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 Robert Siegel - Main Page NOTE: The scans below are the property of Robert Siegel and The Digital Bits, and may not be reposted without permission. Copyright of the images belongs to the respective studios. In addition, please note that all the information contained within the text is taken from ORIGINAL studio press materials, which may contain some errors. |
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The Virgin Queen
Film appreciation by Robert Siegel of The Digital Bits 1955 was a banner year for 20th Century Fox. Hot off the heals of its introduction to Cinemascope with The Robe, Fox was able to lure Betty Davis out of a three year absence from the screen to play the title role of Queen Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen, another in what would be a long line of stereo Cinemascope historic epics. [Continued below...] |
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In The Virgin Queen, the screen script, prepared by Harry Brown and Mindret Lord (A Place in the Sun, D-Day the 6th of June), is a spicy tale of adventure and court intrigue surrounding the brief but memorable appearance of Walter Raleigh into the intimate circle of the Queen's court. He spreads his rich, though borrowed, cape at her feet to walk through a muddy rivulet. It is this gesture that enchants the vain-glorious Queen into believing that the young man wishes to have an affair with her. As Raleigh's favor increases, the Queen's long-standing courtiers take a dim view of the situation and are activated into murderous intrigue. Eventually their schemes are unwittingly aided by Raleigh himself, when he chooses to exchange amours with Elizabeth's beautiful young attendant (Joan Collins) and informs the Queen that the only favor he seeks from her is a ship to sail to the new world. Her wrath pursues him in an effort to bring him to heel, but Raleigh's charm eventually reconcile the Queen to grant his wish. [Continued below...] |
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LEFT: Fox took advantage of rising star Joan Collins with this publicity shot. RIGHT: Bette Davis returned after a three year rest to star as England's most dynamic Queen, posing for the Fox publicity department. |
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The effervescent Miss Davis plays the fiery red-haired monarch. This was her first experience working with the new Cinemascope lens and it was documented by 20th Century Fox that she was completely captivated with the new medium. It has been quoted that after the first few days of filming and rushes, she said to co-star Richard Todd, “Why wasn't I told more exactly about this wonderful new lens?” The star was exuberant in her praise of the new wide angle method of filming motion pictures, and said she felt a “new beginning was at hand for motion pictures.” She went on to say in a press interview that, “What makes it so interesting for an actor or actress is that Cinemascope gives you much more opportunity for sustaining a mood. It's much like the stage in that respect.” She also discovered that with the anamorphic lens taking in the much wider area, the camera can remain stationary and the actors do the moving around, as she has always loved to do on the stage. As an example of what she meant, she cited the scene in The Virgin Queen which depicts Raleigh's famous gesture of laying his cloak in a puddle of mud so that his Queen might cross dry-shod. “In this picture,” she said, “the scene was shot from two different angles - once from the side, with Elizabeth crossing from left to right with the
court following her, and once from head-on, with Elizabeth walking directly into the camera after she had stepped on the cloak. Davis had played Queen Elizabeth once before in 1939, when she starred in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and she recalled that at the time, she wanted very much to imitate the famous man-like walk of the Queen. “But that wonderful Queen had such a magnificent stride that the only way the cameras could pick it up then was to pan with me as I walked, and that lost all of the glorious independence of the walk.” Davis was also quoted at the premier as saying that she was in awe of the final cut of the film, and
was very impressed by the sound experience, as this was her first film presented in full stereophonic sound. [Continued below...] |
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Richard Todd (Operation Crossbow, The Longest Day) plays Sir Walter Raleigh. “It took a little time to get accustomed to the way of doing things by American film companies. I also was dismayed that as an actor here in the United States, you really have no private life. In Britain, this isn't too difficult.” Todd really established his popularity as a magnetic and talented performer in the role of the youthful pastor in A Man Called Peter, also for Fox. “Motion picture making is a much more leisurely thing in England. But I have since noticed that the enormous budgets of American films make this pace necessary, and the technical advancements
