Young Bess

The tale is told in flashback by her former governess Catherine Ashley (Kay Walsh), just before Bess' Coronation ceremony. Film follows Bess from birth to her falling in love with another woman's husband through Court politics and treachery.

Charles Laughton is good, if somewhat hammy, as King Henry VIII. His deathbed scene takes forever.

Deborah Kerr is OK as the rather frail Katharine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII; she looks too healthy and pretty to be ill. Apparently, she's afflicted with a dread disease that leaves her looking lovely, with perfect make-up, not a hair out of place and in soft focus, while it kills. Actually, Parr died in childbirth after becoming immediately pregnant with Thomas Seymour's child after her marriage, while her four year marriage to Henry produced no offspring. This rather puts to bed (pardon the saying) Henry's affirmation that Henry was virile and sexually active up to his death. But I digress. Stewart Granger's Thomas Seymour is appropriately heroic and apparently gifted with second sight. It's too bad he wasn't gifted with two heads.

Simmons is very good in the title role. Her voice has the commanding tones of one accustomed to being obeyed, and she convincingly ages from around ten to age 25. She is the best part of the film.

Director George Sidney uses a subtle and effective trick to get the viewer on Simmons' side. In her scenes, the furniture is immense (in one scene, she sits in a chair that is twice her size), suggesting that Bess is dwarfed by the events taking place around her.

The film received well deserved Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Costumes. "Young Bess" is a good showcase for Simmons' acting talents.

Its historical inaccuracies aside (including its scrubbed and polished depiction of a far less sanitary time, even, most probably, amidst the pomp and pageantry of the royal court), this costume romance is typical of the very carefully produced and handsomely mounted style of M-G-M in the waning days of its preeminence among the major Hollywood studios. Its well-chosen cast performs most satisfactorily under George Sidney's assured direction and the artistic and technical credits are impeccable, notably the art direction and the almost absurdly luxurious costuming. This film was nominated in the color categories for those two contributions and, most unjustly in my opinion, lost out to Twentieth's first CinemaScope blockbuster, "The Robe," in both cases. The prolific Miklos Rozsa provides one of his more sprightly scores, deftly enhancing the script's focus on the romantic entanglements of the principals. Still, enough attention is paid to the great peril of being close to the apogee of power in England at the time. Throughout a sense of dread pervades the audience's hope that Young Bess might actually survive to realize her dream of a love fulfilled.

"Young Bess" features three of the greatest English actors of all time :Jean Simmons,Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr;the two actresses had already teamed up for "black narcissus" but in "young Bess" it's Simmons who plays the lead .

The movie does not really show it,but Elizabeth had a very harsh childhood ,unlike Mary Stuart ,her dear cousin who spent her youth in the sweet Chateaux de La Loire in France .That may explain why Elizabeth was prepared to reign and Mary failed dismally. It was a wonder she kept her head after all those years with Mary Tudor.But Jean Simmons succeeds in her performance:from a romantic young girl to the strong queen (the big shadow on the wall is revealing),she runs the whole gamut and she gets strong support from Stewart Granger as her dashing attentive escort ,from Deborah Kerr ,in an underwritten part, and from Charles Laughton,ideally cast as Henry the Eighth.

This is a splendidly-mounted production by anyone's standards; arguably it is the best realization of the pre-Elizabethan, the late Marian period ever realized on film.   But despite its modest beginnings as a fictionalized biography of Elizabeth Tudor by popular author Margaret Irwin, the screenplay by Jan Lustig and Arthur Wimperis also adds another dramatic dimension to a well-told story.  The subject in this work is the dangerous, difficult and famous youth of the future Elizabeth Ist of England, taking her from childhood to her accession to the throne after the death of her sister Bloody Mary, who reigned following the death both of King Henry VII and his frail son and heir Arthur, who died at 12 years of age.  George Sidney directed this dignified and powerful story;  and the assembled cast he presented were well-chosen as speakers of the English language:  Jean Simmons playing the young Elizabeth with unusual intelligence and verve; Cecil Kellaway as the loyal warder who looks after her modest household as a princess out of favor;  Charles Laughton reveling in his bravura role as the irascible and fascinating Henry VIII;  Stewart Granger and Guy Rolfe playing the rival brothers who wrestle for control of England's political direction; Deborah Kerr as the King's last wife, gentle an d lovely Catherine Parr; also prominently featured were Kathleen Byron, Kay Walsh, young Rex Thompson as Edward, Elaine Stewart, Dawn Addams, Ivan Triesault, Lumsden Hare, Leo G. Carroll, Doris Lloyd, Norma Varden, Alan Napier, Robert Arthur and Lester Mathews. The plot-line concerns Elizabeth's attempts to survive the shifting fortunes of the English court; powerless, except for the loyalty of a few noblemen, her greatest danger comes from the handsome and ambitious Thomas Seymour (Granger); the script treats his regard for Elizabeth as political, which is not historical; by attaching himself to the queen of the late King Henry, he becomes so dangerous his unpleasantly Establishment and puritanical brother Edward must move against him. from this loss, Elizabeth is fortunate to emerge alive and, at last, queen of England; but this is a moving film that touches on her relative poverty, fears, learning, arguments with her father, disappointment when Edward who loves her dies, and her last danger in the Seymour's quarrel. The emotionally rich film is superbly served in my estimation by Miklos Rozsa's memorable score. With bright cinematography by Charles Rosher, brilliant art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary, set decorations by Jack D, Moore and Edwin Willis and gorgeous costumes by Walter Punkett, the film is very attractive to watch in every scene. Sydney Guilaroff's hairstylings, William Tuttle's makeup and Douglas Shearer's sound work are all first-rate as well. The best scene in the film to many minds is the argument aboard a ship between the volatile Henry Tudor and his equally spirited daughter; but this is a very good film, on the verge of being a great one, thanks to director Sidney's solid presentation of every scene of the material. I recommend it highly, if not as literal history then as a colorful, thoughtful and satisfying entertainment.

Never mind about the historical accuracy, the movie is very enjoyable as a great love story. It is well written and elegantly portrayed by a good assemble of actors. Simmons is excellent as Young Bess, a smart and strong minded princess growing from adolescence into young womanhood, falling for a much older heroic Admiral, attracting his love from his beautiful and tender loving wife. Granger is a great match as Simmon's lover, the arrogant adventurous war hero, also the loving husband of the more classical beauty Kerr. The love triangle between the three is convincing and moving, and its tragic end is heart broken.

The costume is wonderful, especially of Granger's.