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A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Jean Simmons is "Young Bess" in this 1953 film directed by George Sidney and also starring Charles Laughton, Deborah Kerr, Stewart Granger, and Leo G. Carroll.The film isn't factual in all parts, but that can be as valuable to students or to anyone as a historically accurate film simply by reading the actual story. I've never understood why people take film as gospel and don't read a little background information. A good deal of the film is factual; where it gets dicey is in the relationship between Thomas Seymour and Bess. Even if the writers wanted to tell the real story, it's dubious it would have made it to the screen thanks to the code.Bess is rejected by her father Henry and sent away after her mother, Anne Boleyn, is beheaded. Attempts to win the affection of subsequent wives failed, and Bess is not accepted back into the palace until Henry marries Catherine of Parr (Deborah Kerr). When Henry dies, his nine-year-old son Edward VI (Rex Thompson) becomes king.Lady Jane Seymour's brothers, Thomas and Edward, have both benefited from her time at court; in fact, Thomas' brother Ned is Lord Protector of his nephew, Edward VI. True.Bess is madly in love with Thomas Seymour (Granger), some years her senior, but he marries her stepmother, Catherine after the death of Henry VIII. Eventually, Bess' strong feelings for Thomas become threatening to Catherine, who does love Bess, and Bess agrees to leave the household. After Catherine's death, Thomas wants to marry Bess and writes to her, but he has enemies, one of whom is his own brother, Edward "Ned" Seymour (Guy Rolfe).This is an extremely opulent film, very well acted, with good chemistry between the leads, It is very entertaining.The true story is that we don't really know how Bess felt about Thomas, except late in the game, she was receptive to the idea of marrying him; by then it was too late. In truth, Thomas' behavior toward Elizabeth was inappropriate and he may have even sexually abused her while she was a teenager. When he wanted to marry Bess, his past behavior toward her was revealed (although the interrogators could get nothing out of Bess). This was added to charges of treason and he was beheaded in 1549. Bess, known as The Virgin Queen, never married, though she came close, but some historians feel that Seymour put her off sexual relationships.Thomas was pretty sharp; he also hedged his bets by making a play for Queen Mary, Elizabeth's half sister, as well.Recommended.

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.

"Young Bess" features three of the greatest English actors of all time :Jean Simmons,Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr;the two actresses had already teamed up for "black narcissus" but in "young Bess" it's Simmons who plays the lead .The movie does not really show it,but Elizabeth had a very harsh childhood ,unlike Mary Stuart ,her dear cousin who spent her youth in the sweet Chateaux de La Loire in France .That may explain why Elizabeth was prepared to reign and Mary failed dismally. It was a wonder she kept her head after all those years with Mary Tudor.But Jean Simmons succeeds in her performance:from a romantic young girl to the strong queen (the big shadow on the wall is revealing),she runs the whole gamut and she gets strong support from Stewart Granger as her dashing attentive escort ,from Deborah Kerr ,in an underwritten part, and from Charles Laughton,ideally cast as Henry the Eighth.

How many films have been made about Alfred the Great, the only English monarch with the nickname "the Great". Only one, made in the 1960s I believe. There is, to my knowledge no film about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings, although there are at least six versions of Shakespeare's MACBETH (who was William's contemporary monarch in Scotland!).There is one film about the Normans of William's time - THE WARLORD (1965) with Charleton Heston and Richard Boone. It's a very good film, but it never shows William. No films about St. Edward the Confessor, Ethelred the Unready, William Rufus, or Hardecanute (remember the Danish Viking ruler of England who whipped the disobedient waves of the Channel). The first major English monarch who is made the subject of a big film is Henry II, the role played (both times) by Peter O'Toole in BECKET and THE LION IN WINTER. Significantly his two roles stem from two major plays of the 1950s and 1960s. His son Richard I ("the Lion-Hearted") appears in THE LION IN WINTER, but earlier films included THE CRUSADES, ROBIN HOOD, IVANHOE, KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS, and ROBIN AND MARION. Richard is really the first English monarch to appear in more than just a couple of films - but notice, even though he is a central figure the films tend to deal with the Third Crusade he helped to lead, or the machinations of his brother "Prince John", or the possibly fictional figure of Robin, Earl of Locksley (known as "Robin Hood"). While THE CRUSADES and KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS deal with him and Berengaria (his wife), and try to build a romantic and chivalric triangle between them and Saladin, the actual sexual interests of Richard seem to be closer to the performance of Anthony Hopkins in THE LION IN WINTER. Oddly there is no film about King John and his failure to control his nobles (not even a film version of Shakespeare's historic play, although a television movie version was made starring Leonard Rossiter as John in the 1980s - but the BBC were filming the entire series of the plays). Nor of the fights led by Simon De Montford against Henry III that led to the creation of the House of Commons. Occasional films pick up on a few monarchs - BRAVEHEART giving a look at Edward I and his witless son; Christopher Marlowe's EDWARD II showing what happened to the witless son; CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT being Orson Welles's take on Henry IV and Prince Hal (but concentrating on Sir John Falstaff); and both Olivier and Branagh dealing with HENRY V in two startling great and different interpretations. Then there is another biggie: Old Crookback - RICHARD III in Olivier's production set in the 1470s and 1480s, or the version by Sir Ian McKellan set in the 1930s, or TOWER OF London with Rathbone (a distinctive Richard) abetted by Karloff, and then a version with Vincent Price (who was Clarence in TOWER OF London).This brings us to the champs of British Royals in film - the Tudors. Henry VII always pops up in the Richard films (he has to - he wins at Bosworth Field). Yet no film specifically about Henry VII has been made. Not so Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Gray, and Elizabeth (not much for "Bloody Mary") though. THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, ANNE OF A THOUSAND DAYS, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (at least 3 versions, including one called CROSSED SWORDS), YOUNG BESS, SIX DAY QUEEN, ELIZABETH, MARY OF Scotland (Mary, Queen of Scots, was Henry VIII's niece), MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, THE VIRGIN QUEEN, THE SEA HAWK, FIRE OVER ENGLAND, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX / ELIZABETH THE QUEEN, Shakespeare IN LOVE. No other British Royal Family has been as chronicled in films as the Tudors. Think of it. Charles I was the center of so much turmoil that he eventually was executed after a trial following a series of Civil Wars he lost to Oliver Cromwell. Only one film about him was made - and a bad one - CROMWELL (emphasizing the victor of those wars). But the Tudors generate more interest - there is more skulduggery and treason in their reigns than most, and England becomes a great nation (and a cultural fountainhead) at the end of it all. YOUNG BESS is a small joy - it deals with the forgotten career of Admiral Thomas Seymour, uncle of King Edward VI, and would-be romantic wooer of Princess Elizabeth. He also was the last of Katherine Parr's three husbands (Henry VIII being the second). It is the second time that Laughton plays the great monarch, and the terrible fury of the man is shown in two shots showing his hand caressing the neck of Elizabeth's doomed mother Anne Boleyn, and later caressing the neck of the doomed Catherine Howard in the same way. Most interesting is the casting of Jean Simmons and Steward Granger as Princess Elizabeth and Admiral Tom Seymour. They were married at the time, so their scenes together have an extra-something to them (like the Burtons some ten years later). YOUNG BESS is not accurate history, but it is good film making. You will view this film with satisfaction.