Rating: NR
Genre:
Historical Film
Release Date: 04/22/2008
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 123 min
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Castaway NW [VCP]
Maxwell Anderson's blank-verse play
Mary of Scotland was adapted for the screen by
Dudley Nichols and directed with a surprising paucity of verve by
John Ford.
Katharine Hepburn, in one of the "icy" roles that would later earn her the onus of "box office poison", stars as
Mary Stuart, who serves as the Queen of Scotland until she is jealously put out of the way by her British cousin, Queen
Elizabeth I (
Florence Eldredge). Sold out by the Scots nobles, Mary is sentenced to the chopping block for treason. Elizabeth is willing to pardon Mary if only the latter will renounce all claims to the British throne, but Mary refuses, marching to her death with head held high (the Mary/Elizabeth confrontation scene was purely the product of Maxwell Anderson's imagination; in real life, the two women never met). RKO contractee
Ginger Rogers dearly coveted the role of Queen Elizabeth, but the studio refused to allow her to play so secondary a role. To prove to the RKO executives that she would be ideal for the part, Ginger secretly arranged for a screen test, in which she was convincingly made up as Elizabeth (even to the point of cutting her hair into a high-foreheaded widow's peak). Contemporary reports indicate that Ginger's audition was brilliant; still, RKO would not consider casting her in the part, so the role of Elizabeth went to Florence Eldridge, the wife of
Fredric March, who was cast in
Mary of Scotland as Mary's fearless protector the Earl of Bothwell. On the whole,
Mary of Scotland is a snoozefest, save for the scenes featuring
Douglas Walton as Mary's cowardly husband Darnley.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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