A Great and Spectacular Drama!
The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six wives), gentle Catherine Parr. And Simmons' then real-life husband, Stewart Granger, adds heroics as Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour. In a resplendent world of adventure, romance and court intrigue, Young Bess reigns.
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Budget
—
Revenue
—
Release Date
May 29, 1953
Popularity
1
Director
George Sidney
Writer
Arthur Wimperis
Writer
Jan Lustig
Producer
Sidney Franklin
Where to Watch
Cast
Jean Simmons
Young Bess (Queen Elizabeth I)
Stewart Granger
Thomas Seymour
Deborah Kerr
Catherine Parr
Charles Laughton
King Henry VIII
Kay Walsh
Mrs. Ashley
Guy Rolfe
Ned Seymour
Kathleen Byron
Ann Seymour
Cecil Kellaway
Mr. Parry
Rex Thompson
Prince Edward / King Edward VI
Robert Arthur
Barnaby
Leo G. Carroll
Mr. Mums
Norma Varden
Lady Tyrwhitt
Alan Napier
Robert Tyrwhitt
Noreen Corcoran
Bess as a child
Ivan Triesault
Danish Envoy
Elaine Stewart
Anne Boleyn
Dawn Addams
Kate Howard
Doris Lloyd
Mother Jack
Lumsden Hare
Archbishop Cranmer
Lester Matthews
Sir William Paget
Gallery
Reviews
CinemaSerf
Maybe not quite how it actually happened, but this was Hollywood, remember. Jean Simmons plays the Princess Elizabeth brought up in rags and riches depending on the whim of her father Henry VIII (rather rumbustiously played by Charles Laughton). Meantime Thomas Seymour (a handsome, swashbuckling rogue played by Stewart Granger) is marrying Henry's widow Catherine Parr (Deborah Kerr) and so we have our menage-a-trois. History is fact about the marriage; much less so about the "love affair" between Elizabeth and Seymour. This film follows her coming-of-age as she navigates the political intrigues after her father's death. It's is colourful and engaging - her two servants add quite a lot too. It's entertainment though, nothing too educational.
