Jean Simmons a half a century before Cate Blanchett gives another view of a young Elizabeth Tudor before she became Queen of England. The period covered is roughly the last year of Henry VIII reign until Elizabeth became Queen with an emphasis on the early years of Edward VI. For those of us who remember the regal Elizabeth that Bette Davis and Flora Robson have played this is a reminder Elizabeth was young once herself.Elizabeth I was one remarkable woman who sacrificed all for her country, including a small measure of personal happiness. Of the many men in her life, part of the story here is that of the first. Her experience with Thomas Seymour taught her well.Stewart Granger is the bold and reckless Thomas Seymour who made an incredible reach for power. Seymour upon the death of Henry VIII marries his last wife and widow Catherine Parr played by Deborah Kerr to assure a place in court. He then even while Parr is alive romances young Elizabeth who was of course daughter Henry's second queen Anne Boleyn.Granger and Guy Rolfe as Edward Seymour were the uncles of young Edward VI who was the child of Henry's third queen and their sister Jane Seymour. When Henry died they were his guardians and regents of the minor king. But Tom played for bigger stakes than that, even trying to ace his brother out and assume total power. He paid with his life and later Rolfe is also executed and it all blows up when Edward VI dies and the Catholic Queen Mary the older sister to both Elizabeth and Edward takes over. Through all of this Young Bess treads through a court minefield.Simmons is remarkable as Young Bess who learns the political and royal arts early on and moves with a cat's caution for her own survival and eventual succession to the throne. The film also offers an early cameo appearance for Charles Laughton to reprise his Oscar winning role of Henry VIII. Even in his last year, Henry VIII is a man very much in control until the second he can't fog a mirror. Then the games begin. Deborah Kerr is touching as the Dowager Queen, confused, compassionate, but ultimately heartbroken.Best of all is young Rex Thompson as Edward VI. Young Bess offers a rare opportunity to see what happens to Edward, half of the two twin protagonists in Mark Twain's beloved The Prince And The Pauper. It wasn't happily ever after for Edward as king, just a child pawn in a continual struggle for power between rival court factions in the film and in real life. I'm sure the real Edward wished at times he could have changed places with a doppleganger beggar boy for real. Young Bess got two Oscar nominations for Art&Design and Costume design. It's a lavish production graced with a fine cast and not too inaccurate as history either.

Good choice from the makers of this movie to focus on this stage of Queen Elizabeth as a preparation stage for her to be the real Establesher and founder of United Kingdom during the battle of Armada against Spanish and Portugesse navy that tried to occupied UK but the solidarity brought up of Young Bess learned here to face the hard destiny and fate to cross with her nation on this hard future but the Battle of Armada was a turning point for British nation to put their country on the Glob.Great Movie and great acting from Simons , Deborah Kerr , Stewart Granger that usually entertained us in front of Epic story and Simplified the hard information and historical expressions in the scene to help the next generations to know their heritage as a point of safety from erase and decline under the wings of globalization.

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.

Historical facts are very difficult to draw in films. I think that this material tried to present some features of lives of Elizabeth (Jean Simmons, his father and the members of the council once his father, the cruel King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton), died. The plot went through the love triangle of Bess and Catherine Parr (Deborah Kerr) with Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger), a man loyal to the King but very much in love with Catherine and then with Elizabeth. It was clear that the council was doing everything possible to keep Elizabeth away from the throne, something that happened at the end of the film suddenly and without much explanation. At least someone like me, not knowing well this story, finished with several questions, whether her brother (the successor to the throne) died?, what happened to Ned Seymour?, the main instigator of the assassination of his brother Tom and the main one avoiding Bess to govern. May be with more complete plot and perhaps time for the film, this story may have looked much better than it is.