Mary Queen of Scots

A brilliantly, clearly and lucidly presented historical treat with excellent performances by the two queens, the ultra-sympathetic Nigel Davenport, the sleazy blond Timothy Dalton (whose character must have inspired Monty Python's Prince Herbert, that's for sure), gorgeous Scottish exteriors, Barry's bombastic music and a believable atmosphere of sultry intrigue... No, I haven't found a single weak spot in it. (23.10.2011)

I have long put off this version of the biography of Mary, Queen of Scots due to the expectation of a tendentious presentation of the historical story. The same chapters of history are told differently over and over again, always according to the needs of the moment, so why waste time on the 1970s version? Perhaps for comparison. I've already summarized in several previous comments that, surprisingly, despite the difficult production conditions, The Heart of a Queen with Zarah Leander remains the best Stuart character. By contrast, the newest Saoirse Ronan interpreted Stuart as a smug aggressor, an interesting contrast to Vanessa Redgrave, who played her Stuart as naive, passive, and romantic. Moreover, at that time it was possible to show two personal encounters between Stuart and Elizabeth I. Years later, only one encounter represents the climax of the whole film, and hopefully, we will eventually come to the point where it will be possible to make films that dispense with such fiction and they simply don't meet. (05.07.2021)