Mary Queen of Scots

[LoveNDino]

...this is so right up my alley

[+ g56whiz]

Mine also!

[+ Avalon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Queen_of_Scots_(2018_film)

 

Looks good!

[+ beethoven]

Yes, it does! And Ronan is SUCH a good actress! I believe that Hollywood made a version in the 1930s. Was it Bette Davis? Or am I thinking of "Elizabeth and Essex," with Davis and Errol Flynn? Was that the movie about Mary, Queen of Scots?

[+ g56whiz]

Yes, it does! And Ronan is SUCH a good actress! I believe that Hollywood made a version in the 1930s. Was it Bette Davis? Or am I thinking of "Elizabeth and Essex," with Davis and Errol Flynn? Was that the movie about Mary, Queen of Scots?

 

Could it be Mary of Scotland with Katherine Hepburn from 1936? (Thank you IMDB!) BTW it’s available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video for $2.99.

[gallahadesquire]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpVvOWquPT8

[TruHart1]

The film looks quite interesting, especially since I also greatly admire Ronan's acting. However, there is actually no historic foundation that Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I ever actually met each other face to face, though the trailer makes it appear that they had more than one confrontation. Historically, Elizabeth had a desire to keep Mary put away under house arrest in England specifically to stop insurrections and plots by those Scots who viewed Mary as the one true Catholic queen. Though her advisors tried and tried again to get Elizabeth to sign a death warrant for Mary, she refused all their arguments until a letter in Mary's own handwriting proved that she was actively trying to gain backing to overthrow Queen Elizabeth.

 

Having dialogue scenes between Mary and Elizabeth has been a popular fictional dramatic device almost since the actual events took place. Donizetti's 1835 opera Maria Stuarda certainly has a very dramatic duet between Elizabeth and Mary, wherein Mary gets so frustrated and angry with Elizabeth, she denounces Elizabeth to her face as a bastard (which she and most of Elizabeth's mainly Catholic naysayers believed was the truth!) The libretto of the opera was based on the 1800 Friedrich Schiller play, "Mary Stuart." I am not familiar with the play so I don't know if the confrontation scene in the opera is in the Schiller play, though it seems quite probable.

 

TruHart1

[TruthBTold]

I just saw a play based on Schiller play and it did contain a confrontation scene. I suppose the authors thought it necessary because it was hard to express the raw religious division still present in the countries (Scotland and England) when Elizabeth I was ruling. It seems extremely difficult to keep the plot balanced so that Elizabeth does not appear to be totally evil when she had a lot to consider regarding Mary's confinement in England. And Mary did have a pretty sad life all in all.

[LoveNDino]

I just saw this movie and I am confused. So, was Lord Darnley sexy, weak and gay????

Edited December 30, 2018 by LoveNDino

[TruthBTold]

I just saw this movie and I am confused. So, was Lord Darnley sexy, weak and gay????

 

I found this to be an interesting article about all the conflicting motivations for the various actors in the Mary and Darnley episode. It appears he may have been straight for pay or just an opportunist who really was not conscious of sexuality at all. He was at least able to father the future king of England whatever his flaws.

 

http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/people/henry-stuart-lord-darnley/

 

Although not comprehensive, this is also interesting. http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/mary-queen-scots-involved-murder-husband-lord-darnley/

[TruHart1]

I found this to be an interesting article about all the conflicting motivations for the various actors in the Mary and Darnley episode. It appears he may have been straight for pay or just an opportunist who really was not conscious of sexuality at all. He was at least able to father the future king of England whatever his flaws.

 

http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/people/henry-stuart-lord-darnley/

 

Although not comprehensive, this is also interesting. http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/mary-queen-scots-involved-murder-husband-lord-darnley/

Excellent articles, @TruthBTold. For an excellent, thoroughly researched study on this period in Scottish/English history, with all the political players and machinations explained meticulously, Alison Weir, a British historian and excellent writer, has published many, many historical studies on this period in British history.

 

Anyone interested in the true facts (as well as they could be reconstructed from creditable historical accounts and happenings) in the Lord Darnley/Mary Stuart intrigues should read the excellent account in Weir's book, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Queen-Scots-Murder-Darnley-ebook/dp/B000XUBDKI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1546206520&sr=1-1&keywords=alison+weir+lord+darnley in which all the British (Elizabeth's) and Scottish (Mary's) court's involvements and plotting are thoroughly and concisely explained.

 

The first Alison Weir book I discovered (I believe it was a best seller at the time in 1998) was the most definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth I, The Life of Elizabeth I, https://www.amazon.com/Life-Elizabeth-I-Alison-Weir-ebook/dp/B00C4BA3K0/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_pd_crcd_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00C4BA3K0&pd_rd_r=3179ff9a-4dc2-4d82-b1fc-98cf4aacd224&pd_rd_w=kgPdV&pd_rd_wg=bJVGi&pf_rd_p=c6269878-d677-4a89-a68c-ff0df2b6ce6c&pf_rd_r=CHYQB0ZE08QNV3JRKR60&psc=1&refRID=CHYQB0ZE08QNV3JRKR60 , a truly magnificent work of a meticulously researched and historically accurate account of Elizabeth's life from her birth to her death. Weir, who somehow has the ability to make her subjects real people and is never a dry, unengaging writer, made me a follower of all her books since!

