Victoria the Great *** (1937, Anna Neagle, Anton Walbrook, Walter Rilla, H B Warner, Felix Aylmer, Mary Morris) – Classic Movie Review 8035

Producer-director Herbert Wilcox’s 1937 historical drama Victoria the Great stars a right regal Anna Neagle who gives an impressive, indeed royal, performance as Queen Victoria, in a stirring black and white look at highspots of her life (though originally there was a Technicolor finale).

It starts in 1837 when Victoria is told that her uncle King William IV has died and that she is now queen, but it focuses on Victoria’s meeting with, marriage to and life with her German cousin, Prince Albert. The Prime Minister Lord Melbourne advises Victoria to marry, suggesting Prince Albert. At first they seem incompatible but soon find that they are in love. This is a bold and fascinating theme for a British film in 1937 on the eve of the war with Germany.

Although the performances are first rate, the production and screenplay are slightly less good. But Neagle’s husband Wilcox keeps the pageant firmly on the road both as producer and director. Anton Walbrook is perfect as Prince Albert. So maybe Victoria would have been amused.

Co-writer Miles Malleson appears as a physician. His screenplay is written with Robert Vansittart and Charles de Grandcourt, based on the play Victoria Regina by Laurence Housman.

It is followed the next year by Sixty Glorious Years.

The other main roles are played by are H B Warner as Lord Melbourne, Walter Rilla as Prince Ernest, Mary Morris as the Duchess of Kent, C V France as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Carson as Sir Robert Peel, and Felix Aylmer as Lord Palmerston.

Also in the cast are Derrick de Marney, James Dale, Gordon McLeod, Arthur Young, Grete Wegener, Paul Leyssac, Hugh Millet, Percy Parsons, Hubert Harben, Bert Bendon, Henry Hallett, Syd Crossley, William Dewhurst, Hal Gordon, Frank Birch, Robert Atkins, Edgar Driver, Tom Heslewood, Moore Marriott, Lewis Casson, Charles Lefaux, Ivor Barnard, O B Clarence, Arnold Lucy, Clarence Blakiston, Neil McKay, Vi Kaley, Marie Wright, Joyce Bland, Wyndham Goldie, Aubrey Mallalieu, and Joan Young, as well as Frank Cellier, Albert Lieven, Paul Henreid and C Aubrey Smith in minor roles.

It is shot in black and white by Freddie Young and William V Skall.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8035

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