Mary, Queen of Scots

The creators of Anne of the Thousand Days - producer Hal B. Wallis, writer John Hale and director Charles Jarrott - craft another Tudor epic every bit as good as their take on Henry VIII. Helped by a lavish production, sharp script and perfect supporting cast, Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson bring the two most famous female monarchs in British history - Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland, and Elizabeth I of England - to vivid life.

Mary Stuart (Vanessa Redgrave) returns to Scotland after the death of her husband, King Francis of France (Charles Denning) - much to the displeasure of Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson), fearing Mary's claims on the her throne. Mary finds Scotland in a prickly situation - the mostly-Protestant lairds despise her, and her brother James (Patrick McGoohan) is in the pay of Elizabeth's spymaster William Cecil (Trevor Howard) - she's in no position to handle. Her marriage to the headstrong Lord Darnley (Timothy Dalton) only complicates matters. When Mary tries to assert her authority, Darnley throws in with the Scottish nobles, murdering Mary's secretary David Rizzio (Ian Holm). Only with the help of the Earl of Bothwell (Nigel Davenport) does Mary avoid a similar fate, and a counter-plot against Darnley and his suporters backfires. Mary finally takes refuge in England, leaving her at Elizabeth's mercy.

Mary, Queen of Scots avoids the stilted melodrama of John Ford's Mary of Scotland (1936) through its focus on royal politics. A distaff version of Anne of the Thousand Days, noblemen like Darnley and Robert Dudley (David Massey) are used as pawns by their queens and bitterly resent it. Mary's expressions of tolerance and mercy towards her subjects are completely misplaced, earning her contempt rather than love, and her impetuous marriages to Darnley and Bothwell destroy her. Mary's pampered upbringing leaves her with a sense of unearned entitlement, while the shrewd Elizabeth has had to fight for everything and knows how to deal with plots and intrigue. Essentially a contrast in management styles, the film nonetheless shows that Elizabeth's success leave her lonely and barren, ironically elevating Mary's son to the throne.

As expected, Wallis and Jarrott mount an impressive production, with handsome French and Scottish locations and lavish Shepperton sets. John Hale's script is marvelously literate doesn't dumb down the complex wheelings-and-dealings for its audience. John Barry provides one of his best scores, a beautifully regal work that complements perfectly the film's high tragedy.

Vanessa Redgrave is a superlative Mary. She's the right mixture of impulse, charming naivety and subdued haughtiness (not quite arrogance), making Mary a far more compelling heroine than Katherine Hepburn's take. Glenda Jackson, who'd already played Elizabeth in the BBC's Elizabeth R, is equally imposing. Her Elizabeth is a fiery hellcat - especially in her dealings with sometime-lover Dudley - with cruel intelligence and pragmatism tempering her passions: to survive as Anne Boleyn's daughter requires immeasurible skills. The two (fictional) meetings between the Queens are almost superfluous: Mary and Elizabeth make a wonderful pair of off-setting, irreconcilable women, one fit for the throne and the other only fit for heaven.

Complementing Redgrave and Jackson is an impressive array of British talent. Nigel Davenport (A Man for All Seasons) gets one of his biggest and best roles, his Bothwell charming and heroic yet slippery enough to survive English and Scottish scheming. Patrick McGoohan (Braveheart) is suitably devious. Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings) gets a meaty part as Rizzio and Timothy Dalton, fresh off The Lion in Winter, is superb as the simpering, arrogant Darnley. Groggy favorite Trevor Howard (Brief Encounter) gets some choice scenes as Elizabeth's ruthless minister. Familiar faces David Massey (In Which We Serve), Andrew Keir (Lord Jim) and Vernon Dobtchef (The Day of the Jackal) toil in smaller roles.

Mary, Queen of Scots is an all-around wonderful film, a beautiful depiction of two great historical figures and a lavish account of late Tudor England.