Young Bess *** (1953, Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr, Charles Laughton, Kathleen Byron, Kay Walsh, Guy Rolfe, Cecil Kellaway) – Classic Movie Review 7424

MGM’s well-crafted 1953 Technicolor historical biopic film Young Bess stars Jean Simmons as the young Queen Elizabeth I, Stewart Granger as her suitor, Charles Laughton as Henry VIII, and Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr.

Director George Sidney’s well-crafted 1953 Technicolor historical biographical drama film Young Bess stars a miscast, too-modern-seeming Jean Simmons as the titular young royal lady Young Bess in this life and loves of young Queen Elizabeth I conjured up by MGM to celebrate the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Young Bess was nominated for two Oscars: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary, Edwin B Willis, Jack D Moore) and Best Costume Design, Color (Walter Plunkett).

The screenplay is by Arthur Wimperis and Jan Lustig. The plot, based on Margaret Irwin’s 1944 best-seller novel, takes liberal liberties with history. But the movie manages to entertain royally as a Tudor soap thanks to the engagingly larger-than-life performances of the actors playing members of the court – Charles Laughton repeating his famous Oscar-winning turn as a burly King Henry VIII, Stewart Granger as Young Bess’s suitor Thomas Seymour, and two of Simmons’s co-stars from Black Narcissus, Deborah Kerr (as Catherine Parr) and Kathleen Byron (as Anne Seymour), so it gets by on star power.

As well as that, Young Bess boasts a fine MGM production with attractive settings (production designs by Cedric Gibbons and Urie McCleary) and costumes (Walter Plunkett) plus lovely Technicolor cinematography by Charles Rosher and suitably regal music from Miklós Rózsa. The composer was known for his research on historical subjects, and his score incorporates tunes from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and other Tudor sources.

It is produced by Sidney Franklin, who said: ‘We’re telling an intimate story against a background of 16th century court life, as opposed to a historical pageant about royal intrigues. We feel the love story between the Princess and Seymour – actually he was 25 years older than Elizabeth – will be more valid to audiences than a lot of historical detail which has no relation to our customers’ lives.’ So, the plan is fanciful love story over historical facts. But then, it’s only a movie entertainment, not a history text book.

Also in the cast are Kay Walsh as Mrs Ashley, Guy Rolfe as Ned Seymour, Cecil Kellaway as Mr Parry, Rex Thompson as Prince Edward / King Edward VI, Robert Arthur as Barnaby, Leo G Carroll, Norma Varden, Dawn Addams, Doris Lloyd, Lumsden Hare, Lester Matthews, Ian Wolfe, Alan Napier, Noreen Corcoran and Ivan Triesault.

Charles Laughton won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character in the 1933 The Private Life of Henry VIII.

Jean Simmons was under contract to J Arthur Rank, who thought the title role would be perfect for her, and in February 1951 MGM duly announced that she would co-star with her husband Stewart Granger. Also considered for the role were Elizabeth Taylor and Deborah Kerr, who ended up up playing Catherine Parr instead. Filming on this very English subject took place in Hollywood, starting in October 1952.

Jean Simmons married Stewart Granger in Tucson, Arizona, on 20 December 1950. Simmons said: ‘I feel more self-conscious about playing love scenes with him now, than I did before we were man and wife.’ They divorced in 1960.

Granger named it his favourite of his MGM films ‘for the costumes, the cast, the story’,

The film cost $2,423,000 and earned $4,095,000, but somehow losing MGM $272,000.

The London premiere was on 21 May 1953, when it was also screened at Radio City Music Hall before its US release on 29 May 1953. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London, after she acceded to the throne aged 25 on the death of her father George VI on 6 February 1952.

It runs 112 minutes.

The cast are Jean Simmons as Young Bess (Elizabeth I), Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, Deborah Kerr as Catherine Parr, Charles Laughton as King Henry VIII, Kay Walsh as Mrs Ashley, Guy Rolfe as Ned Seymour, Kathleen Byron as Ned’s wife Anne Seymour, Cecil Kellaway as Mr Parry, Rex Thompson as Prince Edward / King Edward VI, Robert Arthur as Thomas’s page Barnaby Fitzpatrick, Leo G Carroll as Elizabeth’s tutor Mr. Mums, Norma Varden as Lady Tyrwhitt, Alan Napier as Robert Tyrwhitt, Noreen Corcoran as Bess as a child, Ivan Triesault as Danish Envoy, Elaine Stewart as Anne Boleyn, Dawn Addams as Catherine Howard, Doris Lloyd as Mother Jack, Lumsden Hare as Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Lester Matthews as Sir William Paget, and Ann Tyrrell as Mary, and Ian Wolfe.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7424

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Laughton as Henry VIII in Young Bess (1953).