Headsman Claims a Warners Prize

Davis/Flynn Go Hammer/Tong in The Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Old-age Bette Davis regularly spat on this because it had Errol Flynn as Essex rather than her preferred Laurence Olivier. She finally saw Elizabeth and Essex again and came around to how fine Flynn actually was in a tough part. Having to moon over that death's head make-up, wig, and popping BD eyes while Olivia DeHavilland fairly hurls herself at you? --- well, that took acting beyond what Olivier could achieve. And to him, just watch Fire Over England and know how less effective Olivier would have been than Flynn as Essex. EF plays for as much humor as possible in face of, well, that Davis face, which is scary as what Mario Bava cooked up for some of sojourns later on. There was incident where BD slapped Errol too hard for a scene, him whacked by rings, bracelets she had on, to which he evidently cussed loudly and ended whatever prospect they might have had for friendship. Flynn implied she wanted more than latter, to which he demurred, so maybe there was personal basis for Queen Bette saying what a punk actor he was. She'd defame his talent from seeming moment Errol died in 1959.

"Troubled" productions play well in revival. If what they do on screen is less interesting, you can read action in terms of off-set conflict and division with studio brass, which was rife between Flynn, Davis, DeHavilland, and Warner Bros., players driven like slaves they were, despite big money most got (in Flynn's case, $5000 a week). He had a tough go at lines, them dense and mouthfuls of text from source play simplified to what matinee mobs could grasp. Davis had showed up looking more grotesque than producer Hal Wallis could abide, but the deed was done (her shaved-back hairline), and besides, the severe de-glamour had worked for Of Human Bondage, and from triumph of that, BD evolved to WB's most valuable femme asset. She was fresh wind of then-perceived reality after spent bolt of Kay Francis and such who were more known by clothes they wore than emotion they enacted. It's easy to forget how revolutionary Davis came across where doing her things for a first time. She made bold strokes that were gambles then, if familiar now. Most serious actresses would emulate her, knowingly or not. There would probably not have been an Ida Lupino without Davis paving way, and Joan Leslie, a frank admirer, mimicked BD with all due respect on several amusing occasions.

How would this have been as "The Knight and The Lady"? Sounds like a title for Republic to conjure with, and yet it was proposed almost to point of release. East Coast sales hated The Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex. They said it sounded like an Alexander Korda export, which everyone figured for bad news. We like some of Korda now, but lest we forget what drag he was considered by high-dollar distributors and showmen who liked flow of cash through wicket windows. His stuff was British and that meant accents and no meaningful stars. To let anything American smack of UK goods went against B.O. grain, and so it was for Pvt. Lives E&E, which lost money in the end, despite being good and liked by most who ventured forth to see it. But what made others duck beyond the daunting title? Maybe Flynn not in action, despite costume and sword he wears, but doesn't use. Plus he and DeHavilland together, but not really, and sharing but one scene. They had been tendered before as a team, and this seemed a betrayal of natural expectation. Fans could not be denied what monthly mags gave them right to anticipate, and Flynn/DeHavilland in love combat, then ultimate clinch, was a least these two together implied, so why risk withholding it where they shared a bill? (but note: two so far, Charge Of The Light Brigade and Four's A Crowd, had ended with the pair parted, so Elizabeth and Essex was in that sense more of the same)  

Michael Curtiz Directs Flynn and Davis

Davis insisted the show be called "The Lady and The Knight," her placement first on credits and the title. "Elizabeth The Queen" would be OK too, as that crowded Flynn's character off altogether, though anyone seeing final product could have no doubt this was fully BD's picture. She howls, shrieks, breaks mirrors (many), and does "Bette Davis" all over the place. She's also funny and then suddenly wise in quieter scenes with Flynn, her Elizabeth knowing his Essex is too immature to recognize forces lined up against him, not on battlefields, but in royal court. These scenes are beautifully played by Davis and Flynn. My emotional investment in their hopeless love is complete each time I watch, and that's the mark of great performing. Michael Curtiz directed The Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex. Evidently, none of principals could stand him, even as all realized no one could do this job so well. He had remarkable way with composition, such sweep even where we're confined to a throne room (big enough to play football in). DeHavilland threw a fit one afternoon when he tried overworking her. I'd like seeing an outtake of that ... wonder if it would be as good as her "son .. of ... a ... bitch" blooper from 1943's Devotion that came back to haunt her in a recent lawsuit against Fox and "Feud." The Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex is available on extraordinary Blu-Ray.