I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Excellent, smart action film.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is one of the rare color movies of the late 1930's, and the only one that Bette Davis made during her 17 years at Warner Brothers. Only in her 30's when she played the part, Davis became Queen Elizabeth, just as other actresses as worthy as her have done two or more times. But Davis, the Meryl Streep of her day, didn't get roles like this without struggle, and by 1939, she was a two time Academy Award winning actress, the most powerful woman in Hollywood, referred to by some as the fifth Warner Brother.One of several films in which she co- starred with both Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, this film is nevertheless dominated by Davis's every move. Like the virgin queen, Davis is in command, and Davis uses every trick she knows to keep all eyes on her. In a year of four great films added to her resume, she makes Elizabeth seem so unlike there's any acting going on. Flynn and de Havilland get some good moments, with Vincent Price in a smaller role, and British history gets a nice screen presentation. Period detail all superb, given the Warner Brothers gloss and that sensational sound that only they could record.

Lush costumer from Warner Bros. gives Bette Davis a chance to shine in one of her best roles as Queen Elizabeth I. The movie primarily focuses on the love-hate relationship between Elizabeth and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex. Devereux is played by Errol Flynn. While Davis was praised by critics at the time, Flynn was criticized for his performance. I think he does a fine job here, as he almost always did. Despite reports the two stars did not get along on set, they have a nice chemistry on screen. The excellent supporting cast includes Olivia de Havilland, Donald Crisp, Vincent Price, Alan Hale, Henry Daniell, and many other memorable actors. Directed by Michael Curtiz with a wonderful Erich Wolfgang Korngold score. It's a period drama, considered a "woman's picture" by many. Whatever you call it, it's a prime example of Old Hollywood filmmaking that should please most classic film fans. Historical accuracy nitpickers might not like it so much.

I think there is a lot to like about Essex and Elizabeth. Even with moments of pedestrian pacing, parts where the dialogue seemed a little too ripe and the fact that to historians perhaps it is a travesty of history, there is still a lot to like. The film is shot in beautiful Technicolour and has lavish sets and costumes, and Korngold's score is very stirring indeed. The story is compelling enough, and the acting was actually not too bad. Errol Flynn I think did a really good job here, it didn't matter for me that the performance wasn't another Captain Blood or Robin Hood, it was still a good performance. And Bette Davis is very good as Elizabeth, while Davis reportedly hated working on the picture the chemistry was believable enough. It was a delight to see Vincent Price here as Walter Raleigh, I have always liked Vincent Price, and he looks very handsome and quite nuanced in his role here, and Donald Crisp gives another great performance. The direction from Michael Curtiz is pretty much solid too. So overall, it was a good film, without being a great one. 7/10 Bethany Cox

In this corner, the toughest dame in Hollywood, the greatest actress of them all, flashing those famous eyes and a mean right hook - Bette Davis.And in this corner, the Tasmanian Devil, a man who slept and drank his way to legend and knew how to wear a pencil-thin mustache - Errol Flynn.Like "Cleopatra" and the 1967 version of "Casino Royale", "The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex" is famous not for what's on screen but what went on behind it. Contract disputes, title changes, and a slap that left quite a bruise on Flynn's ego if not his jaw - it all somewhat drowns out a sappy, highly fictionalized history lesson amid Technicolor pageantry and brocaded gowns. With all that, it's easy losing sight of the fact Davis delivers a terrific performance, and Flynn punches his weight with her pretty well most of the way.Queen Elizabeth (Davis) rules England with a firm hand and an aching heart. At the center of her woe: Rascally Earl of Essex (Flynn), who says he loves her while pushing her buttons with impetuous insolence. As Essex draws fire from his fellow nobles, Elizabeth must choose between the man she loves and her throne. Edward VIII she's not.Flynn fans will be disappointed - it's Davis's show. But what a show! She is very much in charge with a powerhouse performance that overdoes it more than a bit but compensates by being so captivating and inventive throughout. Her hard stare, her fidgeting hands, surprise moments of amusement and tenderness, Davis's performance is not all that deep but fully realized.Flynn by contrast seems slow at first, struggling with second-banana dialogue he didn't like. Just watch him deliver the line "I love her...I hate her...I adore her", and you can pretty much see him blowing a raspberry at the whole thing.But a funny thing happens, at about the time Essex is slapped by Elizabeth in a scene Flynn later said was done for real by Davis as a show of professional contempt: Flynn raises his game. His acting picks up more than a little, outside his normal swaggering-swashbuckler range, and the two stars settle into a satisfying give-and-take that raises the movie to near-success.If only the dialogue wasn't so dreadful. "I planned to put you through torture," she tells him after a long separation."I've been tortured enough," he sighs.Michael Curtiz's direction bends to Davis more than Flynn, despite the latter being Curtiz's meal ticket at this time. Curtiz always had a mind for what clicked commercially, and Davis was Hollywood's most celebrated actress. Flynn only gets one brief moment to fight with his sword, in a montage, and shares nearly all his scenes with Davis.Nanette Fabray as a court attendant who brings out the Queen's gentler side and Donald Crisp as the basically decent but shifty noble Francis Bacon inject some personality to otherwise stiff proceedings. Others, including a young Vincent Price, come off stiff. Olivia de Havilland is also on hand in a surprisingly minor role that at least offers her a little more bite than she normally got to play, as a vixenish lady jealous of Essex's love for the Queen.SPOILER ALERT - The big finale is utterly ridiculous and ruins much for me, begging us to belief that Essex so loved his lady that he would rather die than compromise her rule, because if she doesn't kill him he fears his ambitions will push him to unseat her. He even kisses a ring she gave him as he stands before the executioner's block. What a guy... - SPOILER ENDS"Elizabeth And Essex" does offer sumptuously-lit sets and lilting Ernst Wolfgang Korngold music to make it all go down. It never makes a lot of sense, except as a vehicle for bringing together two rather unhappy people who manage to throw off some decent sparks together, reminding us why Hollywood was such a compelling factory of illusion.