dual-layer disc).

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elizabeth and Essex A Beautiful Love Story, December 17, 2005

By 

Chris "Chris" (Leeds, Utah United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (DVD)

This is a glorious film produced by Warner Brothers in 1938, filled with fantastic scenes, wardrobe, and a beautiful love story highly suggested as all. Bette Davis and Errol Flynn shine together in this film.

"A brilliant historical drama of the war between passion and power."

Bette Davis and Errol Flynn made The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex fascinatingly public, striking sparks in this lavish Techincolor tale of the ill-fated love between the aging Elizabeth I and the dashing Earl of Essex. Thoroughly unglamorous here - eyes and hairline shaved, pace fainted chalky white - double Academy Award winner* Davis exudes such intelligence, energy and ardor that her romance with the decades-younger Essex (Flynn at the peak of his remarkable good looks and athletic verve) is completely believable. Based on Maxwell Anderson's play Elizabeth the Queen and directed by Micharl Curtiz, this nominee for five Oscars takes liberties with historical accuracy, but none with dramatic impact. Long may these tempestuous, titled lovers reign!

This dvd also has some brilliant special features including:

:Leonard Maltin Hosts Warner Night at the movies 1939:
:Newsreel:
:Musical Short The Royal Rodeo:
:Cartoon Old Glory:
:Theatrical Trailers:
:New Featurette Elizabeth and Essex Royal Battle:

This is a great movie for all.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Royal entertainment, December 16, 2007

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (DVD)

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex may have been the set from hell - Bette Davis despised Errol Flynn, who hated director Michael Curtiz while Olivia De Havilland was given a thankless supporting role as Jack Warner's way of keeping her in her place after the success of Gone With the Wind - but it turned out rather splendidly. Offering Hollywood rather than history, and with all the glories that only the studio system at its peak could offer, it's grand entertainment. Glorious Technicolor cinematography from Sol Polito, lavish production design from Anton Grot that would be reused in Flynn's version of The Sea Hawk and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's triumphant score are all just the icing on the cake.

With just a few bleak depictions of Essex's disastrous Irish campaign, there's not much in the way of swashbuckling: the emphasis here is on doomed romance between two people drawn to each other by the very things that keep them apart. Flynn's charismatic but egotistical and fatally overambitious Essex, whose popularity is never matched by the reality of his (under)achievements, is one of many thwarted suitors who attempted to wear the crown by wooing the woman while she was equally determined not to be ruled by weaker men. It's her power that appeals to him and his carefree short-sighted irresponsibility that attracts her, but though Davis' bitter Elizabeth may try to grab a few moments of happiness with him, she's all too aware that for her to surrender to a husband would be to abdicate all power and doom England to disastrous rule. The tragedy comes from the fact that he's all too aware of his own weaknesses, but too proud to conquer them or even to save himself when offered the chance - something of a change from the usual Errol Flynn hero. But then this is not exactly a typical Flynn film: for all his charm and bravado, Elizabeth is the real focus of the film. And while many of the Flynn film regulars are present and correct, most are playing very different roles. De Havilland is less-than-sympathetic for once as the lady-in-waiting taunting the queen over her lost youth, Alan Hale appears as Flynn's enemy rather than his sidekick for a change, while even Donald Crisp's usual onscreen integrity is discreetly tucked away lest it interfere with his own ambitions at court when the wind starts to change. Only Henry Daniell, in a virtual dress rehearsal for his role in The Sea Hawk, plays true to form as one of the plotters alongside Vincent Price's Walter Raleigh.

As history it's bunk, but as a doomed romance, complete with a memorably tragic final encounter, it's absolutely engrossing. Good extras on the DVD too, though it's a shame they could only find a black and white trailer for such a magnificent Technicolor film.