 

TruHart1

[+ purplekow]

Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) could have brought Queen Mary of Scotland, her cousin, to England to assume the throne upon her death. That would have kept the Catholic monarchy line which Mary wanted and prevented her half-sister Elizabeth from assuming the throne which Catholics felt did not belong to the protestant bastard. Of course Mary of England had assumed the throne from her Protestant Brother Edward, who by the standards that had named Elizabeth a bastard, should have named him a bastard as well. In any case, Edward's will and supporters tried to name Mary illegitimate and named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as rightful queen. Before her coronation, Lady Grey's support weakened as Mary's increased and Jane was out and imprisoned and Mary was in. Turn about is fair play and Elizabeth eventually got the throne and Mary of Scotland got the prison and then the axe as the Protestants held sway. Mary of Scotland perhaps got the last laugh, though it would have been a ghostly laugh, when her son James I of England, James VI of Scotland assumed the throne of both countries after the death of first his mother, a woman he did not know while he was an adult, and then Elizabeth. It seems fairly well documented that Elizabeth was tempted to meet Mary her cousin but was advised not to do so and never did. She eventually signed her death warrant.

[+ purplekow]

Excellent articles, @TruthBTold. For an excellent, thoroughly researched study on this period in Scottish/English history, with all the political players and machinations explained meticulously, Alison Weir, a British historian and excellent writer, has published many, many historical studies on this period in British history.

 

Anyone interested in the true facts (as well as they could be reconstructed from creditable historical accounts and happenings) in the Lord Darnley/Mary Stuart intrigues should read the excellent account in Weir's book, Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Queen-Scots-Murder-Darnley-ebook/dp/B000XUBDKI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1546206520&sr=1-1&keywords=alison+weir+lord+darnley in which all the British (Elizabeth's) and Scottish (Mary's) court's involvements and plotting are thoroughly and concisely explained.

 

The first Alison Weir book I discovered (I believe it was a best seller at the time in 1998) was the most definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth I, The Life of Elizabeth I, https://www.amazon.com/Life-Elizabeth-I-Alison-Weir-ebook/dp/B00C4BA3K0/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_pd_crcd_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00C4BA3K0&pd_rd_r=3179ff9a-4dc2-4d82-b1fc-98cf4aacd224&pd_rd_w=kgPdV&pd_rd_wg=bJVGi&pf_rd_p=c6269878-d677-4a89-a68c-ff0df2b6ce6c&pf_rd_r=CHYQB0ZE08QNV3JRKR60&psc=1&refRID=CHYQB0ZE08QNV3JRKR60 , a truly magnificent work of a meticulously researched and historically accurate account of Elizabeth's life from her birth to her death. Weir, who somehow has the ability to make her subjects real people and is never a dry, unengaging writer, made me a follower of all her books since!

 

TruHart1

There is a fictionalized version with strong historical accuracy detailing Mary Queen of Scots by Margaret George. She also wrote a rather compelling novel, the Autobiography of Henry VIII which is also a page turner.

[TruthBTold]

Interestingly, I did not realize that it has become generally accepted that Darnley's and Mary, Queen of Scot's son and future King of England/Scotland also had homosexual leanings or at least played around. While he loved his wife and sired several children he was fairly open about having gay lovers (particularly the Duke of Buckingham). Allegedly at the time of the assumption of James I there was an epigram "Rex fuit Elizabeth: nunc est regina Jacobus—Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen." See http://rictornorton.co.uk/jamesi.htm., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I (see the section "Favorites."

[N13]

B O R I N G! So much potential and so little result. There is no comparison to Becket, A Man For All Seasons, The Lion in Winter, Elizabeth, and almost every other "historical" film. Total waste of time. imho

[LoveNDino]

B O R I N G! So much potential and so little result. There is no comparison to Becket, A Man For All Seasons, The Lion in Winter, Elizabeth, and almost every other "historical" film. Total waste of time. imho

Well, hardly anything compares to the original "The Lion in Winter," as far as I'm concerned.

[+ purplekow]

Well, hardly anything compares to the original "The Lion in Winter," as far as I'm concerned.

Lion in Winter is one of my favorite movies and about 6 months ago I took in a local production of the play. The play was wonderful but afterwards, my companion was a Lion in the Bedroom which is even better.

[+ quoththeraven]

Interestingly, I did not realize that it has become generally accepted that Darnley's and Mary, Queen of Scot's son and future King of England/Scotland also had homosexual leanings or at least played around. While he loved his wife and sired several children he was fairly open about having gay lovers (particularly the Duke of Buckingham). Allegedly at the time of the assumption of James I there was an epigram "Rex fuit Elizabeth: nunc est regina Jacobus—Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen." See http://rictornorton.co.uk/jamesi.htm., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I (see the section "Favorites."

The same King James who commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible that some believe is the only correct version. How surprised would they be about the identity of his paramours?

 

Edward II also had favorites, but they were even less well-qualified as leaders and he wasn't very interested in actual governance and was eventually pushed out, imprisoned and killed.

[TruHart1]

B O R I N G! So much potential and so little result. There is no comparison to Becket, A Man For All Seasons, The Lion in Winter, Elizabeth, and almost every other "historical" film. Total waste of time. imho

Well, hardly anything compares to the original "The Lion in Winter," as far as I'm concerned.

Well keep in mind that “The Lion in Winter” was first a stage play (before becoming a classic movie) by James Golding. Historically, facts are sketchy concerning the interactions between Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. When a playwright or author is allowed poetic license, they can sometimes create great works, though they don’t necessarily stick to the facts.

 

TruHart1

Edited January 5, 2019 by TruHart1

[N13]

Well keep in mind that “The Lion in Winter” was first a stage play (before becoming a classic movie) by James Golding. Historically, facts are sketchy concerning the interactions between Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. When a playwright or author is allowed poetic license, they can sometimes create great works, though they don’t necessarily stick to the facts.

 

TruHart1

 

The original production of A Lion in Winter had two of the greatest performances I have ever seen on Broadway. Rosemary Harris and Robert Preston were spectacular! It took me three or four viewings of the movie to be able to appreciate it because the stage performances were so indelible!

[YOUNG_LA_DOM]

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