A belated follow-up to the similar PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, this sees Bette Davis once more donning the oddly-shaped wig in order to play Elizabeth I, this time at a later stage in her life. THE VIRGIN QUEEN explores Elizabeth's relationship with charming courtier Walter Raleigh, here desperately trying to finance an expedition to the New World.All of the elements for a fun, non-stuffy costume romp are here: splendid and picturesque locales, colourful costumes, heads on the block, and all manner of court intrigue. Enjoyment of the story is increased with some expertly-staged sword fights alongside the presence of British actor Richard Todd as Raleigh; he certainly cuts a fine swathe through the story as the dashing adventurer and makes the film his own.Davis remains delightfully waspish, frequently chewing the scenery with an undisguised relish when she can get away with it. An impossibly young Joan Collins plays Mistress Throgmorton, recipient of Raleigh's affections outside of the queen, making for one of the most bizarre love triangles put on film. History buffs will be in their element.

The movie is 60 years old, made in the Land of Vanilla, the 1950s. And yet, there's a baby percolating in Joan Collins, I think I heard the word "slut" used, and damned if Bette Davis, as Elizabeth Tudor (with a hard-top) literally walks around as if she has a pair of big brass ones. I thought The Virgin Queen was going to be a cheesy costume drama. I was only partially right.Having enjoyed 1998's Elizabeth, I was looking for something that would add levels to the first Queen E. I got it. She was teetering on nuts (not the brass ones) in this flick. The smart part of her kept grabbing the wheel of state away from the crazy/isolated/monarch-with-a-vengeance part. I have never understood the cult of Bette Davis (I mean . . . yech), but I accepted Davis as this monarch. I think what made Davis work as Elizabeth was that she seemed to be having a whole lot of fun straddling that fence between crazy woman and uber-leader.The rest of the flick is so much Hollywood clanking of swords and clawing of eyes. I liked listening to Richard Todd (cool voice) as he pitches a golden dream to Liz. He was such a nothing--I kept thinking of all the other actors who could have been Sir Walter Raleigh--but I stuck with him. Things actually got interesting when he would mouth off at Davis, chewing her out, banishing her from his prison cell. If Davis wasn't your typical 1950s monarch, Todd wasn't going to fit the chivalrous mold either, and that helped this flick a lot.Which leaves us to Joan Collins. I liked her best when she was popping off to Todd, making him want her more. As one of Bette's ladies in waiting, she got to stand around looking pretty, call Todd a lap dog, and get into a lip lock with him in his apartment that led to a nice, long fade out and in. And you knew, you just had to know that Sir Walter, well, ahem.Wouldn't you? Joan, in her 20s, was smokin'! But how do you get by the Production Code with that long fade and the cuddly gazing out the window afterward?I can just see the young un's chortling in he theatre, and the grumps thinking, "Oh, my goodness! They seemed to have had relations. Herbert, we must go. This is smut!"I'm rambling. I liked The Virgin Queen, even if so much of it was pedestrian. I gained a little tolerance of Bette Davis. I still don't know why Richard Todd was a star (other than the salesman voice). Joan Collins was lovely, and I think her beauty peeked when she played Edith Keeler in an episode of Star Trek. After that, I think she started on her long string of bitchy cartoon characters.I never once felt much suspense. The costumes were cool, but the sets looked TVish. What made the movie work was the pushback against the man, censorship-wise.I still liked Kate Blanchett better.

It's funny, but although I am a retired history teacher and generally love historical films, I HATE stagy costumers like "The Virgin Queen". I find them to be stilted and doubt if they come close to capturing the historical figures they claim to portray. Now this doesn't mean that an Elizabethan story cannot work for me--I love, for example, "Sea Hawk"--mostly because it's not stuck in a royal court for most of the film. That sense of adventure makes the court scenes watchable--but here in "The Virgin Queen" it's all pretty dull.In this film, once again Bette Davis plays Elizabeth. Years earlier she played a younger version of this lady in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex". Here, she's back and instead of playing against Essex, her paramour is Sir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd). The effect of Davis with the young, handsome and vigorous Todd is a bit necrophilic--though in real life, it was probably pretty much the same. The film finds Elizabeth to be highly autocratic and petulant (again, a lot like the real Elizabeth). Much of the film consists of Elizabeth behaving as if she's got 10 in-grown toenails. Her mood becomes a lot worse when Raleigh marries a pretty young lady-in-waiting (Joan Collins) and Raleigh falls into disfavor with the Queen. It's full of this and other sorts of intrigues--some of which is actually just a bit interesting. The problem is that all the really interesting parts of Raleigh's life are ignored or barely explored--such as his abortive attempt to colonize America at Roanoke, his expeditions to find the mythical city of El Dorado and his eventual imprisonment and execution during the reign of James I. Instead, it's all talk, talk, talk--and quickly becomes tedious. When SOME action does occur, it's really too late for me. I'd already become bored with the whole thing.While I didn't like the film very much, I give it a 5 simply because of its high production values. The costumes and sets are first-rate and look really nice in color and the actors try their best with the material they are given. Historically inaccurate and dull...it lacks the fun of "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" or "Blackadder II".

This one should have been a lot better, considering the pedigree of its cast and the professionals behind the camera, including the always reliable Franz Waxman, contributing a score that must have sounded wonderful when those theaters equipped with stereophonic sound systems played this costumer during its first release.But director Henry Koster's touch is particularly pedestrian in this one. (Note how he stages the legendary scene when Sir Walter Raleigh spreads his cape across a muddy patch for Queen Elizabeth to glide over it without soiling her royal hem. Tossed off as if it weren't worth showing!) And the script seems to be regurgitating all those well-worn cliches about a love and sex-starved Queen Elizabeth I surrounded by male courtiers who have only their various personal ambitions to keep them apparently interested in her feminine needs.Bette does her best (and even supposedly consented to shaving herself bald for the role!) and Richard Todd and a young and lovely Joan Collins convince as a couple willing to risk the frustrated Queen's wrath to consummate their love. And it's always a pleasure to see actors like Dan O'Herlihy and Herbert Marshall in support, despite how woefully little is made of their talents.Beware the VHS version, a "formatted" desecration of the original 2.55:1 CinemaScope ratio. For no other reason this handsomely mounted production deserves to be given the widescreen DVD treatment.