Anne Of The Thousand Days / Mary, Queen Of Scots

This movie does not include that embroidered piece, but we certainly cannot miss the thread of the disputed inheritance of England's throne. What always struck me about Mary Queen of Scots was why she thought she could succeed as Queen of England when she couldn't even manage to control Scotland; since then, I have visited Scotland and learned more about its turbulent history and so have a better appreciation of what Mary was trying to do in Scotland. However, what I have noticed about most of the reviews here is that they speak of the actual history of the rival cousins, and don't say all that much about the movie, so perhaps that is where I shall now turn my attention.

Nutshell plot for those out there who really can't follow the complicated history involved (and historians take note, this is how it is in the MOVIE, not how it was in real life): Mary (played by Vanessa Redgrave) is the only legitimate heir to the Scottish throne, but ever since she was a small child has lived in France, where she was even married to the Dauphin (heir to the French throne). Elizabeth's (Glenda Jackson's) claim to the English throne can be contested because according to the Catholic Church, her parents' marriage was invalid and she's a bastard. Elizabeth's chief rival would be Mary since she is a direct legitimate descendant of Henry VII, but whew! everyone expects Mary to spend her whole life in France as Queen of France. If only! Mary gets widowed at 19, and goes back to Scotland to claim her birthright. She's a product of the French court, lively and laughing (and Catholic), while the Scots are dour and poorly dressed and not laughing and becoming Presbyterian. Culture clash? Oh yes. And then there's Mary's illegitimate brother (Patrick McGoohan), who's used to running things and wants to keep on running things--she's upset with that, but not up to overcoming him. Meanwhile back in England, Elizabeth gets a brainstorm idea: what if she sends Mary's captured white horses back to England along with a really worthless but handsome young claimant to the throne, Lord Darnley (Timothy Dalton)? Yep. Lonely Mary falls hard for the guy, proposes, and marries him after a really whirlwind courtship. Morning after, heck no, not even that long, Darnley starts bossing everyone around, including her, saying he's the King of Scotland, and he's also a bisexual. Dour presbyterians and half-brother are unimpressed, but use him to knock off Mary's most trusted advisor (who here is also Darnley's lover). Mary bears a son, the future King James of Scotland/England. Then Earl of Bothwell (actor unknown to me) decides he wants in on the action, and before long, he, the brother, and the dour presbyterians (and so it seems Mary) cook up a scheme to blow up the house where Darnley is being kept now that he has syphilis. Plan goes awry somewhat, because Darnley climbed out the window and escaped the blast, but luckily others are on hand to strangle him. Mary then marries Earl of Bothwell.

Elizabeth doesn't like this much. She considers Mary bad news and a bad queen, acting in this immoral fashion. When Mary eventually flees to England because she has been overthrown and forced to abdicate, Elizabeth promptly has her rival imprisoned for the next 19 years, until evidence surfaces that Mary is conspiring for the assassination of Elizabeth. Then, she is beheaded.

So much for plot. Is this a good movie, though? Well, parts of it are. Great costumes for the women (those Son of Frankenstein sweaters that the presbyterians wear are not quite stylish, though). Patrick McGoohan's portrayal of the brother is also on target; Timothy Dalton is unsavory as Darnley. This is really the first time I've ever seen either Glenda Jackson or Vanessa Redgrave act. Glenda is wonderful: her portrayal is sympathetic--I understood perfectly her concerns. Vanessa is playing a type of plaster saint; her Mary is a victim, never having to take responsibility for her actions. If she were really this stupid, frankly, she shouldn't have lasted as long as she did. I find this a major problem with the movie, and that it makes it difficult to stomach such length with so little personal complexity in Mary's character. How can she be portrayed as a good woman when she helped blow up her husband? How can she be portrayed as a good mother when she was doing nothing in particular to safeguard him or even be with him? Good people don't usually act in these ways, and that's why I didn't like this movie, all in all. Up with Elizabeth!

The film begins with an idyllic scene in France, which shows Mary with her then husband, Francois, the King of France. He dies a premature death, and there being no love lost between Mary and her sharp tongued mother-in-law, she returns to her native Scotland, where she is Queen in her own right. When Mary, a staunch Catholic, arrives with her retinue in Scotland, she is given a most unroyal and barely civil welcome by her half brother, the Protestant Earl of Moray, and the Lords of the Congregation. She is also repudiated by the Calvinist reformer, John Knox, who denounces her in no uncertain terms. Mary is surprised by his vitriolic attack, as she is quite progressive for her time and believes in religious tolerance. She is all for worshipping according to one's own conscience. The terms of her reign, however, are finally made clear to her by her half brother, whom she, understandably, hates by now. She, an anointed Queen, is to be a puppet, and he, the power behind the throne.

Meanwhile, Protestant half brother dearest intrigues with the Protestant Elizabeth I of England. She is concerned about Mary, a Catholic Queen with a legitimate claim to the English throne, as her own kingdom has some unrest between Catholics and Protestants. As a direct result of the intrigue, Mary makes a most unfortunate marriage to the dissolute Lord Darnley, a handsome but morally weak noble with a proclivity for insalubrious activities. She soon provides Scotland with an heir, but her marriage to Darnley is doomed and sets off a chain of events from which would follow murder, regicide, and a second marriage to an ambitious Scottish border lord, the Earl of Bothwell. This event is ultimately the catalyst for an enforced abdication by Mary and exile to England, where she is under house arrest for nineteen years. Her son and husband denied her, this most unhappy of women is finally caught in an intrigue with Catholic English lords. Elizabeth I reluctantly orders her execution upon a finding of treason. In the end, however, it is Mary, who has the last laugh, as Elizabeth I is childless, and Mary's son, James, would one day ascend to the English throne, being next in the line of succession.