like Cinemascope and multi-channel sound that U.S. film-makers have at their disposal now actually enhance what we as actors are able to do and portray on the screen.” Joan Collins (The Bravados, Road to Hong Kong, Dynasty), in her 12th screen role, a year following Warner's Land of the Pharaohs, stars as the Queen's young and flirtatious lady-in-waiting. Joan was born in London in 1933 and grew up in the shadow of the stage door. Her father, Will Collins, did not want his pretty daughter living the rugged life of a variety performer and
did all he could to discourage her interest in the theater. Regardless, Joan bolted the family home and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. However, her first movie break did not come from there, but through her avocation as a photographic model. She was offered a part in Lady Godiva Rides Again and it was from this film that J. Arthur Rank put her under contract, later to 20th Century Fox. When Fox signed her for The Virgin Queen, they also signed her for The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. [Continued below...] |
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Production on the film was not easy for the actress. She was up at 5:30 every morning with her head newly shaved (Bess was totally bald from the age of 16), eyebrows plucked, eyelashes bleached, then was laced into a 60 pound costume with a 5 pound red wig on her head ready to start filming at 9:00 AM (the film received an Academy Award nomination for best costume design). Director Henry Koster (Flower Drum Song, The Robe, The Story of Ruth) had quite a task creating a completely different period of time. Problems constantly had to be solved. Davis was said to be unhappy with several of her costumes and they had to be either re-designed or enhanced. Davis was unsure of the Cinemascope camera and at first, until rushes were viewed, it is said that she was very uneasy without the camera following her as much as it had with a normal screen stage. Another problem was that Davis did not know the method for waltzing in this period. Steve Papich (Silver Chalice, The Egyptian), 20th Century Fox's choreographer, worked hard to teach the Davis and the cast how it was done, which was different than modern day waltzing. Earlier he had coached Marlon Brando as Napoleon and Jean Simmons as
the Queen of Sweden. And in The Robe, he created some pretty intense numbers that were drooled over by the Emperor Caligula. In The Egyptian, he also created numbers fit for a pharaoh. Many old customs had to be researched as well. Spreading out one's cape for a lady to walk upon was a favorite trick with Spanish gallants, and it was known as well in France. Raleigh, as a professional soldier in his teens, lived in France and had ample opportunity to observe the exaggerated manners of French gentlemen. Besides that, he was an intelligent and clever courtier who would have realized the value of such a gesture and would not have hesitated to use it to attain his ends. Dan O'Herlihy (Robinson Crusoe, Imitation of Life), who plays Lord Derry, the adventurer friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, is involved in several duels and up until this time had never had this experience before the cameras. Before he was officially cast in the film, director Henry Koster asked Dan whether he had any experience and was told, “Sure, in ‘52 I played in At Sword's Point and in ‘53 I was in Sword of Venus and only last night I had a shish kebob on a flaming sword at Rhomanoff's." It turned out, for the other 2 films, he had to do very little with the sword compared to The Virgin Queen.
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An interesting note: The huge ruff that Bette Davis wears around her neck throughout most of the film has a curious place in English history. The style originated in Spain and was adopted by the English in the 16th century. The points on the edge of the lace ruffs are called “piccadillis” by the Spanish and the word came to England along with the collar. One of the best of the early ruff-makers and their elaborate piccadillis was a chap named Higgins, and in the course of time, the street leading to his establishment took on the name of the fancy product and now world famous Piccadilly. Fox has graced musical score fans with the inclusion of an isolated score track of the wonderful Franz Waxman compositions for the film on the DVD, which is always a very welcome addition. Franz composed scores to over 170 films including Rebecca, Philadelphia Story, Spirit of St. Louis, Suspicion and the recently released Taras Bulba (see previous column), and won Oscars for Sunset Boulevard and A Place in the Sun. |
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